Women's Bracketology: 2024 NCAA tournament
Bracketology is ready to hit overdrive in its 21st season on ESPN.com. With conference play hitting the home stretch, we will project the field of 68 every Tuesday and Friday, with daily updates arriving during Championship Week and leading right into Selection Sunday on March 17. Albany, New York, and Portland, Oregon, will host the regionals, as the two-site format remains for a second consecutive year. It all culminates in Cleveland at the Final Four on April 5 and 7.
Bracket Watch
The NCAA tournament selection committee's reveal of the top 16 seeds Thursday was telling. This committee leaned into the quality of losses, which appeared to help the likes of Colorado, UConn and Indiana. The Buffs got the final No. 1 seed in large part because their four losses were to other top-16 teams. NC State, Iowa and UCLA all had one loss outside of the top 16. That gave Colorado the nod despite losing to the Wolfpack and Bruins. The Huskies and Hoosiers have a combined three top-25 NET wins but have no losses outside the top 25. They earned a No. 3 and No. 4 seed, respectively. Injuries to key players, most notably UCLA's Lauren Betts and Kansas State's Ayoka Lee, were factored in, but not to the extent they could have been. Now that both players have returned, the time they missed and the losses both teams absorbed will be reexamined before the next top-16 reveal on Feb. 29.
On the Bubble
Last Four Byes
Last Four In
First Four Out
Next Four Out
68-Team Bracket
Albany 1
Columbia
- 8 Duke
Louisville
- 5 Utah
Storrs
Los Angeles
Portland 4
Boulder
- 1 Colorado
- 16 Hawaii - aq
- 8
Nebraska - 9 Alabama
Manhattan
- 12 Drake - aq
Blacksburg
- 11 Texas A&M
Iowa City
- 2 Iowa
Portland 2
Stanford
- 8 Ole Miss
Bloomington
Corvallis
Austin
- 10
Penn State - 2 Texas
Albany 3
Columbus
- 9 Miami
Baton Rouge
- 4 LSU
Los Angeles
Raleigh
- 2 NC State
Photo illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, Icon Sportswire, EPA/Shutterstock
