Congrats to South Carolina, which was the No. 1 team in all but one edition of this season’s rankings. The Gamecocks proved they were the best team in college basketball for all of 2023-24, just like last year, only this time they were able to cap their remarkable regular season with a national championship. South Carolina’s success was the primary validation of these power rankings, though the last poll did feature 15 of the Sweet 16 teams in the top 18 (apologies to Duke).

In case you’re interested in how well my first power rankings of 2023-24 held up, take a gander! Oregon State really came out of nowhere.

As we look ahead to 2024-25, a reminder that this is an indicator of how teams stand right now, though WNBA Draft decisions and transfers — keep an eye on Oregon State and Washington State following the dissolution of the Pac-12 — could substantially change the makeup of rosters. I’ve priced in some player improvement, particularly for younger players with high pedigree, but otherwise tried to assess these squads based on how the players finished this season. Let me know in the comments if you think I’m overlooking anyone.

Almost famous: Kentucky, Michigan State, Vanderbilt

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Why South Carolina over UConn?

South Carolina is losing Kamilla Cardoso, but otherwise…

The full NCAA Tournament bracket has been released with UConn leading the way as No. 1 overall.

(Editor’s note: This is part of the Bracket Central Series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.)

Eight double-digit seeds secured first-round upsets in the NCAA Tournament to bust brackets across the country. But when the dust settled on the opening weekend, only one double-digit seed was left standing in the Sweet 16: No. 11 NC State in the South Region.

Despite a season filled with so many evenly-matched teams, every No. 1 and No. 2 seed is still alive in the Sweet 16 for the first time in five years and just the fifth time since the NCAA Tournament began seeding in 1979. Of the 16 games involving one or two seeds, only three were decided by single digits.

With the Sweet 16 upon us, here are our latest NCAA Tournament power rankings for all 16 remaining national title contenders. Consider this our re-seeding of the Sweet 16, if you wish. We will update this ranking after every round and until the Final Four begins. Many of the top-seeded teams have looked dominant. Which one is in the best position to make a run at the championship? Here’s a look at where things stand:

The full NCAA Tournament bracket has been released with UConn leading the way as No. 1 overall.

(Editor’s note: This is part of the Bracket Central Series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.)

March Madness is upon us.

Well, technically it began during a wild conference tournament season ahead of the NCAA Tournament. But now, we get the really good stuff. The Cinderellas. The players you hadn’t heard of before this week who are now household names. The buzzer-beaters. Ultimately, though, we all want to know who will be cutting down the nets in April. And so we present: the top 16 national title contenders in our NCAA Tournament Power Rankings.

We will update this ranking after every round and until the Final Four begins. If top-seeded teams fall, others will take their place. If some lower-seeded teams look stronger than expected, they’ll move up the list.

Who’s on top to start? Of course it’s Connecticut. Here’s a look at where things stand as we enter Thursday’s first round:

April showers might bring May flowers, but Selection Sunday brings Transfer Portal Monday. … That’s what they say, right?

Welcome to transfer portal season, where the action in the portal somehow manages to rival the action we see on the floor. In each of the past two seasons, more than 1,000 women’s basketball players entered the portal in hopes of finding a new landing spot.

As we have in the past, we’ll be tracking the biggest names and most impactful players who enter their names over the next month and a half.

We’re only a day in, and it’s already hot. Here’s a ranking of the top prospects who are available in the transfer portal.

Arkansas freshman guard

Key stats: 22.1 points per game (PPG), 3.3 rebounds per game (RPG), 41 percent field goal percentage (FG%)

Scott will be one of the most highly coveted portal players given her offensive ability and three years of eligibility remaining. Among freshmen nationally, only USC’s JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo scored more points per game than Scott this season. Her 3-point shot needs a bit of work (she shot only 30 percent from beyond the arc), but she’s a three-level scorer regardless. At 5 feet 9, she’s still a threat in getting to the bucket, and she drew more than four fouls per game this…

Selection Sunday has come and gone, and if your favorite team landed in the Albany 2 Region, my sincerest apologies.

At The Athletic, we have you covered with all the big-picture details of the bracket, including the paths to the Final Four for last year’s national finalists as well as South Carolina, who enters as this year’s favorite. But the fun of filling out a bracket (you can print ours here) isn’t just figuring out the Final Four teams; it’s knowing which 11th-seeded team will upset a power conference program and which underdog can silence a hosting team’s home crowd.

You can’t have the Big Dance without Cinderella, and thankfully, there are several candidates in this year’s field waiting to try on that glass slipper to see if it fits. Here’s a look at some double-digit seeds who are threats to spring early-round upsets.

No. 11 Texas A&M

I just can’t quit Texas A&M. The Aggies featured in my preseason top 25 — a prediction that did not age well as they lost five of their final six SEC games and failed to enter the rankings for the entirety of the regular season. However, when Texas A&M is at its peak, it can contend with talented opposition. The Aggies boast double-digit wins over Kansas, Ole Miss and Tennessee, and they stayed within 11 points of South…

The Athletic has live coverage of Selection Sunday and the NCAA Tournament bracket reveal. 

(Editor’s note: This is part of the Bracket Central Series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.)

Pure. Chaos.

Madness came early on Saturday, leaving a trail of stolen bids, burst bubbles and flummoxed bracketologists in its wake. Now? Selection Sunday is here.

We know we have four legit bid thieves: NC State in the ACC, Oregon in the Pac-12 and two more coming Sunday in the A-10 and AAC. Drake’s upset over Indiana State in the MVC title game might end up as a fifth functional bid thief. Wild.

Get your March Madness printable bracket

The bracket reveal is mere hours away. In the meantime, we’ll do our best to calculate the bubble math and take stock of an absolutely wild day of college hoops.

Here’s my best estimation of where things stand entering Sunday:

• There are 32 automatic qualifying bids via conference champions. There are 36 at-large bids. Total of 68.

• At least 21 of those 32 conferences will be one-bid leagues, including the Ivy League championship between Brown and Yale on Sunday. So let’s start with 21.

• Give at least four bids to the ACC: AQ and three at-large locks….

The Athletic has live coverage of Selection Sunday and the Women’s NCAA Tournament bracket reveal

The final full day of conference tournaments has come and gone, and wow, what a jam-packed slate. We ultimately came away without any upsets that would put a potential at-large bid in question, but we witnessed some great games and competition.

For the first time since 2002, Kent State is headed to the NCAA Tournament. California Baptist, in Year 6 as a Division I program, earned its first ticket to the Big Dance. Norfolk State matched last season’s win total and tied its program DI record with 26 wins this season after punching its ticket to the tournament as well, back for a second straight year. Fairfield won its 31st game of the season, outlasting Niagara in one of the most frenetic games of the past few weeks to secure its trip to March Madness.

Get your women’s March Madness printable bracket

In the most anticipated game of the day, Princeton won the Ivy League championship comfortably, likely denying the possibility of the Ivy as a two-bid conference.

So on Selection Sunday, as we dive into our final Bracket Watch, a quick thank you for following along. We have a wealth of tournament coverage coming as the brackets are revealed (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) on the selection show. You…