Predicting USC's region of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament
With the 2025 Women's NCAA Tournament set to begin Friday, let's predict every game in USC's region of the bracket. USC was done no favors at all by the selection committee, as we wrote:
"USC and UConn met in last year's Elite Eight. Having the two teams in the same region for a second straight year is funamentally unfair. Usually, women's basketball is and has been pretty good about separating elite teams with top stars, putting them in separate regions so that they can meet in the Final Four. Not with USC. What did the Trojans do to deserve this? The two teams met in the regular season, too. Why is an Elite Eight game a regular-season rematch?"
As we all ponder those questions, let's get down to the business of predicting the bracket:
First Round: No. 1 seed USC over No. 16 seed UNC Greensboro
If the Trojans cannot win this one, they have serious problems. (Spoiler alert: They don't.)
First Round: No. 8 seed Cal over No. 9 seed Mississippi State
Cal sets up an old Pac-12 grudge match with USC. Lindsay Gottlieb would go up against her former school, the one she coached to the 2013 Women's Final Four.
First Round: No. 5 seed Kansas State over No. 12 seed Fairfield
5-12 upsets are much loess common on the women's side than they are on the men's.
First Round: No. 4 seed Kentucky over No. 13 seed Liberty
We get a matchup of Wildcats vs. Wildcats in round two.
First Round: No. 6 seed Iowa over No. 11 seed Murray State
No Caitlin Clark, no problem for the Hawkeyes—in the first round, at least.
First Round: No. 3 seed Oklahoma over No. 14 seed Florida Gulf Coast
FGCU is a nice story, but Oklahoma is a much better team.
First Round: No. 7 seed Oklahoma State over No. 10 seed South Dakota State
Oklahoma State advances to the second round.
First Round: No. 2 seed UConn over No. 15 seed Arkansas State
The Huskies take the first step in their attempt to get back to the Final Four.
Second Round: No. 1 seed USC over No. 8 seed Cal
Lindsay Gottlieb takes down her former team and the Trojans advance to the second weekend for the second consecutive year.
Second round: No. 5 seed Kansas State over No. 4 seed Kentucky
The purple Wildcats knock off the blue Wildcats in Lexington.
Second Round: No. 3 seed Oklahoma over No. 6 seed Iowa
The Trojans likely won't be too devastated about not having to face the Hawkeyes again.
Second Round: No. 2 seed UConn over No. 7 seed Oklahoma State
The Huskies have made at least the Sweet 16 every season since 1993-1994. That streak continues.
Sweet 16: No. 1 seed USC over No. 5 seed Kansas State
The Trojans advance back to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year.
Sweet 16: No. 2 seed UConn over No. 3 seed Oklahoma
UConn wins to set up a highly-aniticpated rematch with the Trojans.
Elite Eight: No. 1 seed USC over No. 2 seed UConn
The Trojans avenge last season's Elite Eight loss to the Huskies and advance to the program's first Final Four in nearly 40 years.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Women's March Madness 2025 bracket picks for USC
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