The road to a national title runs through a familiar powerhouse program.
The UConn Huskies enter the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament looking to defend last year’s championship after earning a No. 1 seed in the bracket reveal on Sunday night. Joining the Huskies on the 1-seed line are the UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks and the Texas Longhorns.
With the bracket officially set, FOX Sports’ women’s college basketball experts filled out their predictions for how the 2026 tournament could play out — from potential upsets to the teams most likely to cut down the nets.
Laken Litman, college football/basketball and soccer writer
Biggest first-round upset: No. 12 James Madison over No. 5 Kentucky
First No. 1 seed to lose: South Carolina, Texas (Final Four)
Final Four: UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas
National champion: UCLA
Why UCLA will win the national championship: The Bruins will win the program’s first-ever national title by taking down the defending champs. All year long, UCLA has been the best team. The Bruins have lost only one game — to now fellow No. 1 seed Texas back in November — and went onto win the Big Ten Tournament. Had UCLA and unbeaten UConn had identical records, the Bruins probably would have been the top-ranked team in the country and the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament given the number of Quad 1 wins on their résumé. Now, they’ll get a chance to prove why. Led by Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice, UCLA has the depth, the length and the talent to win it all.
[NCAA TOURNAMENT: 1 Thing to Know About Every Women’s Team]
Elise Woodward, women’s basketball analyst
Biggest first-round upset: No. 9 USC over No. 8 Clemson
First No. 1 seed to lose: South Carolina, Texas (Final Four)
Final Four: UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas
National champion: UCLA
Why UCLA will win the national championship: The Bruins are deep, experienced and skilled. All five starters are seniors and have scored 1,000 career points, while two of them — Gianni Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker — have topped 2,000 career points. Lauren Betts, the Bruins’ 6-foot-7 senior, is the best two-way center in the nation with the ability to impact the game on both sides of the ball. This is a team that seems like it’s having fun and will enjoy the ride to a title.
