2025 NCAA Division I
women's basketball tournament

Season	2024–25
Teams	68
Finals site	Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Champions	UConn Huskies (12th title, 13th title game, 24th Final Four)
Runner-up	South Carolina Gamecocks (4th title game, 7th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Texas Longhorns (4th Final Four) UCLA Bruins (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Geno Auriemma (12th title)
MOP	Azzi Fudd (UConn)
NCAA Division I women's tournaments «2024 2026»

The2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was a 68-teamsingle-elimination tournament to determine theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Division Icollege basketball national champion for the2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 43rd edition of thetournament began on March 19, 2025, and concluded with thechampionship game on April 6, atAmalie Arena inTampa, Florida. TheUConn Huskies won their 12th national championship by defeating theSouth Carolina Gamecocks.

Atlantic 10 championGeorge Mason,Big West championUC San Diego,NEC championFairleigh Dickinson,Sun Belt championArkansas State,WAC championGrand Canyon, andCAA championWilliam & Mary all made their NCAA tournament debuts. Additionally,SoCon championUNC Greensboro made their first appearance since1998 and second appearance overall.

For the first time since1987,Stanford did not qualify for the tournament.

For the first time in Women's March Madness history since expanding to 64-plus teams, no team successfully completed an official upset, defined by the NCAA as by five or more seeding lines.^[1]

Out of 355 eligible Division I teams, 68 participated in the tournament.^[a] A total of 31 automatic bids are awarded to each program that win aconference tournament. The remaining 37 bids are issued "at-large", with selections extended by theNCAA Selection Committee onSelection Sunday, March 16. The Selection Committee will alsoseed the entire field from 1 to 68.

Eight teams (the four-lowest seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at large-teams) play in theFirst Four. The winners of these games will advance to the main tournamentbracket.

First Four^[2]

• March 19 and 20
  • Pauley Pavilion,Los Angeles, California (Host:University of California, Los Angeles)
  • Purcell Pavilion,Notre Dame, Indiana (Host:University of Notre Dame)
  • Moody Center,Austin, Texas (Host:University of Texas at Austin)
  • Carmichael Arena,Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Host:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Subregionals (First and Second Rounds)

• March 21 and 23 (Fri/Sun)
  • Pauley Pavilion,Los Angeles, California (Host:University of California, Los Angeles)
  • Foster Pavilion,Waco, Texas (Host:Baylor University)
  • Memorial Coliseum,Lexington, Kentucky (Host:University of Kentucky)
  • Colonial Life Arena,Columbia, South Carolina (Host:University of South Carolina)
  • Cameron Indoor Stadium,Durham, North Carolina (Host:Duke University)
  • Value City Arena,Columbus, Ohio (Host:Ohio State University)
  • Purcell Pavilion,Notre Dame, Indiana (Host:University of Notre Dame)
  • Schollmaier Arena,Fort Worth, Texas (Host:Texas Christian University)

• March 22 and 24 (Sat/Mon)
  • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion,Storrs, Connecticut (Host:University of Connecticut)
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center,Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host:Louisiana State University)
  • Reynolds Coliseum,Raleigh, North Carolina (Host:North Carolina State University)
  • Galen Center,Los Angeles, California (Host:University of Southern California)
  • Lloyd Noble Center,Norman, Oklahoma (Host:University of Oklahoma)
  • Xfinity Center,College Park, Maryland (Host:University of Maryland, College Park)
  • Carmichael Arena,Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Host:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • Moody Center,Austin, Texas (Host:University of Texas at Austin)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 28–31
  • Birmingham Regional,Legacy Arena,Birmingham, Alabama (Hosts:Southeastern Conference)
  • Spokane Regional,Spokane Arena,Spokane, Washington (Hosts:University of Idaho)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

• April 4 and April 6
  • Amalie Arena,Tampa, Florida (Host:University of South Florida)

Tampa is scheduled to host the women's Final Four for the fourth time; the third was in2019.^[3]

The 68 teams came from 36 states.

UCLA

NC State

LSU

Baylor

Ole Miss

Florida State

Michigan State

Richmond

Georgia Tech

Harvard

George Mason

Ball State

Grand Canyon

San Diego State

Vermont

UC San Diego

Southern

South Carolina

Duke

North Carolina

Maryland

Alabama

West Virginia

Vanderbilt

Utah

Indiana

Oregon

Columbia

Washington

Green Bay

Norfolk State

Oregon State

Lehigh

Tennessee Tech

Texas

TCU

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Tennessee

Michigan

Louisville

Illinois

Creighton

Nebraska

Iowa State

Princeton

South Florida

Montana State

Stephen F. Austin

FDU

High Point

W&M

USC

UConn

Oklahoma

Kentucky

Kansas State

Iowa

Oklahoma State

California

Miss State

South Dakota State

Murray State

Fairfield

FGCU

Arkansas State

UNCG

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Teams that participated in the 2025 tournament. Spokane 1 Region (red), Birmingham 2 Region (blue), Birmingham 3 Region (green), and Spokane 4 Region (purple)

Teams who won their conference championships automatically qualify.

The tournament seeds and regions are determined through theNCAA basketball tournament selection process and were published by the selection committee after the brackets are released on March 16.

*SeeFirst Four
Source:^[4]

All times are listed inEastern Daylight Time (UTC−4).

TheFirst Four games involve eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.

• Chloe Kitts (MOP) - South Carolina
• Sania Feagin - South Carolina
• MiLaysia Fulwiley - South Carolina
• Toby Fournier - Duke
• Ashlon Jackson - Duke

• Madison Booker (MOP) - Texas
• Rori Harmon - Texas
• Liatu King - Notre Dame
• Hailey Van Lith - TCU
• Sedona Prince - TCU

• Azzi Fudd (MOP) – UConn
• Paige Bueckers – UConn
• Sarah Strong – UConn
• Joyce Edwards – South Carolina
• Lauren Betts – UCLA

• The FF, R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the first four, round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.

The “seed composition” of the Elite Eight was the exact same in both the men’s and women’s tournament:^[5]

Men’s Elite Eight:

Four #1 seeds, three #2 seeds, one #3 seed

Women’s Elite Eight:

Four #1 seeds, three #2 seeds, one #3 seed

Per the NCAA, an upset occurs "when the losing team in an NCAA tournament game was seeded at least five seed lines better than the winning team."^[1]

For the first time in NCAA women’s March Madness history since expanding to 64 teams, no team successfully completed an official upset. In addition, this was also the first time no team completed an upset in the Round of 64 alone, meaning no team seeded 11th or lower won in the first round. Both events have never occurred in the men’s tournament since its expansion to 64 teams.

In addition, no team seeded 6th through 10th won their Round of 32 game, ensuring the tournament would have no upsets following the loss of the final such team remaining.

ESPN broadcast each game of the tournament across eitherESPN,ESPN2,ESPNU,ESPNEWS, orABC. For the third consecutive season, the national championship game aired on ABC.^[6][7]

• Elle Duncan (host) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)
• Kelsey Riggs (host) (first/second rounds and regional semifinals)
• Andraya Carter (analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
• Chiney Ogwumike (analyst) (first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
• Muffet McGraw (analyst) (first/second rounds and regional semifinals)
• Meghan McKeown (analyst) (first/second rounds and regional semifinals)
• Lisa Mattingly (rules analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, and regionals)
• Violet Palmer (rules analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)

Westwood One will serve as radio broadcaster of the tournament.

Regionals (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight)

• Lance Medow and Kim Adams – Spokane, Washington 1
• Sam Neidermann andMary Murphy – Spokane, Washington 4
• Danny Reed andDebbie Antonelli – Birmingham, Alabama 2
• Nate Gatter and Isis Young – Birmingham, Alabama 3

Final Four and National Championship

• Ryan Radtke, Debbie Antonelli, andRos Gold-Onwude – Tampa, Florida

• 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2025 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 2025 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 2025 NAIA women's basketball tournament

• NCAA Women's Basketball Division I

• 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season
• 2025 in sports in Texas
• NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• March 2025 sports events in the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2025