The Sweet 16 will have a definite SEC feel with six teams advancing from that conference to the second weekend of
Top seeds South Carolina and Texas cruised into the regional semifinals of the women’s NCAA Tournament and are joined by No. 2 seeds Vanderbilt and LSU, No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Kentucky.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a great sign for the conference. You can鈥檛 really control if it鈥檚 spread out or not,鈥� Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph said. 鈥淏ut you know how we feel about the SEC conference. It鈥檚 the best conference in the country. If you want to win a championship, you鈥檙e going to have to come through us, so it鈥檚 not a surprise to me that we鈥檙e seeing that many teams in. We鈥檒l see. Hopefully we鈥檒l continue to be one of them.鈥�
Both of the 1 seeds will have all-SEC matchups, with the Gamecocks facing the Sooners 鈥� the lone team to beat them in the regular season during conference play.
鈥淥ur league prepares us for this level of play,鈥� South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 an opponent out there that we don鈥檛 feel like we鈥檙e prepared for because of what we have been challenged with in the regular season and in the SEC Tournament.鈥�
It’s not only SEC teams that had a good first weekend in the NCAA Tournament. UConn remains the lone unbeaten in women’s college basketball. The Huskies have won 52 straight games, including a over Syracuse in the second round. UConn has reached the Sweet 16 in 32 consecutive years.
UConn will face North Carolina in the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels are one of five ACC teams still playing. The biggest surprise of the group is Virginia. The Cavaliers reached the regional semifinals for the first time in 26 years and became the first team to play in the First Four and get this far. They needed and advance.
The SEC isn’t the only conference that will have teams facing each other in the Sweet 16. Minnesota, back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005, will play Big Ten foe UCLA.
Elite guard matchup
Vanderbilt and Notre Dame will square off in the regional semifinals in a matchup of two of the best guards in the country with Mikayla Blakes and Hannah Hidalgo trying to lead their teams to the Elite Eight. They are both dynamic scorers who can also find teammates for open baskets.
Hidalgo is a defensive whiz, leading the country in steals.
Star power
All five of the are still playing, with UConn teammates Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd leading the way. Texas’ Madison Booker put on an offensive clinic with a 40-point effort in the second round of the tournament. Fudd had 34 points in the rout of Syracuse. Lauren Betts led UCLA back to the Sweet 16, and Blakes has Vanderbilt in new territory.
Offensive juggernaut
LSU broke the NCAA record with a 16th game this season scoring more than 100 points. The Tigers face third-seeded Duke in a rematch of their ACC/SEC challenge game that LSU won. The Tigers had scored over 100 points in each of their first eight games before beating Duke
This is a different Duke team, though, as the Blue Devils won 23 of their next 25 games after that defeat.
___
AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker and AP freelance writer Pete Iacobelli contributed to this report.
___
This story has been corrected to show there are five ACC teams in the Sweet 16.
___
AP March Madness bracket: and coverage:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
