Big Ten Weekly Women's Basketball Central - March 18

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Big Ten Weekly Release - March 18 | 2026 Big Ten Women's Basketball Postseason Central

Big Ten. Big News.

• For the 25th consecutive season (not counting the 2019-20 campaign that ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the Big Ten is sending at least eight of its women's basketball programs to postseason play. Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington will compete in the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin will represent the conference in the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT).
• For the second time in conference history, 12 programs earned their way into the NCAA Tournament, led by No. 2 overall seed UCLA. The 12 berths were the top mark among all Division I conferences, followed by the SEC (10), ACC (9) and Big 12 (8).
• This marks the fifth time a Big Ten program has garnered a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament in the last four years. UCLA was the overall No. 1 seed a season ago and reached the program’s first-ever NCAA Final Four.
• The 12 selections tied the conference record for most teams chosen in one season, which was set during the 2025 NCAA Tournament. It is the 21st time in the past 25 years and 28th time in Big Ten history that at least six current conference members have been selected to compete in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Big Ten has now had at least four of its schools selected for NCAA Tournament action every year since 1986. Current Big Ten programs have advanced to the NCAA Women’s Final Four 23 times (most recently by UCLA in 2025) and have won four national championships (USC – 1983, 1984; Purdue – 1999; Maryland – 2006).
• Maryland leads all current Big Ten schools in NCAA Tournament appearances, with the Terrapins competing for the 33rd time this year. They are followed by Iowa (32nd appearance this year), while Ohio State earned its 30th NCAA bid this year, good for third-most among conference members.
• Minnesota is headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 and will be hosting its first games since 2005.
• Wisconsin is making its first appearance in the WBIT, which is in its third year. The 32-team postseason single-elimination tournament has been dominated the Big Ten since its inception. Illinois won the inaugural event in 2024 for its first-ever postseason crown with a 71-57 victory over Villanova and Minnesota defeated Belmont, 75-63, to take home the title in 2025.
• The Associated Press (AP) and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) unveiled their All-America Teams. UCLA’s Lauren Betts received first-team honors and Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge made the second team. Michigan’s Olivia Olson and UCLA’s Kiki Rice earned spots on the third team. Indiana’s Shay Ciezki, USC’s Jazzy Davidson and Iowa’s Ava Heiden were honorable mentions for the USBWA, while Davidson, Heiden, UCLA’s Gianna Kneepkens and Maryland’s Oluchi Okananwa were honorable mentions by the AP.
• Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge was tabbed as one of five finalists for the Dawn Staley Award (March 12). The award is given to a player that exemplifies the skills that Staley possessed throughout her career, ball handling, scoring, her ability to distribute the basketball and her will to win.
• USC rookie Jazzy Davidson was named National Freshman of the Year by The Athletic on March 6, just the second Trojan to earn the award (JuJu Watkins, 2024). She wrapped the regular season leading USC outright in every major statistical category including points (17.9), rebounds (5.9), assists (4.3), steals (2.0) and blocks per game (2.1), making her the only Division I player to accomplish that feat this year.
• The Big Ten Conference has multiple finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame positional awards. UCLA’s Gianna Kneepkens is a finalist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award, while teammate Lauren Betts is in the running for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award. Michigan’s Olivia Olson and UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez are both finalists for the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award.
• The Athletic (March 5) and ESPN (March 11) announced their All-America Teams, which featured the same trio of athletes from the Big Ten. UCLA’s Lauren Betts was a first team selection, while Michigan’s Olivia Olson and Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge were second team honorees for both outlets.
• Top-seeded UCLA won its second straight Big Ten Conference Tournament title with a 96-45 victory over second-seeded Iowa. For the first time in program history, the Bruins won back-to-back conference tournament crowns after earning their first Big Ten Tournament Championship a season ago. The 51-point margin of victory broke the record for the largest in a Big Ten Tournament Final as the previous record was Iowa’s 33-point victory over Ohio State in 2023. The Bruins shot 63.5 percent (40-for-63), the highest field goal percentage by a team in any Big Ten Tournament game. UCLA also set the record for assists in any Big Ten Tournament game with 34 helpers and tied the record for most steals in the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game with 15.
• UCLA’s Kiki Rice was named the Jim and Kitty Delany Most Outstanding Player of the 2026 Allstate Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament after averaging 16.6 points and 5.3 assists over three games. Rice was joined on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team by teammate Lauren Betts, Ohio State’s Chance Gray and Iowa’s Ava Heiden and Hannah Stuelke.
• This week’s Associated Press (AP) poll featured seven teams from the Big Ten. UCLA held steady at No. 2 and was joined by No. 7 Iowa, No. 9 Michigan, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 17 Maryland, No. 18 Minnesota and No. 20 Michigan State. Oregon and Illinois received votes.
• The same seven programs made an appearance in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today Top 25 poll – No. 2 UCLA, No. 7 Iowa, No. 8 Michigan, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 16 Maryland, No. 18 Michigan State and No. 19 Minnesota. Illinois garnered votes.
• UCLA captured the 2025-26 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Championship outright for the first time in program history. The Bruins finished the regular season undefeated on their home court for the first time since their 2016-17 campaign and wrapped up their conference slate with a perfect 18-0 record. UCLA was just the fourth team in Big Ten history to go undefeated in conference play – Ohio State (1985), Purdue (1999) and Maryland (2015).
• HISTORY. MADE. The Big Ten is the first conference to ever have nine teams ranked in three different Associated Press (AP) polls in a single season – Dec. 8, Dec. 15 and Jan. 5. The Big Ten has had nine programs ranked in the AP poll four times, first achieved on Dec. 2, 2024, and is the only conference to have nine ranked teams since 1996.
• The Big Ten had a 170-33 (.837) combined record in non-conference play this season, which ranked second behind the SEC (197-24, .891) and ahead of the Big 12 (156-39, .800) and ACC (144-72, .667).
• Big Ten Conference Deputy Commissioner and Michigan women’s basketball great Diane Dietz was honored Jan. 11 with the lifting of her No. 21 jersey into the rafters at the Crisler Center. Dietz, who competed in Maize and Blue from 1979-82, was the program’s first 2,000-point scorer, a record that stood for more than 30 years. She still ranks fourth all-time in scoring with 2,076 points, a feat she achieved before the addition of the three-point line to the women’s game. Dietz is also second all-time in 30-point games (11) and in field goals made (940) and is only one of two players with at least 900 makes. She graduated as the Wolverines’ all-time leader in steals (229), a mark that currently ranks fourth in program history. Dietz was also a standout in the classroom and is one of only two Michigan student-athletes to have been inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame (2009). The three-time Academic All-American was the first female recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1982, which is considered the most prestigious honor a Big Ten student-athlete can receive. Dietz was inducted into the Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996 and is a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame after her induction in 2019.
• The 2025-26 season was the final ride for storied Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown, who announced on March 24, 2025, that he intended to retire at the conclusion of the season. McKeown is the longest-tenured and winningest head women’s basketball coach in Northwestern history. This was his 18th season in Evanston and his 40th season overall as a head coach.