2025-26 Women’s Basketball Bracketology: A new No. 1

We will start at the top and work through some of the key points that led to the shape of this bracket:

We finally have a change at the top. With LSU defeating Texas on Sunday, UConn moves into the top overall spot as Texas falls back to number two. This could be big for the Longhorns, as they would most likely be sent to Sacramento for the Sweet 16/Elite 8 instead of playing in Fort Worth. There is a lot of season left, but for now, the Huskies sit at the top.

When it came down to the last hosting spot, Texas Tech has been so outstanding this year and remains unbeaten. However, they were just one more quality win short of garnering that coveted No. 4 seed. Mississippi grabs it, thanks in large part to its win over Oklahoma on Thursday.

---

Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily

We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!

---

The bubble has a new face this week as the Richmond Spiders re-enter the field, thanks to a big win in triple overtime against A-10 rival Davidson. They grab one of the coveted last four-in spots along with Virginia. The Cavaliers, despite losing to Syracuse this past week, beat Georgia Tech. That can’t be said for fellow ACC rival Clemson, who fell out of the projected field with its loss to the Yellow Jackets.

The biggest riser of the bracket over the past week was once again Duke. After their early non-conference struggles, the Blue Devils have rattled off eight straight wins, including four against teams projected to make the field. The turnaround has pushed Duke up to a No. 6 seed in this projection.

The biggest faller of the week is Iowa State. The Cyclones had been one of the last remaining unbeatens into early January. Then, Baylor beat them. They followed that up with losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati, a quad four loss. Yes, Addy Brown missed those games, but if you are trying to get a top-four seed, those are games you can’t afford to lose. This is why they fell to a No. 8 seed in this week’s projection.

5 Games that will have the greatest impact on the bracket over the next week:

Texas vs South Carolina, Jan 15

Louisville vs Notre Dame, Jan 15

Maryland vs UCLA, Jan 18

Tennessee vs Alabama, Jan 18

Michigan vs Vanderbilt, Jan 19

2 Mid-Major Games that will most impact the bracket over the next week:

North Dakota State vs South Dakota State, Jan 17

Belmont vs Murray State, Jan 18

---

Want even more women’s sports in your inbox?

Subscribe now to The IX Sports and receive our daily women’s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.

Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.

---

Bracketology methodology

Here are some basic bracket rules that help influence my bracket:

• The top four seed lines in each region shall be from different conferences unless a conference has more than four teams in the top 16 (making this rule impossible to follow, as is the case with the SEC and Big 10 in my bracket).
• Teams from the same conference shall not be projected to meet until the Elite Eight if they met three times during the regular season, or the Sweet 16 if they met twice. Because we don’t know what will happen in conference tournaments, I am assuming every conference team will face each other once more than what is on their schedule. I was able to keep conference teams away from each other until the Elite Eight, with one exception, which would require an upset win.
• In order to comply with bracket rules, it is acceptable to move a team up or down one seed line. I had to bump Oregon up one seed line to a seventh seed and Iowa State down to an eighth seed to comply with bracket rules.

---

Order ‘Rare Gems’ and save 30%

Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. “Rare Gems” follows four connected generations of women’s basketball pioneers, from Elvera “Peps” Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.

If you enjoy Megdal’s coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.” Click the link below to order and enter MEGDAL30 at checkout to save 30%!

---

Bracket breakdown:

Multi-Bid conferences:

Big Ten: 12

SEC: 11

ACC: 8

Big 12: 8

Big East: 2

Atlantic 10: 2

Last four in:

Mississippi St

Utah

Richmond

Virginia

First four out:

Clemson

Miami

BYU

North Dakota State

Next four out:

Virginia Tech

Seton Hall

Marquette

Davidson

Next Update: January 21^st