March Madness Basics

The 2025 women's NCAA basketball tournament includes 68 teams. There are 31 automatic qualifiers pulled from the winners of the conference tournaments. The additional teams are selected by a committee which this year is using a quadrant-based system that ESPN explains in detail.

Selections will be announced at 7 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 16 on ESPN.

The top 16 seeds will host the first weekend of tournament games. The regional semifinals and finals - the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight - will be held March 28-31. There will be eight teams competing at two sites: Birmingham, Alabama, and Spokane, Washington, will host the regionals March 28-31.