{"id":897987,"date":"2026-10-28T21:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T21:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897987\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T21:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T21:38:08","slug":"heres-when-the-womens-college-basketball-season-begins-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897987\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s when the women\u2019s college basketball season begins \u2013 NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women’s college basketball<\/a> is back, and so is one of the biggest stars in the sport.<\/p>\n

USC guard JuJu Watkins will return to the court this season after tearing her ACL in March of 2025. The former AP Player of the Year joins a stacked Trojans lineup, which was led by Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jazzy Davidson last season.<\/p>\n

Despite Watkins’ return, there are plenty of other powerhouses who are in the national title hunt. Dawn Staley’s<\/a> South Carolina team is atop the preseason rankings after losing to UCLA in the title game last season. The defending champions, meanwhile sit at No. 11 after losing their top six leading scorers to the WNBA. And then there’s No. 2 UConn, who can never be counted out with Geno Auriemma at the helm and last season’s AP Player of the Year Sarah Strong returning.<\/p>\n

When does the women’s college basketball season start? Here are the key dates to know for 2026-27.<\/p>\n

When does the women’s college basketball season start?<\/p>\n

The NCAA women’s basketball season begins on Sunday, Nov. 1, the same day the men’s season<\/a> tips off with just one game. Most teams will play their first game on Monday, Nov. 2.<\/p>\n

Women’s college basketball opening night schedule<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Nov. 1, just one game is scheduled \u2014 No. 13 Notre Dame vs. Villanova in Rome, Italy. This will be played after their men’s teams face off as Pope Leo XIV’s<\/a> alma mater<\/a> (Villanova) faces another Catholic institution<\/a> (Notre Dame) just outside his residence (Vatican City).<\/p>\n

There are 164 games featuring Division I teams on Monday, Nov. 2. Here are all the ranked teams in action:<\/p>\n

No. 20 Maryland vs. No. 1 South Carolina, 12 p.m. ET (ESPN)<\/p>\n

Lipscomb vs. No. 8 Vanderbilt, 12 p.m. ET (SECN+)<\/p>\n

Alcorn State vs. No. 19 Ole Miss, 12 p.m. ET (SECN+)<\/p>\n

UC San Diego vs. No. 16 Washington, 2 p.m. ET (B1G+)<\/p>\n

Lehigh vs. No. 11 UCLA, 2:30 p.m. ET (B1G+)<\/p>\n

No. 21 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 North Carolina, 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2)<\/p>\n

No. 3 USC vs. UNLV, 4 p.m. ET (CBSSN)<\/p>\n

Cornell vs. No. 2 UConn, 5 p.m. ET (Peacock)<\/p>\n

Bellarmine vs. No. 7 Louisville, 5 p.m. ET (ACCNX)<\/p>\n

Wofford vs. No. 25 NC State, 5 p.m. ET (ACCNX)<\/p>\n

Harvard vs. No. 17 Minnesota, 6 p.m. ET (B1G+)<\/p>\n

Southern vs. No. 22 Oklahoma State, 6 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Morehead State vs. No. 14 Kentucky, 6:30 p.m. ET (SECN+)<\/p>\n

UIC vs. No. 18 Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. ET (B1G+)<\/p>\n

SE Louisiana vs. No. 9 LSU, 7 p.m. ET (SECN)<\/p>\n

Towson vs. No. 10 Iowa, 8 p.m. ET (B1G+)<\/p>\n

When does the women’s college basketball season end?<\/p>\n

The women’s college basketball regular season will end on Saturday, March 6, 2027.<\/p>\n

Conference tournaments will follow before Selection Sunday on March 14, 2027.<\/p>\n

When is women’s March Madness in 2027?<\/p>\n

Women’s March Madness starts on Wednesday, March 17, 2027, and ends with the national championship on Sunday, April 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

The NCAA Tournament will be expanding this season<\/a> from 68 to 76 teams for a super-sized opening round. The traditional First Four will include 12 games this season instead of four, followed by the usual setup of 64 teams in the first round.<\/p>\n

Where is the 2027 Women’s Final Four?<\/p>\n

The 2027 Women’s Final Four will be held at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

It will mark the city’s second time hosting the Women’s Final Four and first time since 2018.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUCLA got big games from Gabriela Jaquez and Lauren Betts to win its first NCAA tournament title.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Women’s college basketball is back, and so is one of the biggest stars in the sport. USC guard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-897987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}