Women’s March Madness: Ranking the best first-round NCAA Tournament games

The bracket is set. The First Four is underway. And on Friday, the first spherical of the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament formally ideas off.

With 16 games on Friday and one other 16 on Saturday, it may be arduous to determine the place to place your consideration. Here are eight best first-round games you do not need to miss.

8. No. 5 Kentucky vs. No. 12 James Madison

Saturday, 2:30 pm, ESPNU

This match-up is notable primarily for narrative causes. Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks performed for James Madison after which coached there from 1998 to 2016, first as a males’s assistant, however most notably as the head coach of the ladies’s staff beginning in 2003. Brooks led the Dukes to 4 CAA regular-season championships, 5 convention event championships and 5 NCAA Tournament appearances and is in the James Madison Athletics Hall of Fame.

This is the Dukes’ best season since Brooks left for Virginia Tech in 2016, however Kentucky is a tricky draw for certain. Pay consideration to the battle in the publish — JMU ranks in the high 15 nationally in each rebounds and rebounding margin, thanks in huge half to Ashanti Barnes. But the Wildcats have 6-foot-5 middle Clara Strack, who averages 17.1 factors and 10 rebounds a recreation.

7. No. 8 Oklahoma State vs. No. 9 Princeton

Saturday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2

You by no means know fairly what to anticipate from this Oklahoma State staff. Case in level: In late February, the Cowgirls fell 72-40 to West Virginia after which beat Iowa State 88-77. The Cowgirls impressively completed fourth in the aggressive Big 12 and are looking for their first NCAA Tournament win in the Jacie Hoyt period.

Princeton went 26-3 this season and received the Ivy League championship to make its fifth straight NCAA Tournament look. The Tigers have not received a recreation in the Big Dance since upsetting NC State in 2023, however this 12 months’s squad is ranked No. 23 in the nation and appears primed to get a win for the mid-majors.

6. No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Fairfield

Saturday, 2 p.m., ESPN

I’ll be trustworthy: this recreation may simply be a blowout. Notre Dame completed the season robust and has one in every of the most electrical gamers in the nation, Hannah Hidalgo. But I’m together with it as a result of the Irish have additionally been inconsistent throughout this rebuilding 12 months and Fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis has turned the Stags right into a MAAC powerhouse in her 4 seasons at the helm.

The Stags are on an 11-game profitable streak heading into their third straight NCAA Tournament, and a No. 11 seed is their highest since 1988. Plus, Fairfield leads the nation in 3-pointers made with 11.4 per recreation. It’s uncertain the Stags will be capable to cease Hidalgo, but when they get scorching from past the arc, they simply may be capable to sustain together with her.

5. No. 6 Baylor vs. No. 11 Nebraska

Friday, 2 p.m., ESPN

Speaking of being due, in 2025, No. 11 seeds went 0-4 in the first spherical for the first time since 2017. I would not anticipate that to occur once more this 12 months. One No. 11 seed to be careful for is Nebraska, which received its First Four recreation 75-56 in opposition to Richmond on Wednesday evening. The Huskers shook off their nerves early and got here out after halftime on fireplace, occurring a 17-0 run and profitable the third quarter 27-6. Britt Prince was notably spectacular, with 22 factors, 5 assists and three boards.

None of the Huskers performed greater than half-hour on Wednesday, so they need to be a lot recent when dealing with Baylor on Friday. The Bears misplaced 4 of their final seven games, and though all of these losses got here to NCAA Tournament groups, it is regarding how a lot they’ve struggled offensively down the stretch, scoring simply 53 factors of their two most up-to-date games.

On paper, the sensational Taliah Scott ought to be capable to lead the Bears to the second spherical. But Nebraska has already confirmed that it got here to Durham to offer its all.

4. No. 5 Ole Miss vs. No. 12 Gonzaga

Saturday, 3:30 pm ET, ESPN2

This is a fairly lopsided recreation seed-wise, however that is as a result of Gonzaga has one in every of the predominant X-factors that helps groups get upsets in March: 3-point taking pictures. Gonzaga has the second-best 3-point share in the nation behind UConn, led by Allie Turner, who shoots 46.7% from exterior.

Ole Miss can beat the best groups in the recreation — it upset No. 2 seed Vanderbilt twice this season and solely misplaced to No. 1 seed Texas by three factors. But the Rebels are inconsistent — they misplaced to a few groups that did not make the NCAA Tournament in Kansas State, Florida and Texas A&M.

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Last 12 months, No. 12 seeds went 0-4 for the second straight season after going 2-2 in 2022 and 2023, so one may say the No. 12s are due for a win. If nothing else, it is value it to tune in and watch Ole Miss’s Cotie McMahon compete on the greatest stage.

3. No. 8 Iowa State vs. No. 9 Syracuse

Saturday, 5:30 p.m., ESPN2

These groups have had very completely different journeys this season. Iowa State opened the season ranked No. 14 and spent the first 10 weeks ranked in the AP high 25 earlier than occurring a five-game shedding streak whereas grappling with an damage to ahead Addy Brown. Syracuse, in the meantime, bounced again from a 12-18 season final 12 months to return to the Big Dance thanks largely to ACC Freshman of the Year Uche Izoje, a 21-year-old middle from Nigeria.

Izoje can have her palms full on Saturday with Audi Crooks, the junior middle who’s second in the nation in scoring at 25.5 factors per recreation. Crooks scored 40 factors in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman, and with one other huge recreation he may be part of Caitlin Clark and Candace Wiggins as the solely gamers with a number of 40-point games in the NCAA Tournament.

2. No. 8 Clemson vs. No. 9 USC

Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2

This has been an anticipated down 12 months for USC with celebrity JuJu Watkins sidelined with an ACL tear, however the Trojans are nonetheless a event staff due to freshman phenom Jazzy Davidson, who’s main the staff in factors (17.6), rebounds (5.7), assists (4.2), steals (2.0) and blocks (2.0) per recreation.

Clemson, in the meantime, is one in every of the best tales in school basketball this 12 months. With a high 10 recruiting class becoming a member of the program this summer time, coach Shawn Poppie has the Tigers again in the NCAA event for the first time since 2019 and the second time since 2002. Clemson notched spectacular wins over 4 of the different eight ACC groups that certified for the NCAA Tournament, together with convention champions Duke.

While the future is brilliant for each packages, each need to show that they belong now.

1. No. 7 NC State vs. No. 10 Tennessee

Friday, 8 pm ET, ESPN

When the Wolfpack and Lady Vols confronted off in the very first recreation of the season at the Ro Greensboro Invitational, each groups have been ranked in the high 10 and had goals of convention championships and deep NCAA Tournament runs. Now, one in every of them might be going dwelling winless in March.

NC State received that November recreation 80-77, however that will be its solely win over a ranked staff all season. Despite standout seasons from Zoe Brooks and Khamil Pierre, each All-ACC first staff choices, this younger Wolfpack squad spent the season marred by a scarcity of chemistry and management.

Tennessee (16-13) is the solely staff to seem in each NCAA Tournament, but it surely enters this version on a seven-game shedding streak, the longest by the Lady Vols in the NCAA Tournament period. With simply 16 wins, they tie the fewest wins by any at-large staff in the previous 40 years, excluding the shortened 2020-21 season. And as dangerous as all of these sounds, Tennessee’s final month has felt even worse, leaving many questioning about the way forward for coach Kim Caldwell.

I do know, I do know, I’m doing a very good job promoting this one! But nonetheless, this one tops the must-watch record as a result of that Nov. 4 recreation was a thriller, and I anticipate this one to be, too. Brooks vs. Tennessee’s press is value the worth of admission alone, and due to Tennessee’s latest troubles and storied legacy in the spot, the stakes really feel extremely excessive. And Tennessee nonetheless has tons of expertise — Talaysia Cooper and Janiah Barker can go toe-to-toe with the best in the nation.