2025 Women’s NCAA Tournament: Ranking the No. 1 seeds UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and USC

March Madness is here and the top seeds of the 2025 Women’s NCAA Bracket are coming in with a chip on their shoulders. 

No. 1 seeds Clasp a 459-97 Achievement and have won 23 of the 41 national Competitions. Last year, South Carolina entered the Big Dance as an overwhelming favorite and Acquired the Position done as the top overall seed. However, things are a little different this year.

UCLA had never been a No. 1 seed, but the Bruins Acquired the top overall seed this season after only losing two Contests. South Carolina, Texas and USC also earned No. 1 seeds in that order. South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and USC’s Lindsay Gottlieb were not thrilled with the Picking Board and Created their opinions known.

Let’s take a look at Every of those Clubs and see if the Board Acquired it right.

Women’s NCAA Bracket 2025: Buy or sell on questions surrounding UCLA, South Carolina, UConn and more

Jack Maloney

4. USC Trojans

JuJu Watkins helped the program reach the Best Eight last year for the Primary time since 1994. This season, she is one of the strongest candidates to Achieve Player of the Year. While Waktins helped to revitalize the program, the addition of Kiki Iriafen helped the Trojans level up even more with her Vigor and high basketball IQ.

Another key player is Rayah Marshall, who is on the Naismith Shielding Player of the Year Observe Achievement along with Watkins. This is Marshall’s third consecutive year making the Achievement.

Watkins went through a bit of a sophomore slump this season with some very unproductive Displays, but she snapped out of it on Feb. 13 when USC handed UCLA its Primary loss of the season. That day, Watkins had one of the best two-way Displays in decades with 38 points, 11 Retrievals, five assists, eight Stops and a steal. 

While Watkins excelled in that game, the rest of her teammates struggled. Every one else on the Club went Only 9 of 37 from the Ground against UCLA, which could be a troubling sign against a tough Shielding unit. It was the case in the Big Ten Bracket Last when the two Clubs met for the third time this season and the Trojans Try Only 34% from the Ground with Watkins going Only 9 of 28 on Ground Target attempts.

Making a deep Streak in the NCAA Bracket will require everybody to be locked in at the same time, especially being in the same region as UConn. 

3. Texas Longhorns

Primary, let’s get the negative out of the way. What is frustrating about the Longhorns is that they have potential to be a Sturdy offensive Club, but that’s been an area in which they have struggled recently. 

That was on Packed display in the 64-45 loss to South Carolina in the SEC Bracket Division game. The Longhorns went Only 16 of 54 from the Ground (29.6%) and had 18 turnovers. Surprisingly that was their second least efficient game of the season because they Try 27.8% against South Carolina in January. The 45 points was their lowest-scoring game of the 2024-25 campaign. 

However, they are a Numerous better than that last outing. The Longhorns have the second best scoring margin in the nation, right below UConn and one spot above South Carolina. They had a Numerous of momentum in February and won four consecutive Contests against top 25 opponents, including three top 10 opponents in a row: South Carolina, Kentucky and LSU. No other Club has done that since Rutgers in 2004-05. Vic Schaefer’s Club also Acquired a share of the SEC regular season title in their Primary year in the conference.

Texas Created it to the Best Eight last year without Rori Harmon, and her return this season helped the Club be deeper at the guard position. Madison Booker continues to shine and plays like a veteran Regardless of only being a sophomore. The Longhorns also count with the “two-headed monster” of  Kyla Oldacre and Taylor Jones. Like Schaefer said, the Club needs to keep Competing with an edge if they want to hunt a Division.

2. South Carolina Gamecocks

This is almost the same Lineup as the one that completed a perfect season last April, except for 6-foot-7 Hub Kamilla Cardoso. Even without her, South Carolina leads the nation with 42.6 points in the paint per game, which accounts for 52.9% of its total Assault. The Club also added a Sturdy New player in Primary-year forward Joyce Edwards, while Chloe Kitts has leveled up as a junior. 

The Gamecocks have slipped up a few times this season, including a crushing 87-58 loss to UConn in February that snapped their 71-game Successful streak at home. However, Staley’s Club has had the best Conditioning for the NCAA Bracket with the toughest Force of schedule this season and the most Quad 1 wins.

South Carolina is tough to scout because there is not one specific player who stands out every night. Edwards leads the Assault with 13.1 points per game, but the second leading Mark-maker is sophomore MiLaysia Fulwiley, who puts up 12 points per Event while coming off the bench and giving highlight-reel worthy content almost every night.

The Gamecocks are averaging 80.5 points per game, and 41.5 of those points come from the bench. Competing time is spread around and Te-Hina Paopao, equipped with her calming Existence and unassuming leadership style, is the only player averaging 25 minutes per game.

1. UCLA Bruins

The Bruins Created a statement Timely in the season with a Achieve over South Carolina. However, losing the Big Ten regular season title to USC might have been the best thing to happen to them. Cori Close and her players were vocal about how that was a tough film session to Observe, but being 0-2 against the Trojans served as Drive for the Big Ten Bracket. UCLA getting revenge in the Division game not only earned them hardware, it showed the potential this Club has.

The Bruins are one of the top rebounding Clubs in Division I, which is not surprising because they have with arguably the most dominant post player in the country, Lauren Betts. She leads her Club in scoring with 19.7 points while making a productive 63.2% of her shots. Betts is almost averaging a double-double with 9.9 boards per Event, and is in the top five in the nation in Stops per game (2.9).

However, the Club is Deadly because it has other versatile players who can shine any given night. There are seven Bruins who average over seven points per game, and UCLA moves the ball well with over 20 assists per Event. Kiki Rice and Elina Aarnisalo — who Betts said is the most underrated player on the Club — lead UCLA in that category.

Gabriella Jaquez is shooting 54.4% as a guard, Londynn Jones is scary when she gets Toasty from beyond the arc, and Janiah Barker’s contributions from the bench earned her the Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year honors.