Women's March Madness 2026: Previews of Friday's Sweet 16
Mar 27, 2026, 02:19 PM ET The Sweet 16 is here! And some of the sport’s most storied franchises are up on Friday, with UConn taking on North Carolina and Notre Dame facing off against Vanderbilt. In the late games, No. 1 seed UCLA takes on Minnesota before Duke’s vaunted offense goes up against LSU’s…
The Sweet 16 is here! And some of the sport’s most storied franchises are up on Friday, with UConn taking on North Carolina and Notre Dame facing off against Vanderbilt. In the late games, No. 1 seed UCLA takes on Minnesota before Duke’s vaunted offense goes up against LSU’s high-powered scorers.
Here is ESPN’s guide to all of Friday’s action, which is live now on ESPN. Be sure to come back after the games tip for live updates and postgame analysis.
Jump to salaries: Game previews
2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
How the Fighting Irish can advance to the Elite Eight: Notre Dame is rolling and will be a challenge for any foe. But that wasn’t the case earlier this season. The Irish went 3-6 in January — after falling at Cal on Jan. 29, they were 13-8 overall and 5-5 in the ACC. Then, their season started to turn around Feb. 1 after a victory at Stanford. The Irish have lost just twice since then: 81-70 at Virginia on Feb. 8 and 65-63 to Duke on March 7 in the ACC tournament semifinals. Hannah Hidalgo has been the rock for the Irish. Cassandre Prosper‘s progress and the improved chemistry of transfers Iyana Moore (from Vanderbilt) and Vanessa de Jesus (from Duke) have helped the Irish become perhaps the most improved team in the country since midseason. — Michael Voepel
How the Commodores can advance to the Elite Eight: Vanderbilt hadn’t made it past the second round of the tournament since 2009. The Commodores will face Hannah Hidalgo and Notre Dame. Mikayla Blakes is the nation’s leading scorer, but Hidalgo is the third-best scorer in the country. She is also a pesky defender. The Commodores average just 13.1 turnovers per game, but they will have to be even more careful with the ball. Vanderbilt shot well from 3-point range in the first round of the tournament, knocking down 11 shots from distance. Blakes hit more 3-pointers than Illinois. Vanderbilt averages 26.3 3-point attempts per game and converts 36.3% of them. — Kendra Andrews
5:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
How the Tar Heels can advance to the Elite Eight: Back in the Sweet 16 for the second year in row, the Tar Heels will have much to improve upon if their first trip to the Elite Eight since 2008 is possible. They allowed 21 Maryland offensive rebounds and turned over the ball 16 times. North Carolina will not be able to count on UConn missing the kind of open shots Maryland did. One thing that worked: reversing the strategy of shooting 40 3-pointers in the first round against Western Illinois. North Carolina launched only 11 3s against Maryland, making four, and instead routinely took the ball to the basket, scoring 44 points in the paint. Moving the ball better and getting more open looks from the perimeter will be an area to focus on. — Charlie Creme
How the Huskies can advance to the Sweet 16: If the Huskies keep playing this way, they will have no issues advancing to the Elite Eight. That’s no disrespect to North Carolina, but the Huskies are just that good. Geno Auriemma will want to ensure that his team doesn’t get complacent after this early success or that it begins to feel the pressure of a 40-0 season as the Huskies get deeper into the tournament. No coach in the country is better equipped to navigate players through those dynamics than Auriemma. And having a group that has largely been through the NCAA tournament before — not to mention emerged as champions — should only help. — Alexa Philippou
7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
How the Gophers can advance to the Elite Eight: The last time the Gophers made the Sweet 16, they were powered by future WNBA No. 1 draft pick Janel McCarville at center. The year before that, McCarville and point guard Lindsay Whalen led Minnesota to the 2004 Final Four. Whalen tried her hand at being the Gophers head coach from 2018 to 2023, after she retired from a Hall of Fame playing career in the WNBA. But Minnesota didn’t make the NCAA tournament under Whalen, and she was replaced by Dawn Plitzuweit for the 2023-24 season. Plitzuweit led the Gophers to the WBIT championship last season. To get further in the NCAA tournament this year, they will have to beat No. 1 seed UCLA. — Michael Voepel
How the Bruins can advance to the Elite Eight: In the first two games of this tournament, the Bruins have shown how dominant they can be in stretches, and they can lean on their Final Four experience for resilience. On Monday night, the Bruins survived the Cowgirls’ 9-0 run in the third quarter, never letting them get within single digits in that span. As UCLA continues in the tournament, the Bruins can’t give teams a chance to get back into the game. — Sarah Barshop
10:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
How the Blue Devils can advance to the Elite Eight: Duke will pack its defense — that’s a given. The biggest concern off the Baylor game was seeing the Blue Devils’ best player, Toby Fournier, in foul trouble. Fournier had 15 points but played only 22 minutes after picking up her third foul early in the third quarter before eventually fouling out. Fournier also fouled out of the ACC championship game and the regular-season finale against North Carolina. The degree of difficulty increases from here, and Duke cannot afford to be without Fournier for long stretches moving forward. — Andrea Adelson
How the Tigers can advance to the Elite Eight: How about a carbon copy of their first two NCAA tournament performances? When LSU is on, the Tigers are one of the best teams in the country because of their ability to score both in the paint and from 3. It became almost an afterthought against Texas Tech, but LSU went 7-of-18 from 3-point range in the game. The inside game is where it is at, and so far in two tournament games, LSU is shooting 72% in the paint — the best mark through two games by any team in the past six NCAA tournaments, according to ESPN Research. Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams are elite players, and when they are playing at the top of their game at the same time, that is a hard combination to stop. Every player who saw game action Sunday scored. If the Tigers can avoid some of the mistakes that have cost them wins in the past, they will put themselves in position to keep going in this tournament. — Andrea Adelson
