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Women’s Final Four predictions: Who will advance to 2026 national championship?
Heather Burns USA TODAY
20 hours ago
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Who holds the longest winning streak in Final Four teams?
Who holds the longest winning streak in Final Four teams?
Why is Arizona hosting Women’s Final Four for first time?
What rebounding stats make South Carolina formidable?
AI Overview
Full Summary
The 2026 NCAA women’s basketball Final Four will feature the same four No. 1 seeds as the previous season—UConn, South Carolina, UCLA and Texas—and will be held in Phoenix, Arizona. UConn enters the semifinals on a 54‑game winning streak, and analysts offer differing predictions for the championship game.
Yes, the Women’s Final Four will feature the same teams as last season.
But the four No. 1 seeds — UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina — all made it clear with several statement wins in the Women’s NCAA Tournament, they belong in Phoenix.
The No. 1 overall seeded Huskies won their four March Madness games by an average of 25 points each and are riding a 54-game winning streak dating back to last season as defending national champions. The remainder of the field has seven total losses this season.
UConn will play South Carolina, a rematch of last season’s national title game, in the first semifinal on April 3 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). UCLA will follow against Texas, the only team to best them this season, in the second semifinal (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
USA TODAY Sports will have comprehensive coverage this week leading into Friday’s national semifinals, but before we get to Phoenix, here’s a look at our initial Final Four predictions:
2026 Women’s Final Four predictions: Who advances to national championship?
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UConn vs. South Carolina prediction
Heather Burns: UConn. The result will be the same as last year’s championship game between the two teams, but let’s hope for closer contest. UConn’s deep roster and experience in big game situations should help it to prevail. Yes, the Huskies offense runs through Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd but players like Blanca Quiñonez, KK Arnold and Allie Ziebell have all proven they can take over a game offensively. South Carolina doesn’t have the depth to go player for player with UConn.
Megan L. Hall: UConn. Despite having seven players on the roster who have played in a Final Four, only two South Carolina players have won a championship. On the other side, UConn has six players who were on last year’s championship team and understand the level of play it takes to win the title. With a trip to the national title game on the line, I’m concerned about South Carolina melting under UConn’s suffocating defensive pressure, causing them to falt
er when the lights are the brightest.