Women's Bracketology: 2023 NCAA tournament
The women's NCAA tournament will undergo significant change for the second consecutive season. The field expanded to 68 teams last year. This season, the customary four regional sites have been reduced to two: Seattle and Greenville, South Carolina. The top 16 teams will continue to host the first and second rounds, and the First Four games will again be played at the site of the first-round games to which they feed. Defending champion South Carolina is the heavy favorite, and the Gamecocks seek to become the first repeat champions since UConn in 2015-16. The Final Four is March 31 and April 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Bracket Watch
The top 16 seeds (and the right to host first- and second-round NCAA tournament games) will largely take shape this weekend. And teams 14 through 21 on the S curve -- in order, Villanova, North Carolina, Colorado, UCLA, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Michigan and Arizona -- are so tightly packed that plenty can change by the time championship games are played Sunday in the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. Which of those eight will wind up in those coveted three final spots within the top 16? UCLA and Arizona are likely to meet in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals; the loser will be eliminated from top-16 contention, narrowing the list to seven. From there, it's a combination of math and musical chairs. The Sooners still have two regular-season games left and might know exactly what they need to do to reach a No. 4 seed when the Big 12 tourney opens March 9. The others will be playing, and perhaps scoreboard watching, this weekend, making Friday, Saturday and Sunday must-see TV for the top 16.
On the Bubble
Last Four Byes
Last Four In
First Four Out
Next Four Out
68-Team Bracket
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