Each NCAA Match is magical.
It’s a time not like another, the place we get the insanity of a single-elimination contest and see if desires come true or nightmares come to life. 2025 was no exception. So, earlier than we pivot to the switch portal and what subsequent yr will seem like, let’s check out the most important moments from the tourney.
Paige Bueckers, UConn win all of it
After all of the ups and downs, Bueckers lastly obtained the job achieved and received a nationwide title for UConn, beating South Carolina 82-59. It was a second of poetic justice the place she might go away all of it on the ground and share the unfiltered pleasure of successful in entrance of the world.
Now, Bueckers strikes to the WNBA, however this recreation and second have been historic and might be the very first thing we bear in mind from this match many years from now.
JuJu Watkins tears ACL
Not all recollections are good ones. In USC’s second-round recreation towards Mississippi State, Watkins went down within the first quarter, tearing her ACL. This not solely ended her match, however will doubtless rule her out for all, or nearly all, of subsequent yr.
The Trojans rallied round her absence. They beat Mississippi State and Kansas State to achieve the Elite Eight. Through the video games Watkins was out, they’d a Funko Pop Watkins on the bench as an indication of help—a reminder that she could also be out, however not forgotten.
USC misplaced to eventual champions UConn, however Watkins received nearly each Nationwide Participant of the 12 months Award.
The success was bittersweet, and there are actually massive query marks concerning her return. Hopefully, she sees the success Bueckers has had since tearing her ACL in 2022 and makes use of it as gas to come back again even stronger.
Hailey Van Lith is Elite (Eight)
HVL did her factor with TCU and made historical past. She not solely led the Horned Frogs to their first Elite Eight look, but in addition grew to become the one participant to guide three completely different colleges that far.
There was a number of chatter about who Van Lith was as a participant, however the critics have been silenced. She gambled by transferring to TCU, and it paid off. Now we’ll see what’s subsequent for her in basketball. She already has an Olympic bronze medal in 3×3 basketball and has discovered success collegiately, so let’s see what she does professionally.
Parity or disparity?
Ladies’s basketball is in a spot the place there aren’t only one or two groups that may win all of it. In some ways, groups are deeper, and with NIL and the switch portal rising in significance yearly, we’ll see extra packages rise to the highest, proper?
We had three No. 1-seed groups make the Remaining 4, and no crew worse than a No. 5 seed reached the Candy 16. So whereas who will win is perhaps up within the air, the groups that might be within the working should not.
As time goes on, this stuff will shift, and new packages, similar to TCU, can emerge as powerhouses. However proper now, the prospect of a Cinderella making a protracted NCAA Match run is as fictional as a fairy story.
