Caitlin Clark is the best story in college basketball if not all of basketball. The sensational Iowa guard leads the nation in points and assists and broke scoring records seemingly every other week of the season. Clark now reigns as the NCAA Division 1’s all-time leading scorer — men’s or women’s — and has led the Hawkeyes to a top seed for March Madness alongside South Carolina, USC and Texas.
As spectacular as Clark has been, she’s not the only reason to tune into the women’s tournament this year. The state of women’s college basketball has never been stronger. Paige Bueckers was Caitlin Clark before Caitlin Clark. She was named the national player of the year as a freshman and is now back to full strength for UConn after missing her sophomore season last year to a knee injury.
Read more: How to watch the men’s March Madness tournament without cable
Meanwhile, there are a number of supremely talented freshman that have made impacts this season and ensure that the sport will continue to grow after Clark leaves for the WNBA. JuJu Watkins is averaging 27 points per game for USC — second only to Clark — and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo is third in the nation in scoring, while MiLaysia Fulwiley has helped lead a balanced South Carolina team to an undefeated regular season. And then there’s the defending champs in LSU led by juniors Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow and freshman guard Mikaylah Williams.
Here’s everything you need to know to get ready for the women’s March Madness tournament, from the first round to the Final Four and the National Championship game.
Caitlin Clark has made Iowa Hawkeyes basketball appointment viewing.
When does the women’s March Madness start?
The tournament starts with four play-in games over two nights that gets the field down to 64 teams. The First Four play-in games take place on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the tournament really gets going with the first full day of games on Friday, March 22.
What is the women’s March Madness tournament schedule?
Here’s the schedule, round by round:
- First Four: March 20 to 21
- First Round: March 22 to 23
- Second Round: March 24 to 25
- Sweet 16: March 29 to 30
- Elite Eight: March 31 to April 1
- Final Four: Friday, April 5
- NCAA championship game: Sunday, April 7
The first two rounds will be held on campus sites at the school of the higher seed. Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will be played in Albany, New York and Portland, Oregon. The Final Four and national championship will be played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (home of the Cleveland Cavaliers) in Cleveland, Ohio.
What does the Women’s NCAA tournament bracket look like?
You can check out the official bracket to see all the matchups and figure out who might make it to the Final Four.
South Carolina hasn’t lost since meeting Iowa in last year’s Final Four. The two schools find themselves on opposite sides of the bracket this year, which means they could meet in the national championship. Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes face a potential Elite Eight matchup against the defending champs in No. 3 LSU, so their path back to the Final Four is far from assured.
When does Iowa and Caitlin Clark play?
The Hawkeyes open the tournament at home in Iowa City on Saturday against the winner of the play-in game between Holy Cross and UT Martin. Iowa’s first-round game on Saturday is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT) on ABC.
How can I watch the women’s March Madness tournament?
Unlike the men’s tournament, which airs on CBS and Turner networks (TNT, TBS, TruTV) the women’s tournament will once again be shown across the ESPN family of channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews and ABC.
Games will also be streamed live on ESPN Plus, but not until the Final Four. Only the two semifinal games and the national championship will be shown on ESPN Plus.
What are my women’s March Madness streaming options?
The best live TV streaming service for watching the women’s tournament is YouTube TV. It offers all four ESPN channels and ABC in its base plan that costs $73 a month, and it offers multi-view so you can watch up to four games at once.
Fubo is the only other service with multiview, but it costs more than YouTube TV and then forces you to pay extra to add ESPNU and ESPNews. Similarly, DirectTV Stream’s base plan costs more than YouTube TV’s and doesn’t include ESPNU or ESPNews. Sling TV is also a poor choice because it offers ABC in only a handful of markets.
That leaves Hulu with Live TV as the second-best choice. It lacks multiview, but its $77-a-month base plan includes all five channels needed to watch any game of the women’s tournament.
YouTube TV costs $73 a month and includes all five channels needed so you can watch any game of the tournament. It also offers multi-view so you can keep track of potential buzzer beaters of up to four games at once. Plug in your ZIP code on its welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
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Hulu with Live TV costs $77 a month and includes all five channels needed for the women’s tournament. Click the “View channels in your area” link on its welcome page to see which local channels are offered in your ZIP code.
Read our Hulu with Live TV review.
End-of-tournament streaming option
If you only care about watching the last three games of the tournament, you can spend just $11 for a month of ESPN Plus for the Final Four and national championship.
ESPN’s stand-alone streaming service costs $11 a month or $100 a year and will show both Final Four games and the National Championship game.
Each of the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live-TV streaming services guide.
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Matt Elliott
