NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 2025: Top Storylines, Updated Bracket Picks
The Sweet 16 for the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament is set, and it will feature no less than a No. 5 seed for the first time since 1998-99.
UConn and South Carolina are the favorites to raise a championship banner, though other top seeds such as UCLA, Texas, Notre Dame, and USC are all capable of causing havoc.
With the Sweet 16 set to kick off Friday, here's everything you need to know from key storylines to ultimate predictions.
Sweet 16 Bracket Picks
Friday, March 28
2 Duke vs. 3 North Carolina (Pick: North Carolina)
1 South Carolina vs. Maryland (Pick: South Carolina)
2 NC State vs. 3 LSU (Pick: LSU)
1 UCLA vs. 5 Ole Miss (Pick: UCLA)
Saturday, March 29
2 TCU vs. 3 Notre Dame (Pick: Notre Dame)
1 Texas vs. 5 Tennessee (Pick: Tennessee)
2 UConn vs. 3 Oklahoma (Pick: UConn)
1 USC vs. 5 Kansas State (Pick: USC)
USC to Be Without JuJu Watkins for the Remainder of Tournament
If USC wants to win its first championship since 1983-84, it’ll have to do so without Juju Watkins.
The sophomore guard suffered a season-ending torn ACL early in the first quarter of the Trojans’ second-round victory over Ole Miss.
The two-time first-team All-American has gotten off to a dominant two-year start at USC, scoring the second-most points in NCAAW history through her first two seasons.
Without Watkins, forward Kiki Iriafen, who averages 18.6 points per game, will need to step up.
Iriafen enters Saturday's Sweet 16 off the heels of a dominant 36-point performance in the second round, where she went 16-22 from the field.
Elsewhere, freshman guard Avery Howell came off the bench and scored 18 points, shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc and dishing a career-high six assists.
Performances of this kind are what the Trojans will need, especially when they potentially face No. 2 UConn in the Elite Eight.
UConn Emerging As the Favorite
Since falling to Tennessee on February 6, UConn has won 12 straight games by a whopping average of 35 points.
The Huskies' defense has been dominant this year, surrendering a league-low 51.5 points per game, the team's lowest surrendered since 2015-16, when they last won a national championship.
On the opposite end, they are the only team in the nation to shoot over 50 percent from the field.
In the Huskies' 91-57 second-round victory over No. 10 South Dakota, it became inherently clear just how talented this team is.
UConn completely dominated a team that entered the night with a nation-leading 20-game win streak.
By the end of the third quarter, UConn senior guard and likely No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, Paige Bueckers, had scored four less points (32) than all of the Jackrabbits' offense.
Across the game, UConn forced South Dakota State into committing 25 total turnovers, troubling the Jackrabbits all night with their relentless tempo on both sides of the floor.
The Huskies continue to prove that they are the most complete team in the nation and have won their two tournament games by a combined 103 points.
Geno Auriemma's squad should at least reach the Final Four, with a high possibility of raising a championship banner for the first time since 2016.