When is Women's March Madness 2026? Dates, TV schedule, locations, odds & more for the NCAA Tournament

The women's college basketball landscape is speckled with stars. There are a fair few set to take center stage during the 2026 NCAA tournament.

The field is littered with headliners. UConn is a buzzsaw, winners of 48 straight games. Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd are the sport's deadliest duo, combining to average 36 points in fewer than 30 minutes of action. UCLA and South Carolina aren't far behind, spearheaded by Lauren Betts and Joyce Edwards, respectively. Olivia Miles swapped Notre Dame for TCU ahead of the 2025-26 season. She has spearheaded a devastating Horned Frogs attack, producing nearly 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists to push the side up the Big 12 table.

All of that is to say that luminaries will find a home when the NCAA tournament hardware beckons. Here's what you need to know about the bracket for Women's March Madness 2026.

MORE: Updated automatic bids for 2026 NCAA Tournament

Women's March Madness bracket 2026

This section will be updated when the bracket is revealed

Women's NCAA Tournament schedule 2026

• Start date: March 18, 2026
• End date: April 5, 2026

The women's March Madness tournament begins on March 19 with two First Four games, and the tournament concludes on Sunday, April 6 with the National Championship.

Here is the full schedule for women's March Madness :

When does the women's NCAA tournament start?

The women's NCAA Tournament begins on Wednesday, March 18, with two First Four games. The first round of the tournament, though, will not start until Friday, March 20.

Regional rounds will be held in two cities -- Fort Worth and Sacramento -- while the Final Four will be contested in Phoenix.

When is the women's Final Four?

• Date: Friday, April 3, and Sunday, April 5
• Time: TBD
• TV channel: ESPN
• Live stream: Fubo, ESPN+

Women's March Madness schedule 2026

Locations for the First Four and opening two rounds of the tournament will be decided based on bracket, with higher seeds in each matchup tasked with hosting contests. The bracket will transition to the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, with matchups set to take place in either Fort Worth or Sacramento, depending on which side of the bracket teams land on.

Wednesday, March 18

Thursday March 19

Friday, March 20

Saturday, March 21

Sunday, March 22

Monday, March 23

Friday, March 27

Saturday, March 28

Sunday, March 29

Monday, March 30

Friday, April 3

Sunday, April 5

How to watch women's March Madness games in 2026

All women's March Madness games will be broadcasted on the ESPN family of networks. That means that ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS and ESPNU will all broadcast their share of games over the course of the tournament.

Odds to win women's March Madness 2026

Here's a look at the teams with the best odds to win the women's NCAA Tournament, per BetMGM and as of March 8.

• UConn: -300
• UCLA: +700
• South Carolina: +875
• Texas: +1,100
• LSU: +1,600
• Vanderbilt: +5,000
• Iowa: +8,000
• Michigan: +9,000
• Duke: +9,000
• Louisville: +10,000
• Oklahoma: +12,500
• TCU: +12,500

Future women's Final Four locations

These are the future locations for the women's Final Four through the 2031 season:

Women's NCAA Tournament winners

Since the women's NCAA Tournament began in 1982, there have been 16 different winners. However, only three programs have won the tournament more than three times, as UConn and Tennessee have a combined 20 women's NCAA Tournament titles.

Here's a list of all the teams that have won women's March Madness: