Women's NCAA Tournament bracket is out!

Mar 02, 2026
First-weekend host, No. 42 seed, Hardin-Simmons.
Hardin-Simmons athletics photo by Scott Burkhalter
  

Here's who's going where when the NCAA Tournament starts on Friday. How did we get all those Texas teams sent out? Spoiler alert: We did not. 

Nobody in Texas had a high enough seed to host, and nobody was even seeded highly enough to get a No. 2 seed under normal circumstances: Hardin-Simmons is seeded 42nd and shouldn't be hosting a pod with the 46th, 50th and 61st seeds. But that's what happened here, as this bracket is definitely a victim of the geographical and financial restrictions in Division III. The winner of that bracket goes to No. 1 NYU, perhaps, for the round of 16.

Transylvania's failure to file paperwork to host ensured that they could not help fix some of the geographic challenges in this bracket. Anyone in Indiana, Ohio or Kentucky who might qualify for the NCAA Tournament should always file to host. 

  • More analysis to come

Seeding for all 64 teams:

Rank Team Conf NPI  How? At-large
rank		 Overall
seed
1 New York University UAA 69.897 AQ - 1
2 UW-Oshkosh WIAC 69.042 At-Lg 1 2
3 Washington and Lee ODAC 68.198 AQ - 3
4 Scranton LAND 67.260 AQ - 4
5 Johns Hopkins CC 66.651 At-Lg 2 5
6 Denison NCAC 65.559 At-Lg 3 6
7 Hope MIAA 65.143 AQ - 7
8 Bowdoin NESCAC 63.763 At-Lg 4 8
9 John Carroll NCAC 63.713 At-Lg 5 9
10 UW-Whitewater WIAC 63.624 At-Lg 6 10
11 UW-La Crosse WIAC 63.476 AQ - 11
12 Concordia-Moorhead MIAC 63.338 At-Lg 7 12
13 Bethel MIAC 63.184 AQ - 13
14 Bates NESCAC 62.683 AQ - 14
15 Washington U. UAA 62.678 At-Lg 8 15
16 Ohio Wesleyan NCAC 62.664 At-Lg 9 16
17 Illinois Wesleyan CCIW 62.660 AQ - 17
18 Smith NEWMAC 62.418 AQ - 18
19 UW-Platteville WIAC 62.267 At-Lg 10 19
20 Carroll CCIW 61.973 At-Lg 11 20
21 Chicago UAA 61.958 At-Lg 12 21
22 SUNY New Paltz SUNYAC 61.599 AQ - 22
23 Ripon MWC 61.489 AQ - 23
24 Baldwin Wallace OAC 61.457 At-Lg 13 24
25 Trine MIAA 61.104 At-Lg 14 25
26 UW-River Falls WIAC 60.829 At-Lg 15 26
27 Gettysburg CC 60.804 AQ - 27
28 Wisconsin Lutheran NACC 60.506 AQ - 28
29 DePauw NCAC 60.355 AQ - 29
30 Southern Maine LEC 60.291 AQ - 30
31 Otterbein OAC 60.277 AQ - 31
32 Messiah MACC 60.097 AQ - 32
33 Cortland SUNYAC 60.069 At-Lg 16 33
34 Randolph-Macon ODAC 60.062 At-Lg 17 34
35 Christopher Newport C2C 59.988 AQ - 35
36 Gustavus Adolphus MIAC 59.981 At-Lg 18 36
37 Shenandoah ODAC 59.819 At-Lg 19 37
38 William Paterson NJAC 59.538 At-Lg 20 38
39 St. Mary's (Minn.) MIAC 59.148 At-Lg 21 39
42 Hardin-Simmons ASC 58.770 AQ - 40
44 Transylvania HCAC 58.337 AQ - 41
46 Union LL 58.231 AQ - 42
50 Washington & Jefferson PAC 58.046 AQ - 43
52 JWU Providence CNE 57.893 AQ - 44
60 DeSales MACF 57.206 AQ - 45
63 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps SCIAC 57.122 AQ - 46
64 Coe ARC 57.094 AQ - 47
65 Immaculata AEC 57.037 AQ - 48
70 Merchant Marine SKY 56.627 AQ - 49
72 Whitman NWC 56.480 AQ - 50
86 Millsaps SAA 55.519 AQ - 51
88 SUNY Geneseo E8 55.464 AQ - 52
94 LaGrange CCS 55.230 AQ - 53
97 Southern Virginia USAC 55.018 AQ - 54
100 Penn State-Behrend AMCC 54.915 AQ - 55
101 Emmanuel GNAC 54.907 AQ - 56
106 St. Mary's (Md.) UEC 54.614 AQ - 57
117 TCNJ NJAC 54.001 AQ - 58
131 Hunter CUNYAC 53.402 AQ - 59
147 Maine-Farmington NAC 52.702 AQ - 60
172 Austin SCAC 51.367 AQ - 61
175 Webster SLIAC 51.256 AQ - 62
213 Framingham State MASCAC 49.803 AQ - 63
217 UW-Superior UMAC 49.664 AQ - 64