On Sunday, the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket will be revealed. Despite an ugly end to the season for Lady Vols basketball, which featured seven-straight losses, Tennessee is projected to be somewhat comfortably in the field.
A day removed from the bracket release, bracketologists across the country are finalizing their predictions. This includes projecting where the Lady Vols will end up in the bracket after the late-season hiccups.
Here’s a look at where UT is placed in multiple projections:
ESPN
- Seed: 8
- Region: Region 2 – Sacremento
- First Round Matchup: 9-seed Syracuse
- Host Site: UCLA
Her Hoops Stats
- Seed: 8
- Region: Region 2 – Sacremento
- First Round Matchup: 9-seed Princeton
- Host Site: UCLA
The IX Sports
- Seed: 8
- Region: Region 1 – Fort Worth
- First Round Matchup: 9-seed Syracuse
- Host Site: UConn
CBS
- Seed: 8
- Region: Region 2 – Sacremento
- First Round Matchup: 9-seed Oklahoma State
- Host Site: UCLA
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Tennessee finished the regular season in addition to the SEC Tournament at 16-13 (8-8 SEC) in year two under Kim Caldwell. After the elimination from the conference tournament, Caldwell gave her pitch for the Lady Vols to make the field.
“Yeah, I do,” Caldwell said. “I think we’ve played the hardest schedule in the country. I think the majority of that came in February, but we have significant wins, and I think that – we hope to get in and continue to try to be a different team.”
The official bracket will be revealed on Sunday, March 15, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The First Four will be played on March 18 and 19 to trim the field down to 64 teams. Then, the first round matchups will be played on March 20 and 21.
The Lady Vols are looking to earn back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances after Caldwell led Tennessee to an upset over Ohio State in Columbus last season.
