Women's March Madness 2026: Ranking the Elite Eight

charlie creamMarch 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 as if they never left.

The other six teams that advanced to the Women’s Elite Eight had played in the regional finals a year earlier. However, this does not mean that it is the same. Yukon Not any more Paige Bueckers. UCLA couple Gianna KnipkensAnd South Carolina brought Tania Latson rider. TCU has a completely different look with olivia miles And marta suarez.

All four No. 1 seeds and favorites to reach the Final Four had little trouble getting to this point. Nearest game between UConn, UCLA, texas And the Bruins won by 19 points at South Carolina oklahoma state In Round 2. The quartet’s average margin of victory in the regional semi-finals was 23.3 points.

The No. 2 seeds weren’t as lucky: only Michigan remained.

Notre Dame A few years ago it was a perennial power, but now, as a 6-seed, it qualifies as a Cinderella. The Fighting Irish played UConn, Michigan and ruler (Twice) this season, they lost all four games by an average of 23 points. But the Irish have the hottest player left in the NCAA Tournament hannah hidalgo.

Still, that was not enough to prevent Notre Dame from finishing in last place in the updated Elite Eight rankings. Will Hidalgo be enough to pull off an upset in the tournament and defeat No. 1 UConn? Here’s a look at the final eight.

1. yukon huskies
Original seeds: No. 1 overall (Fort Worth 1)
Result: Garland. No. 16 UTSA 90-52 (First Round); Defeated. No. 9 Syracuse 98-45 (Round of 32); Defeated. No. 4 North Carolina 63-42 (Sweet 16)

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

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

2. UCLA Bruins

Original seeds: No. 1 (Sacramento 2)
Result: Garland. No. 16 Cal Baptist 96-43 (First Round); Defeated. No. 8 Oklahoma State 87–68 (Round of 32); Defeated. No. 4 Minnesota 80-56 (Sweet 16)

With six seniors, who are all 1,000-point scorers, this should be their year for the Bruins. Maybe that’s why in the Bruins’ two NCAA Tournament wins, most of the urgency came in the second half. UCLA outscored Minnesota by 19 in the final 20 minutes on Friday to advance to its second consecutive regional final. UCLA ranks second in the nation in effective field goal percentage, points per scoring attempt and points per game. That kind of efficiency has fueled the Bruins in their first three tournament appearances. No player has given more examples than this Lauren BatesJoe is shooting 31 of 43 from the field and averaging 24.3 points in March Madness.

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

3. Texas Longhorns
Original seeds: No. 1 (Fort Worth 3)
Result: Garland. No. 16 Missouri State 87–45 (First Round); Defeated. No. 8 Oregon 100-58 (Round of 32); Defeated. No. 5 Kentucky 76-54 (Sweet 16)

Vic Schaefer said he didn’t like his team’s performance in the third quarter against Kentucky, but the truth is the Longhorns have been one of the most impressive teams In the NCAA Tournament. They have won three games by an average margin of 35.3 points. Shooting percentage across the board for Texas improved from the regular season, and the Longhorns forced only 24 turnovers from a Wildcats team that averaged less than 13 per game during the season. Texas lost to Kentucky 19–18 in that third quarter, but it is the only quarter the Longhorns have not won so far in this tournament.

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

4. South Carolina Gamecocks
Original seeds: No. 1 (Sacramento 4)
Result: Garland. No. 16 Southern 103-34 (first round); Defeated No. 9 USC 101–61 (Round of 32); Defeated. No. 4. Oklahoma 94-68 (Sweet 16)

Getting revenge on the team that handed South Carolina its only SEC loss of the regular season was no doubt secondary to the bigger incentive of advancing to its fifth consecutive Elite Eight, but the Gamecocks played like a team that wanted to leave no stone unturned this time against Oklahoma. South Carolina never turn back In Saturday’s regional semifinal matchup, and after losing to the Sooners by 12 on Jan. 22, it won by 26. The biggest difference was for the Gamecocks. Tania LatsonFlorida 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 nation in scoring last season as a Seminole and who could make the difference in the national championship in South Carolina.

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

5. michigan wolverines
Original seeds: No. 2 seed (Fort Worth 3)
Result: Garland. No. 15 Holy Cross 83-48 (First Round); Defeated. No. 7 NC State 92-63 (Round of 32); Defeated. No. 3 Louisville 71-52 (Sweet 16)

The Wolverines have been one of the most explosive teams in the NCAA Tournament. They started this run – en route to their second Elite Eight appearance in program history – with a 27–6 first quarter loss against Holy Cross. In the second round, against NC State, Michigan came out of the locker room and scored 64 points in the second half. A pair of 18-0 runs, one in each half, fueled 19 point win over Louisville On Saturday. All of these surges have been sparked by the Wolverines’ press, which has helped force 60 turnovers in the tournament, as well. olivia olson And stitched swordsWho has scored an average of 37.6 points per game.

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

Louisville Cardinals vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game Highlights

6. duke blue devils
Original seeds: No. 3 (Sacramento 2)
Result: Garland. No. 14 Charleston 81-64 (First Round); Defeated. No. 6 Baylor 69-46 (Round of 32); Defeated. No. 2 LSU 87-85 (Sweet 16)

I wish Duke had played UCLA early in the season – because revenge seems to be the Blue Devils’ thing. For the second consecutive game in the NCAA Tournament, Duke defeated a team it had lost to earlier in the campaign. Duke swept Baylor in the second round. And three and a half months after a 16-point loss to LSU, the Blue Devils survived against the Tigers ashlon jackson 3-pointer on the buzzer. Kara Lawson’s team has gone from failing to reach the NCAA Tournament in her first full year to making consecutive trips to the Elite Eight. This will be Duke’s first appearance in the Final Four since 2006, when Gail Goestenkors was the coach. Friday’s 87 points by the sometimes uneven Duke offense were the most since Feb. 8 against SMU.

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

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

Ashlon Jackson fired a shot at the buzzer that went down and Duke stunned LSU to advance to the Elite Eight.

7. tcu horned frog
Original seeds: No. 3 (Sacramento 4)
Result: Garland. No. 14 UC San Diego 86-40 (First Round); Defeated. No. 6 Washington 62-59 OT (Round of 32); Defeated. No. 10 Virginia 79-69 (Sweet 16)

Horned frogs depend on olivia miles–marta suarez Combo in all season. Coach Mark Campbell referred to the pair as Batman and Robin, not making it clear which character was which. But TCU reached the Sweet 16 by relying heavily on Miles, who averaged a triple-double in the first two rounds. Suarez, a scorer of nearly 17 points per game in the regular season, averaged 10 points on 8 of 26 from the field during TCU’s first two tournament tilts. The Frogs got their second star performing well again against Virginia. In fact, Suárez enjoyed his best scoring game of the season with 33 points. And the importance of the dynamic duo cannot be underestimated. Miles added 28 points against the Cavaliers, and both either scored or assisted on all 79 of TCU’s points.

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

8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Original seeds: No. 6 (Fort Worth 1)
Result: Garland. No. 11 Fairfield 79-60 (First Round); Defeated. No. 3 Ohio State 83-73 (Round of 32); Garland. No. 2 Vanderbilt 67–64 (Sweet 16)

In 2023 and 2024, Caitlin Clark Advances Iowa to the national title game of the NCAA Tournament. last year, Paige Bueckers Put UConn on its back for the first three rounds of the Big Dance. now the tournament is 2026 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 at least 10 steals. But it’s one thing to do it against Akron, Bellarmine or SMU. To do so in the regional semifinals against No. 2 seed Vanderbilt is truly historic. Hidalgo now holds the record for most steals in a single NCAA Tournament. And Notre Dame is in the Elite Eight for the first time under Neal Ivey. But UConn represents a different level of challenge. Hidalgo has a really good history against the Huskies. In his first two games against UConn, both Fighting Irish victories, he averaged 31.5 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The first matchup of this campaign went differently: Notre Dame lost 85–47 at Storrs on January 19, and Hidalgo posted 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting, with only four rebounds, three steals and two assists.

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