Women’s Basketball Conference Tournament Guide: Schedule, Brackets, TV Info

This year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament is quickly approaching, though there are plenty of precursors to the main March Madness event to follow in the meantime.

Conference tournaments across women’s basketball tipoff this week. Plenty can be accomplished nationwide—powerhouses can solidify their cases as a one-seed ahead of Selection Sunday on March 17, bubble teams can string a few wins together to ensure an invitation to the Big Dance, and Cinderellas can steal an auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament by cutting down the nets in their conference event. In other words, let the madness begin.

Here’s all the essential information for this week’s Power 5 women’s conference tournaments.

ACC Conference Tournament

Schedule: March 6-10

Location: Greensboro Coliseum — Greensboro, North Carolina

TV/Streaming: ACC Network, Championship Game on ESPN

Bracket:

Virginia Tech, last year’s ACC Tournament champion, enters this year’s event as the conference’s top seed with hopes to defend its title. But all is not well for the No. 11 Hokies as March tips off. The reigning Final Four team dropped its last two games to wrap up the regular season, while two-time ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley suffered an apparent left knee injury Sunday and an emotional head coach Kenny Brooks did not have a status update on the situation afterward. Virginia Tech has a double-by in the conference tourney, so time will tell if that’s enough of a break to regroup for the Hokies.

Big 12 Conference Tournament

Schedule: March 7-12

Location: T-Mobile Center — Kansas City, Missouri

TV/Streaming: ESPN+, Semifinals and Championship Game on ESPN2

Bracket:

Texas is ranked sixth nationally and carries a 27-4 overall record into Kansas City, though Red River Rivalry foe Oklahoma has the luxury of the conference’s top seed this week. The No. 19 Sooners (21-8 overall, 15-3 in conference play) bested the Longhorns by a game in the Big 12 Standings and have the best path toward winning this event for the first time since 2007. But even aside from Texas and OU, No. 16 Kansas State and No. 17 Baylor (seeded third and fifth)—plus defending Big 12 Tournament champs Iowa State with seed No. 4—should ensure this is a competitive battle for the conference crown.

Big Ten Conference Tournament

Schedule: March 6-10

Location: Target Center — Minneapolis, Minnesota

TV/Streaming: Peacock, Big Ten Network, Championship Game on CBS

Bracket:

When Caitlin Clark comes to town, basketball fans tend to take notice. All-session tickets are already sold out for the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament, marking the first sellout in the history of the event. And they will fill up the Target Center as Iowa’s transcendent, 1-of-1 star attempts to lead the Hawkeyes to conference tourney title No. 3 in a row. Clark (who just reached yet another marketing deal, this time with Gainbridge, who happen to have the naming rights to the Indiana Fever’s home arena—hint hint) and No. 3 Iowa enter this year’s event as the Big Ten’s No. 2 seed, just behind No. 4, top-seeded Ohio State. The Hawkeyes blew out the Buckeyes 105-72 in the conference tournament championship last year, and the two top-five programs split their regular season meetings this time around.

Pac-12 Conference Tournament

Schedule: March 6-10

Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena — Las Vegas, Nevada

TV/Streaming: Pac-12 Network, Championship Game on ESPN

Bracket:

Consider this the final Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament—at least in this form. Only Washington State and Oregon State will remain in the conference when realignment takes shape later this year. At the very least, this final event appears to be of the wide-open variety that could provide some memorable March moments. Six—yes, six—teams in the AP top 25 will be part of this tournament’s field (it’s almost as if this was a conference worth saving). No. 2 Stanford enters as the No. 1 seed having won this tournament three times in the last five renditions, though No. 5 USC (second seed), led by freshman phenom JuJu Watkins, will be among the other teams vying for a winning hand in Vegas.

SEC Conference Tournament

Schedule: March 6-10

Location: Bon Secours Wellness Arena — Greenville, South Carolina

TV/Streaming: SEC Network, ESPNU, Championship Game on ESPN

Bracket:

There’s South Carolina, then there’s everyone else. The No. 1 Gamecocks (29-0) just completed their second straight undefeated regular season and have won the SEC tournament in three of the last four seasons (and lost by two in the finals on the occasion they didn’t). South Carolina enters the postseason as the favorite not only to win the conference tourney, but to reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. Defending national champions LSU—led by star Angel Reese, named SEC Player of the Year Tuesday—should serve as South Carolina’s main competition for the SEC title, and what a conference championship game matchup that would be.