Picking the NCAA women's bracket: UConn beats Texas for another national championship

For those who will be entering an NCAA women's college basketball tournament bracket pool this year, let's begin with the ending:

You're probably going to pick Connecticut to win March Madness.

And almost everybody else in the pool will, too.

Do not overthink this. If you're a fan of South Carolina, UCLA or Texas — obviously, excellent teams — then go ahead and pick one of those schools to win the national championship. If it happens, you'll have a great chance to win the pool because everybody else will have picked UConn.

Here's the trick to winning a women's tournament pool: You've got to win the first weekend. It's what separates those who get to brag from those who don't.

By Week 2, the brackets will mostly look the same. It's rare that a team seeded lower than No. 8 reaches the Sweet 16; only three such teams in the last five years (Miami in 2023, Creighton and South Dakota in 2022) have gotten there.

To win, find those early upsets. There are three No. 11 seeds that seem like they could fit the bill.

Let's start with Fairfield. The Stags, champions of the Metro Atlantic, are 28-4. Sure, drawing Hannah Hidalgo and Notre Dame in Round 1 won't be easy, but if the Irish are off their game even a tiny bit this one will get interesting.

Next, Rhode Island. Also 28-4, the Atlantic 10 champions face Alabama in Round 1. The Rams do not let you score.

And now, South Dakota State. It takes on Washington in Round 1.

The Jackrabbits — come on, you have to love that name — gave Texas a relatively tough game in December and star forward Brooklyn Meyer is a problem. She’s the best player in the country that you’ve probably never heard of.

And if you want a live longshot or two (or four), take a look at these teams: Fairleigh Dickinson has won 22 in a row, Idaho 18 in a row, Murray State 15 in a row and Howard 14 in a row.

— There have been 43 previous NCAA women's tournaments. The champions by seed: 32 were No. 1 seeds, eight were No. 2 seeds and three were No. 3 seeds.

No. 4 through No. 16 seeds need not apply. If you'd like to pick your alma mater (and it's not a 1, 2 or 3 seed) to win it all, consider your bracket entry fee a charitable donation and don't bother looking at the final results.

— At least one No. 1 seed will get to the final.

There have been only three title games without a No. 1 seed: North Carolina (3) vs. Louisiana Tech (4) in 1994, Texas A&M (2) vs. Notre Dame (2) in 2011, and LSU (3) vs. Iowa (2) in 2023.

The lowest-seeded teams to make a final: Western Kentucky (1992), Louisiana Tech (1994), Rutgers (2007) and Syracuse (2016) as No. 4 seeds, and Louisville (2013) as a No. 5 seed.

Before we get to the picks, take a second to appreciate what UConn has done this season.

A perfect 34-0 so far, six wins away from the 40-win perfect season, a 50-game winning streak going back to last season's title run.

UConn has gone 70-3 in superstar forward Sarah Strong's games with the Huskies, including a staggering 48-1 at home or on neutral courts. A potential UConn-Iowa State game — Strong vs. Audi Crooks — in Round 2 would be appointment television.

Azzi Fudd is deadly from 3-point land when open and not much worse when she isn't. And KK Arnold remains vastly underrated; she's only gone 103-9 in her UConn career.

Fort Worth 1: UConn, Iowa State, Maryland, North Carolina, Fairfield, Ohio State, Colorado, Vanderbilt.

Sacramento 2: UCLA, Princeton, Gonzaga, Minnesota, Baylor, Duke, Villanova, LSU.

Fort Worth 3: Texas, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Louisville, Tennessee, Michigan.

Sacramento 4: South Carolina, Clemson, Michigan State, Oklahoma, South Dakota State, TCU, Georgia, Iowa.

Fort Worth 1: UConn, Maryland, Ohio State, Vanderbilt.

Sacramento 2: UCLA, Minnesota, Baylor, LSU.

Fort Worth 3: Texas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan.

Sacramento 4: South Carolina, Oklahoma, TCU, Iowa.

Fort Worth 1: UConn, Vanderbilt.

Sacramento 2: UCLA, LSU.

Fort Worth 3: Texas, Louisville.

Sacramento 3: South Carolina, Iowa.

UConn, UCLA, Texas, South Carolina. (Yes, the four No. 1 seeds.)

UConn beats South Carolina. Texas beats UCLA.

And in the end, it’s UConn over Texas for the national title.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley watchers during second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kentuck in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Texas head coach Vic Schaefer yells during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Chelsea has been handed fines totaling 10.75 million pounds ($14.3 million) as well as a suspended one-year ban from signing players for breaking financial rules during its previous ownership under Roman Abramovich, the Premier League said Monday.

Sanction agreements were reached after Chelsea self-reported potential breaches to the Football Association that came to light in 2022 when American investors Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital led a consortium to buy out Abramovich for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion).

The rules related to “financial reporting, third party investment and youth development,” the Premier League said.

“It was established that between 2011 and 2018, undisclosed payments by third parties associated with the club were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties,” the league said in a statement.

“These payments were not disclosed to the football regulatory authorities at the time, including the Premier League.”

According to the sanction agreement, the payments to unregistered agents totaled more than 23 million pounds ($30 million) and were in relation to the signings of players including Eden Hazard, David Luiz, Ramires, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.

The undisclosed payments “were made for the benefit of Chelsea,” the statement said, “and should have been treated as having been made by the club.”

They “constituted a breach of the requirement to act in good faith towards the league,” the competition said.

Chelsea accepted the fine, which was ratified by an independent commission, and was given an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and a suspended one-year transfer ban for first-team players.

No points deduction was applied, however.

The club said it was “pleased” to reach a settlement with the Premier League.

“From the outset of this process,” Chelsea said in its own statement, “the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators.”

The league noted Chelsea's “proactive self-reporting, admissions of breach and exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation acted as significant mitigating factors" and helped reduce the fine by around 50%.

It also said it was satisfied that Chelsea “in no scenario” would have breached the league's profitability and sustainability rules in those periods if the payments made had been properly included in the club’s accounts.

Chelsea's new owners have been fined on multiple occasions by UEFA for financial breaches.

In 2023, during the first year of new regime, Chelsea paid UEFA a 10 million euros (then $11.8 million) fine to settle irregularities committed while the club was owned by Abramovich, who was forced to sell the club after Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. That was also self-reported by the club.

Last year, Chelsea was fined 20 million euros (then $23.6 million) for failing to approach break-even and a further 11 million euros ($13 million) for spending more than an 80% set limit of its revenue on so-called “squad cost” such as transfers and wages.

A separate disciplinary process conducted by the Football Association is ongoing and relates to the same breaches for which Chelsea has been punished by the Premier League.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Chelsea players celebrate after a goal during the fifth round FA Cup soccer match between Wrexham and Chelsea in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)