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Autumn Johnson | krikya18.com | January 26, 2026

2026 March Madness women's bracket predictions: Autumn Johnson's first NCAA tournament projections

South Carolina loss reshuffles latest women's basketball Power 10

With March Madness approaching, Autumn Johnson revealed her first NCAA women's basketball tournament bracket predictions of the season. UConn, UCLA, South Carolina and Texas grabbed the No. 1 seeds.

Take a look at her predicted 68-team field below. 

RANKINGS: AP Top 25 Poll | Net Rankings

SEED Region 1 - Fort Worth  Region 4 - Sacramento  Region 2 - Sacramento  Region 3 - Fort Worth 
1 UConn Texas UCLA South Carolina
16 Abilene Christian/Navy UMES/FDU Alabama A&M Chattanooga
         
8 Oregon Stanford Oklahoma State Illinois
9 Mississippi State Minnesota Notre Dame Utah
         
5 Princeton Ole Miss Kentucky Duke
12 Troy San Diego State Oregon State North Dakota State
         
4 Maryland Michigan State Baylor Tennessee
13 McNeese Green Bay UC San Diego Western Illinois
         
6 Texas Tech Georgia West Virginia Alabama
11 Fairfield Rice Clemson/Villanova Arizona St./Virginia
         
3 Oklahoma TCU Ohio State Michigan
14 Charleston High Point Miami (Ohio) Montana State
         
7 NC State Washington North Carolina Nebraska
10 Rhode Island Syracuse USC Iowa State
         
2 Iowa Vanderbilt LSU Louisville
15 Murray State Binghamton Louisiana Tech Eastern Kentucky

LAST FOUR IN: Villanova, Arizona State, Virginia, Clemson 
LAST FOUR OUT: Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, South Dakota State

Conferences with multiple teams in the bracket

Conference Total Teams Teams
Big Ten 12 Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington
SEC 11 Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vanderbilt
ACC 9 Clemson, Duke, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia
Big 12 8 Arizona State, Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah, West Virginia
Big East 2 UConn, Villanova
MORE: What to know about the WAB metric in women's college basketball

Autumn Johnson's automatic qualifiers

Automatic Qualifiers Teams
America East Binghamton
American Rice
ASUN Eastern Kentucky
Atlantic 10 Rhode Island
ACC Louisville
Big 12 TCU
Big East UConn
Big Sky Montana State
Big South High Point
Big Ten UCLA
Big West UC San Diego
CAA Charleston
Conference USA Louisiana Tech
Horizon Green Bay
Ivy Princeton
MAAC Fairfield
MAC Miami (Ohio)
MEAC Maryland Eastern Shore
Missouri Valley Murray State
Mountain West San Diego State
Northeast FDU
Ohio Valley Western Illinois
Patriot Navy
SEC South Carolina
Southern Chattanooga
Southland McNeese
SWAC  Alabama A&M
Summit League North Dakota State
Sun Belt Troy
West Coast Oregon State
Western Athletic Conference Abilene Christian
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