March Madness has arrived again.
The 2025 NCAA Div. I Women’s Basketball Championship begins Wednesday and Thursday (March 19-20) with the First Four games.
Those contests begin what’s sure to be a pulse-pounding, three-week run that will culminate in Tampa, Florida with the Women’s Final Four (Friday, Apr. 4) and Women’s National Championship game (Sunday, Apr. 6).
Reigning national champions South Carolina are one of four No. 1 seeds for this year’s women’s basketball tournament, along with UCLA, USC and Texas.
The Gamecocks are seeking what would be their fourth NCAA women’s basketball title in program history and their third in the past four seasons. They would also be the first repeat national champions since UConn’s run of four consecutive titles over 2013-2016.
Here are some of the other basics that you need to know about the women’s version of March Madness.
Which team has won the most NCAA Division I women’s basketball championships all-time?
UConn has helped set the standard for women’s college basketball with an NCAA-best 11 national championships (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016). Six of those titles ended in undefeated seasons. But it’s been almost a decade since Geno Auriemma’s Huskies last won it all. They’ll look to end their drought as a No. 2 seed in this year’s women’s tournament.
March Madness Bracket Predictions: Nicole Auerbach’s picks for Women’s 2025 NCAA Tournament
Which teams have won consecutive NCAA Division I women’s basketball championships?
UConn, Tennessee and USC have all earned consecutive women’s national titles. UConn has done so on three different occasions (2002-2004, 2009-2010, 2013-2016). Tennessee has done so twice (1996-1998, 2007-2008). USC earned their back-to-back titles in 1983 and 1984.
Which team has made the most Women’s Final Four appearances all-time?
UConn also has an NCAA-best 23 appearances in women’s basketball’s Final Four.Their most recent appearance came just last season. The Huskies lost to Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes, 71-69, in one of the National Semifinals. Clark and Iowa then went on to lose to undefeated South Carolina in the National Championship game.
What’s the lowest women’s seed ever to win March Madness?
Since the NCAA women’s basketball tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1994 (the field again expanded to its current 68 teams in 2022), the lowest seed to win the title is No. 3. It has happened on three occasions: North Carolina in 1994, Tennessee in 1997 and LSU in 2023.
In 1994, the first tournament since the expansion to 64 teams, No. 3 seed North Carolina won it all in dramatic fashion. Charlotte Smith’s buzzer-beater 3-pointer gave the Tar Heels a 60-59 win over Louisiana Tech in the National Championship game.
In 1997, No. 3 seed Tennessee won its fifth national title overall and its second of three straight national titles during the mid-1990s. The Lady Vols, led by future WNBA star and Olympic gold medalist Chamique Holdsclaw, weathered a second-half comeback by Old Dominion to win 68-59 in the National Championship game.
In 2023, Angel Reese and No. 3 seed LSU won the program’s first-ever NCAA national title. Reese and the Tigers beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa, 102-85, in the National Championship game.
Reese and Clark, both at the core of women’s basketball’s ongoing surge in popularity, would meet again in the 2024 Elite 8. Clark and the Hawkeyes were victorious in the rematch on their way to an appearance in that year’s National Championship game.
March Madness – Past women’s basketball title winners, year by year
2024 - South Carolina
2023 - LSU
2022 - South Carolina
2021 - Stanford
2020 - Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2019 - Baylor
2018 - Notre Dame
2017 - South Carolina
2016 - UConn
2015 - UConn
2014 - UConn
2013 - UConn
2012 - Baylor
2011 - Texas A&M
2010 - UConn
2009 - UConn
2008 - Tennessee
2007 - Tennessee
2006 - Maryland
2005 - Baylor
2004 - UConn
2003 - UConn
2002 - UConn
2001 - Notre Dame
2000 - UConn
1999 - Purdue
1998 - Tennessee
1997 - Tennessee
1996 - Tennessee
1995 - UConn
1994 - North Carolina
1993 - Texas Tech
1992 - Stanford
1991 - Tennessee
1990 - Stanford
1989 - Tennessee
1988 - Louisiana Tech
1987 - Tennessee
1986 - Texas
1985 - Old Dominion
1984 - USC
1983 - USC
1982 - Louisiana Tech
Printable March Madness bracket 2025: NCAA Division I basketball bracket to download, fill out
Which coaches have won the most March Madness women’s championships?
Geno Auriemma has won an NCAA-record 11 women’s national championships as head coach for UConn (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016).
The late Pat Summitt is second on this list with 8 women’s national championships as head coach for Tennessee (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008).
LSU head coach Kim Mulkey is next with 4 women’s national championships as a head coach. Mulkey previously led Baylor to three national titles (2005, 2012, 2019) before claiming her first title with the Tigers in 2023.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley and the retired Tara VanDerveer follow with 3 women’s national championships each.
Last season, Staley led the Gamecocks to a perfect 38-0 record and their third national title during her tenure in Columbia (2017, 2022, 2024).
VanDerveer, who retired in April 2024, claimed three national titles with Stanford (1990, 1992, 2021) and earned 1,216 career wins during her 45-year head coaching career.
VanDerveer’s 1,216 wins were the most by a head coach in college basketball history, women’s or men’s, until UConn’s Geno Auriemma passed her with his 1,217th career win on Nov. 20, 2024 (Auriemma’s win total has grown to 1,244 entering this year’s NCAA Tournament).
