Big Ten Weekly Women's Basketball Central - March 25

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Big Ten Weekly Release - March 25 | 2026 Big Ten Women's Basketball Postseason Central

Big Ten. Big News.

• Four Big Ten Conference programs are still in the midst of postseason play as the second week tips off Thursday with Wisconsin hosting Harvard in the quarterfinals of the WBIT at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
• Wisconsin is on 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.
• For the sixth consecutive year, the Big Ten Conference has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Sweet 16 as Michigan, Minnesota and UCLA are set to take part this year. The Big Ten tied a conference record with four Sweet 16 participants in 2021 and 2022 and has sent at least three teams to the third round on nine occasions (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026).
• The Big Ten set a new conference record with 11 teams reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The previous record (10) was set last season.
• For the fifth time in the last six years, the Big Ten has collected double-digit wins in the NCAA Tournament and has set a conference record with 15 victories through the first two rounds (11 in 2004; 10 in 2005; 13 in 2023 and 2025).
• Michigan is back in the Sweet 16 for the third time in program history under the guidance of head coach Kim Barnes Arico. The Wolverines, the No. 2 seed in the Fort Worth 3 Region, hosted the first two rounds at Crisler Center and topped Holy Cross and NC State. Michigan is seeking its first Elite Eight appearance since 2022.
• Minnesota is headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 21 years and fourth time in program history. As the No. 4 seed in the Sacramento 2 Region, the Gophers earned the right to play at home in first two rounds and battled past Green Bay and Ole Miss at Williams Arena. Minnesota has only made one trip to the Elite Eight back in 2004.
• UCLA is on its fourth consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 and seventh overall under head coach Cori Close. The Bruins, who earned a No. 1 seed, played host to the first two rounds at Pauley Pavilion as part of the Sacramento 2 Region and defeated Cal Baptist and Oklahoma State. A victory would push UCLA through to the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons.
• USC rookie Jazzy Davidson won the 2026 Tamika Catchings National Freshman Player of the Year Award on Wednesday, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association announced. She is the second Trojan in program history to earn the honor, joining teammate JuJu Watkins (2024). Davidson wrapped the season leading USC outright in every major statistical category including points (17.9), rebounds (5.6), assists (4.1), steals (2.0) and blocks per game (2.0), making her the only Division I player to accomplish that feat this year. The guard joins Watkins, Sarah Strong, Maya Moore, Cheryl Miller, and Candace Parker as the only freshmen in women's college basketball history to record 500+ points, 150+ rebounds, 100+ assists, 50+ steals and 50+ blocks. Davidson was also chosen as The Athletic’s National Freshman of the Year on March 6.
• UCLA’s Lauren Betts was named as a finalist for the 2026 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Women’s Player of the Year and 2026 Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year Awards, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Wednesday. Betts repeated as an Associated Press First Team All-American, the first Bruin to earn the honor in consecutive seasons, and is averaging 16.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
• Bruin head coach Cori Close was selected as a finalist for the 2026 Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday. The 2026 Big Ten Coach of the Year has guided UCLA to the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Close, who received the award in 2025, led the Bruins to a perfect 18-0 record in conference play as the fourth team in Big Ten history to go unbeaten in league action.
• Penn State welcomed back four-year letterwinner Tanisha Wright as the seventh head coach of the Lady Lion basketball program. Wright returns to Happy Valley following a five-year stint coaching in the WNBA, including three seasons as the head coach for the Atlanta Dream. This will be the first NCAA head coaching role for the 19-year WNBA veteran.
• Rutgers hired Gary Redus II to lead the Scarlet Knights’ women’s basketball program. Redus is stepping into his first head coaching position after serving as an assistant coach at LSU for the past four seasons, which included the program’s first national championship in 2023.
• For the 25th consecutive season (not counting the 2019-20 campaign that ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the Big Ten sent at least eight of its women's basketball programs into postseason play. Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington were selected for the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin has been representing 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).
• 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).
• 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.
• 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.