Hey, just so you know, some of the links on this site are affiliate links. That means I may earn a small commission if you buy something through them. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it helps me keep this site running. Thanks for your support!
Women’s March Madness is the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, a single-elimination tournament that determines the national champion. A major format change begins in 2027: the field expands from 68 teams to 76 teams. That means older explainers built around the 68-team structure are no longer enough for fans trying to understand the current system.
How many teams are in Women’s March Madness?
Beginning with the 2027 championship, 76 teams make the field. The tournament still includes automatic qualifiers from Division I conferences plus at-large selections chosen by the NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee. The expansion adds eight teams while preserving the familiar 64-team bracket after a new Opening Round.
What is the March Madness Opening Round?
The NCAA created a 12-game Opening Round involving 24 teams. Half of those games match the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers, while the other half feature the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams. Automatic qualifiers and at-large teams stay in their own groups for these Opening Round matchups rather than crossing over.
Once those 12 games are completed, 64 teams remain. From there, the tournament moves into the traditional bracket rhythm: the round of 64, round of 32, regional rounds, Final Four and national championship game.
Where are the women’s Opening Round games played?
For 2027, the women’s Opening Round is scheduled for March 17-18 on the campuses of 12 of the top 16 seeds selected to host. That is an important distinction from the men’s tournament, whose Opening Round uses designated host cities.
What happens after the Opening Round?
The 2027 women’s round of 64 is scheduled for March 19-20, followed by the round of 32 on March 21-22. Regional competition is scheduled for March 26 and 29 in Philadelphia and Las Vegas. The Women’s Final Four is scheduled for April 2 and the national championship game for April 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Those dates are specific to the 2027 championship. The tournament structure is the durable concept; exact dates, host sites and broadcast details are seasonal information and should always be verified against the NCAA for the current year.
How are teams selected?
Each conference receives an automatic qualifier under NCAA championship procedures, while the remaining places go to at-large teams selected by the committee. The committee also seeds the full field. With 76 teams, the lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and lowest-seeded at-large teams are the groups routed into the Opening Round.
Selection therefore involves more than ranking the “best 76” teams in a simple list. Automatic qualification, at-large evaluation, overall seeding, geographic and bracketing procedures all shape the final championship bracket.
Is Women’s March Madness still single elimination?
Yes. A team that loses is eliminated from the NCAA championship. That one-loss-and-out structure is why upsets can change an entire region in a single night and why seed lines matter so much to the tournament’s story.
How is this different from the regular season?
The NCAA tournament is a postseason championship, not a league schedule. Teams reach March Madness after playing their conference and nonconference seasons, and many conferences also hold their own tournaments before Selection Sunday. Winning a conference’s automatic bid can secure NCAA tournament entry; at-large teams depend on committee selection.
For fans who also follow the professional women’s game, SportsyVibe’s WNBA season and playoffs explainer shows how a league-based professional postseason differs from the NCAA’s national single-elimination bracket.
Why the 2027 expansion matters
The expansion creates additional championship access without replacing the classic 64-team main bracket. The biggest structural change happens before that bracket: 24 teams now compete in 12 Opening Round games for the final places in the round of 64.
That makes one date especially important when reading older March Madness material: 2027. Articles describing a 68-team women’s field are historically correct for the prior format, but the current forward-looking NCAA structure is 76 teams.
Official sources
- NCAA: New 76-team bracket beginning in 2027
- NCAA: March Madness expansion overview
- NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship
Featured image: generic basketball court by Oleksii S via Unsplash; it does not depict a specific NCAA tournament game.