Women's March Madness 2026: Ranking the Elite Eight

Charlie CremeMar 28, 2026, 09:36 PM ET
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Welcome to the party, Michigan and Notre Dame. For everyone else in the Elite Eight, it’s like they never left.

The other six teams that advanced to the women’s Elite Eight played in the regional finals a year ago. That doesn’t mean it’s the same, though. UConn no longer has Paige Bueckers. UCLA added Gianna Kneepkens and South Carolina brought Ta’Niya Latson aboard. TCU has a completely different look with Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez.

All four No. 1 seeds and the heavy favorites to reach the Final Four had little trouble reaching this point. The closest game among UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina was a 19-point win by the Bruins over Oklahoma State in round two. Their average margin of victory in the regional semifinals was 23.3 points.

The No. 2 seeds weren’t as fortunate: Michigan is the only one remaining.

Notre Dame was a perennial power just a few years ago, but now as a No. 6 seed qualifies as a Cinderella. The Irish played UConn, Michigan and Duke (twice) this season, losing all four of those games by an average of 23 points. But they have the hottest player left in the NCAA tournament in Hannah Hidalgo.

Still, she wasn’t enough to keep Notre Dame from being last in the updated Elite Eight rankings. Will Hidalgo be enough to pull off the upset of the tournament and beat No. 1 UConn? Here’s a look at the final eight.

1. UConn Huskies
Original seed: No. 1 overall (Fort Worth 1)
Results: Def. No. 16 UTSA 90-52 (first round); def. No. 9 Syracuse 98-45 (round of 32); def. No. 4 North Carolina 63-42 (Sweet 16)

The Huskies entered the NCAA tournament with the nation’s top-rated defense. On Friday against North Carolina, they provided the evidence. Despite playing its worst offensive game of the season and scoring 25 points below its season average, UConn still rolled past the Tar Heels. Making just 4 of 20 3-pointers seems impossible for the most accurate deep shooting team in the country coming into the game, but the Huskies struggled to make shots the entire contest. Getting 18 steals and forcing 24 turnovers certainly helped. UConn is now one game away from a 25th Final Four. The Huskies have not lost a regional final game since 2007, during Tina Charles’ freshman year.

Up next: vs. Notre Dame (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, ABC)

2. UCLA Bruins

Original seed: No. 1 (Sacramento 2)
Results: Def. No. 16 Cal Baptist 96-43 (first round); def. No. 8 Oklahoma State 87-68 (round of 32); def. No. 4 Minnesota 80-56 (Sweet 16)

With six seniors, who are all 1,000-point scorers, the Bruins need this to be their year. Perhaps that’s why in two of the Bruins’ NCAA tournament wins, most of the urgency came in the second half. UCLA outscored Minnesota by 19 in the final 20 minutes on Friday and eased into a second straight regional final. UCLA ranks second in the country in effective field goal percentage, points per scoring attempt and points per play. That kind of efficiency has fueled the Bruins through their first three tourney outings. No player has exemplified that more than Lauren Betts, who is shooting 31-of-43 from the field and averaging 24.3 points in March Madness.

Up next: vs. Duke (Sunday, 3 p.m., ABC)

3. Texas Longhorns
Original seed: No. 1 (Fort Worth 3)
Results: Def. No. 16 Missouri State 87-45 (first round); def. No. 8 Oregon 100-58 (round of 32); def. No. 5 Kentucky 76-54 (Sweet 16)

Vic Schaefer said he didn’t like the performance of his team in the third quarter against Kentucky, but the truth is the Longhorns have been one of the most dominant teams in the NCAA tournament. They have won three games by an average margin of 35.3 points. The shooting percentages across the board for Texas have improved from the regular season, and the Longhorns just forced 24 turnovers from a Wildcats’ team that averaged fewer than 13 per game during the regular season. Texas did lose that third quarter to Kentucky 19-18, but it’s the only quarter the Longhorns didn’t win so far in this tournament.

Up next: vs. Michigan (Monday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN)

4. South Carolina Gamecocks
Original seed: No. 1 (Sacramento 4)
Results: Def. No. 16 Southern 103-34 (first round); defeated No. 9 USC 101-61 (round of 32); def. No. 4. Oklahoma 94-68 (Sweet 16)

Getting revenge on the team that handed South Carolina its only regular-season SEC loss was no doubt secondary to the bigger incentive of advancing to a fifth straight Elite Eight, but the Gamecocks played like a team that was not going to leave anything to chance this time against Oklahoma. South Carolina never trailed in Saturday’s regional semifinal matchup, and after losing by 12 to the Sooners on Jan. 22, it prevailed by 26. The biggest difference for the Gamecocks was Ta’Niya Latson, the Florida State transfer who was playing in her first Sweet 16. In the first meeting in Norman, Latson scored six points. On Saturday, she topped all scorers with 28, looking like the player who led the country in scoring last season as a Seminole and one who could be the difference in South Carolina finishing a national championship run.

Up next: vs. TCU (Monday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN)

5. Michigan Wolverines
Original seed: No. 2 seed (Fort Worth 3)
Results: Def. No. 15 Holy Cross 83-48 (first round); def. No. 7 NC State 92-63 (round of 32); def. No. 3 Louisville 71-52 (Sweet 16)

The Wolverines have been one of the most explosive teams in the NCAA tournament. They began this run — to their second Elite Eight appearance in program history — with a 27-6 first quarter against Holy Cross. In the second-round, against NC State, Michigan came roaring out of the locker room to put up 64 second-half points. A pair of 18-0 runs, one in each half, fueled the 19-point victory over Louisville on Saturday. All those spurts have been triggered by the Wolverines’ press, which has helped force 60 turnovers in the tourney, as well as the play of Olivia Olson and Syla Swords, who have combined to average 37.6 points per game.

Up next: vs. Texas (Monday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Louisville Cardinals vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game Highlights

6. Duke Blue Devils
Original seed: No. 3 (Sacramento 2)
Results: Def. No. 14 Charleston 81-64 (first round); def. No. 6 Baylor 69-46 (round of 32); def. No. 2 LSU 87-85 (Sweet 16)

If only Duke had played UCLA earlier in the season — because getting revenge seems to be the Blue Devils’ thing. For the second straight game in the NCAA tournament, Duke beat a team it lost to previously in the campaign. Duke topped Baylor in the second round. And 3½ months after a 16-point loss to LSU, the Blue Devils survived against the Tigers on an Ashlon Jackson 3-pointer at the buzzer. Kara Lawson’s squad has gone from failing to reach the NCAA tournament in her first full year to making consecutive trips to the Elite Eight. A Final Four appearance would be Duke’s first since 2006, when Gail Goestenkors was the coach. Friday’s 87 points by the sometimes uneven Duke offense was its most since Feb. 8 against SMU.

Up next: vs. UCLA (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ABC)

Duke wins at the buzzer as Ashlon Jackson’s 3 spins around and goes in

Ashlon Jackson fires a shot at the buzzer that goes down as Duke stuns LSU to move on to the Elite Eight.

7. TCU Horned Frogs
Original seed: No. 3 (Sacramento 4)
Results: Def. No. 14 UC San Diego 86-40 (first round); def. No. 6 Washington 62-59 OT (round of 32); def. No. 10 Virginia 79-69 (Sweet 16)

The Horned Frogs have ridden the Olivia Miles-Marta Suarez duo all season. Mark Campbell referred to the pair as Batman and Robin, not being specific as to which character was which. But TCU reached the Sweet 16 leaning heavily on Miles, who averaged a triple-double over the first two rounds. Suarez, a nearly 17 points-per-game scorer in the regular season, was 8-of-26 from the field through TCU’s first two tournament games, averaging 10 points. The Horned Frogs got their second superhero back against Virginia. In fact, Suarez had her best scoring game of the season with 33 points. And the importance of the dynamic duo cannot be understated. Miles added 28 points and the two either scored or assisted on all 79 of TCU’s points.

Up next: vs. South Carolina (Monday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN)

8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Original seed: No. 6 (Fort Worth 1)
Results: Def. No. 11 Fairfield 79-60 (first round); def. No. 3 Ohio State 83-73 (round of 32); Def. No. 2 Vanderbilt 67-64 (Sweet 16)

In 2023 and 2024, Caitlin Clark lifted Iowa to appearances in the NCAA tournament national title game. Last year, Paige Bueckers put UConn on her back for the first three rounds of the Big Dance. The 2026 tourney now belongs to Hannah Hidalgo. With 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals on Friday, Hidalgo recorded the second 30-point triple-double in NCAA tournament history. (Clark was the other, in the Elite Eight against Louisville in 2023.) It was the fifth time this season Hidalgo had grabbed at least 10 steals. But it’s one thing to do that against Akron, Bellarmine or SMU. To do it in a regional semifinal against No. 2 seed Vanderbilt is truly historic. Hidalgo now has the record for the most steals in a single NCAA tourney. And Notre Dame is in the Elite Eight for the first time under Niele Ivey. But UConn represents a different level of challenge. Hidalgo’s history against the Huskies is actually good. In her first two games versus UConn, both Fighting Irish wins, she averaged 31.5 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The matchup earlier this campaign went differently: Notre Dame lost 85-47 on Jan. 19 in Storrs, and Hidalgo posted 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting, with just four rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Up next: vs. UConn (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, ABC)