Last year women's college basketball began amid major upheaval: conference realignment reshaped rivalries, the Pac-12 collapsed, and the quad system was being phased in. This offseason was much quieter, but with the 2025–26 campaign now underway, every game from here on matters for NCAA tournament positioning. Bracketology will track those shifts all season, with weekly updates starting Tuesday and twice-weekly 68-team projections beginning in January and continuing through Selection Sunday on March 15.
Before the schedule piles up, here are five questions that will have the biggest impact on how the 2026 bracket forms.
1) How will the Big Ten perform in nonconference play?
Preseason Bracketology had as many as 13 Big Ten teams projected to make the NCAA tournament — a number that would break the conference’s record of 12 from last season. But several of those projected bids belong to teams seeded 9 or lower, including programs such as Nebraska, Oregon, Illinois and Minnesota, which means 13 is far from guaranteed.
Because the league is so deep, many teams will cannibalize each other once conference play starts. To convert depth into actual bids, Big Ten teams must build résumé
