Editor’s note: This story was posted before USC announced that JuJu Watkins had suffered a season-ending knee injury and will miss the rest of the 2025 women’s NCAA tournament. ESPN’s Shams Charania reports that Watkins suffered a torn ACL in her right knee.
The nation’s best teams made it through to the women’s Sweet 16 with little resistance.
Aside from 5-seed Kansas State and 4-seed Maryland needing thrilling overtime games to advance, the first two rounds of the 2025 women’s NCAA tournament offered little drama. Not a single seed lower than a No. 5 reached the regionals.
But big-time matchups await — and there is plenty of movement in ESPN’s Sweet 16 rankings.
UConn was the betting favorite heading into the NCAA tournament and has been the most impressive team of March Madness so far. South Carolina had the closest game among the No. 1 seeds. Some teams, such as NC State, Oklahoma and TCU, were even better in the round of 32 than they were in their tournament openers. How does it all impact their positioning?
This is the place to find out.
1. UConn Huskies
Original seed: No. 2 (Spokane 4)
Tournament results: Defeated No. 15 Arkansas State 103-34 (first round);
