Conference Tournament weekend is behind us, and we have some unpacking to do. The conference champs you should know about before the NCAA Tournament are:
Duke
UConn
South Carolina
UCLA
TCU
The team with the most momentum: The Duke Blue Devils
Duke defeated the formidable Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the semi-finals, before getting the best of North Carolina State in the Championship game. We can also say Duke matched their roster’s athleticism with the breakthrough coaching performance of Kara Lawson in her fifth season as Blue Devils coach. Lawson assured the team dominated NC State on the boards while shooting 45% from the field. Controlling possession of the ball and converting those possessions into points is a game plan that is very tough to beat. NC State was seeking their 4th ACC Championship in six years, but Duke didn’t defer. Aziaha James and co. were out of sorts, tired, and outcoached. Maybe The Wolfpack will find their cohesion and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
The team with the player determined to “retire” a champion: UConn
UConn and stars Paige Bueckers, Sarah Strong, and Azzi Fudd successfully defended their Big East championship for the fifth consecutive season (23 in total). Paige is apparently primed and ready for her last NCAA tournament appearance with every intent to go out with a National Championship trophy to add to her enormous trophy case. Paige is the three-time Big East Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player and the 2025 Big East Player of the Year. Conference competition has been hard to come by for Connecticut, but staying sharp throughout conference play takes a little something Coach Geno Auriemma has plenty of.
The underdogs making the dream work with teamwork: South Carolina Down in the Southeastern Conference, appearing in their sixth straight SEC Championship game, was the South Carolina Gamecocks against the Texas Longhorns. Texas shot only 29.6% from the field in the first half and was held to under 20 points. Through the third quarter, South Carolina outscored Texas 20-2 on layups. At one point in the second half Texas went a stretch of eight minutes without scoring.
South Carolina community and culture is all about working together, and the Gamecock’s strength has always been the contribution of the many. The SEC Tournament MVP, Chloe Kitts, averaged just 16 points per game, but at SC, contributions are not diminished but fortified. It’s the doing it together. It’s their “We gon’ make it. We gon’ be alright. We them ones” attitude. Scoring from the South Carolina bench has often exceeded that of the starters, and the emersion and capacity of the community is the magic Coach Staley has created. Now she has a program that has won three straight SEC Championships for the second time in the last 10 years (’15-’18, ’23-’25).
The team with the deliberate-as-LA-traffic game plan: UCLA
In Indianapolis, Indiana, for the Big Ten Championship, the UCLA Bruins and the USC Trojans met for the third time this season, with the Bruins claiming their first Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship and their first conference championship in 25 years. The game looked familiar. Not “comfortably” familiar, but like “sharing-a-room-with-your-sibling-for-too-long,” familiar. Players were just annoyed with the opposition (and probably annoyed they were in Indianapolis, not Los Angeles). Whatever the setting, if there’s a hardwood floor and two 10-foot basketball goals, JuJu Watkins is normally in her natural habitat.
JuJu had her 26th 20-point game of the season and is now just 78-points shy of the record for a player in her second season. Despite UCLA’s early foul trouble, USC couldn’t find a consistent second scorer, and UCLA was determined to change things up in their third time playing Watkins. UCLA’s game plan was as deliberate as LA traffic, but USC prefers to move quickly. Lauren Betts played her way to a Big Ten Tournament Championship Most Outstanding Player award and made WNBA GMs wish she was entering the draft after this season and not returning to the Bruins next season to play alongside her sister.
The team with the player singing the loudest redemption song: TSU Hailey Van Lith’s redemption song played like nails on a chalkboard to those who doubted her based on her previous season with LSU. Van Lith’s TCU Horned Frogs secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, while Hailey reminded casual fans she’s got game. Baylor, who made big noise in last year’s NCAA Tournament, started too slow and didn’t rebound well enough for a win and their 12th conference tournament championship.
NCAA Tournament time is the best time. Work from home or “work from home” a few days over the next few weeks, watch some games and give some attention to the players and teams mentioned. You’ll see many gifted, talented, dedicated, assertive, young women you’ll be eager to support and cheer on for years to come.
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