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The UConn women's basketball team was tabbed as the No. 1 overall seed in the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament bracket on Sunday night, while UCLA was given the No. 2 overall seed.
Rounding out the No. 1 seeds were Texas in the Fort Worth 3 Region and South Carolina in Sacramento 4.
There had been discussion and debate as the season wound down about who would get the No. 1 seed. Despite UConn’s undefeated record, people around women’s college basketball were making the case for UCLA to get the top spot. Among the cheerleaders for the Bruins was former Notre Dame head coach and ACC Network contributor Muffet McGraw.
“UConn is certainly good enough to win the national championship, but UCLA and South Carolina have had as much success against a much tougher schedule,” McGraw wrote on X.
The case for UCLA begins with the fact that it has 19 Quad 1 wins — the most in the country and 10 more than UConn. The Bruins, led by Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice, also rank first in WAB (wins above bubble) and strength of schedule based off of the average NET ranking of opponents.
But UConn is undefeated and that matters a whole lot. The 34-0 champs of the Big East have nine Quad 1 wins and five Quad 2 wins. They also rank first nationally in NET, non-conference strength of schedule, and advanced metrics like the Bart Torvik Rating and Her Hoop Stats Rating. Powered by Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, the Huskies also have three more road wins than the Bruins and one more non-conference win.
The chair of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee for this season — Wisconsin-Milwaukee athletic director Amanda Braun — explained the reasoning for UConn getting the top seed on Sunday night:
“The debate was pretty close the whole time. Just two terrific teams that won a whole lot of games. We took a committee vote and watched a lot of UConn and a lot of UCLA as a group. The vote ultimately gave the edge to UConn,” Braun told ESPN. “I would say observable component was talked about a whole lot. The way we watched UConn win throughout the year from beginning to the end.”
UConn has won all but one of its games this season by double figures, the lone outlier being a three-point win over Michigan on a neutral court in November.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why UConn got the No. 1 seed over UCLA in 2026 Women's NCAA Tournament
Continue reading...
Rounding out the No. 1 seeds were Texas in the Fort Worth 3 Region and South Carolina in Sacramento 4.
There had been discussion and debate as the season wound down about who would get the No. 1 seed. Despite UConn’s undefeated record, people around women’s college basketball were making the case for UCLA to get the top spot. Among the cheerleaders for the Bruins was former Notre Dame head coach and ACC Network contributor Muffet McGraw.
“UConn is certainly good enough to win the national championship, but UCLA and South Carolina have had as much success against a much tougher schedule,” McGraw wrote on X.
The case for UCLA begins with the fact that it has 19 Quad 1 wins — the most in the country and 10 more than UConn. The Bruins, led by Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice, also rank first in WAB (wins above bubble) and strength of schedule based off of the average NET ranking of opponents.
But UConn is undefeated and that matters a whole lot. The 34-0 champs of the Big East have nine Quad 1 wins and five Quad 2 wins. They also rank first nationally in NET, non-conference strength of schedule, and advanced metrics like the Bart Torvik Rating and Her Hoop Stats Rating. Powered by Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, the Huskies also have three more road wins than the Bruins and one more non-conference win.
The chair of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee for this season — Wisconsin-Milwaukee athletic director Amanda Braun — explained the reasoning for UConn getting the top seed on Sunday night:
“The debate was pretty close the whole time. Just two terrific teams that won a whole lot of games. We took a committee vote and watched a lot of UConn and a lot of UCLA as a group. The vote ultimately gave the edge to UConn,” Braun told ESPN. “I would say observable component was talked about a whole lot. The way we watched UConn win throughout the year from beginning to the end.”
UConn has won all but one of its games this season by double figures, the lone outlier being a three-point win over Michigan on a neutral court in November.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why UConn got the No. 1 seed over UCLA in 2026 Women's NCAA Tournament
Continue reading...
