March Madness: How to watch the women’s Sweet 16 and who’s now favored to win the NCAA Tournament

By Canadian Press on March 25, 2025.

The women’s NCAA Tournament has reached the Sweet 16.

Of the 16 teams remaining, 15 are members of Power Four conferences and other is perennial juggernaut UConn, raising questions about whether the tournament needs expansion. The big news over the weekend was the season-ending injury to Southern California’s JuJu Watkins, costing the tournament one of its brightest stars and dropping the Trojans out of the betting favorites to win it all.

There are plenty of stars left, from Paige Bueckers of UConn to Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame and Madison Booker of Texas.

Games to watch

3 seed North Carolina (29-7) vs. 2 seed Duke (28-7), Friday. There is nothing like a conference rivalry game and these two ACC teams know each other well, splitting their two regular-season meetings. The two have never met in the women’s NCAA Tournament. All three schools in North Carolina’s Triangle region — UNC, Duke and N.C. State — reached the Sweet 16 together for the first time since 2007.

3 seed LSU (30-5) vs. 2 seed N.C. State (28-6), Friday. A clash of wills with power forwards and athleticism all over the court. The Tigers got at least 20 points from three players, led by Mikaylah Williams, in their second-round win over Florida State. N.C. State made an NCAA Tournament program-record 15 shots from 3-point range in its last game.

3 seed Notre Dame (28-5) vs. 2 seed TCU (33-3), Saturday. Notre Dame’s spectacular guards against TCU’s formidable duo of Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince, who have the Horned Frogs in their first Sweet 16.

How can I watch the tournament?

Every game of the women’s tournament will be aired — here is a schedule — on ESPN’s networks and streaming services with select games on ABC.

Who are the favorites?

The top four betting favorites as Sweet 16 week arrives are (in order): UConn, South Carolina, UCLA and Texas, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

Who is playing?

There were 31 automatic bids that went to conference champions and they were combined with 37 at-large picks by the NCAA selection committee. Selection Sunday unveiled the bracket matchups.

When are the games?

First- and second-round games concluded Monday on campuses across the country. Sweet 16 weekend (March 28-31) put games at two sites once again: Birmingham, Alabama, and Spokane, Washington.

The Final Four is in Tampa, Florida, on Friday, April 4, with the championship game on Sunday, April 6. A year ago, the championship game drew a bigger television audience than the men’s title game for the first time, with an average of 18.9 million viewers watching undefeated South Carolina beat Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

The Associated Press

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