Women’s college basketball will crown several conference tournament champions on Sunday.
In the Power 4 conference, the No. 1 seeds all have a chance to win back-to-back titles. Duke in the ACC, TCU in the Big 12, UCLA in the Big Ten and South Carolina in the SEC. Louisville, West Virginia, Iowa and Texas are all primed to play spoiler.
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The winners of the conference tournaments earn an automatic bid into March Madness. Every other team will have to sweat it out on Selection Sunday on March 15 to see if they received at-large bid.
Regardless of if they win their respective tournaments, UCLA, South Carolina and Texas are virtual locks for No. 1 seeds.
Here are USA TODAY Sports’ predictions for the Power 4 conference champions:
ACC prediction
Louisville 75, Duke 65
Duke head coach Kara Lawson told the media on March 2 her team wasn’t feeling any pressure to win back-to-back ACC Tournament championships. “Pressure? No. Everybody in this league knows they can beat us,” Lawson said. “It’s a very competitive, deep league.” I’m very curious to see how Duke responds to the pressure Louisville will apply in Sunday’s championship matchup. The Blue Devils did not handle defensive pressure as well as they typically do when playing Notre Dame in the semifinal round and were one made basket away from going home. Louisville is a very deep team with multiple players that can score, from Reyna Scott to Taj Roberts to Imari Berry off the bench. There’s only been one upset in the ACC Tournament thus far. Louisville could make it two. ― Meghan L. Hall
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Big 12 prediction
TCU 58, West Virginia 52
West Virginia’s defense is stout, leading the Big 12 with 11.3 steals per game, as evidenced by Jordan Harrison’s game-ending steal against Colorado to punch their ticket to the finals. But TCU has so much offensive depth that West Virginia won’t be able to shut down everyone. Olivia Miles hasn’t had the best start to the Big 12 Tournament, but Marta Suarez has been the steading force with 17 points and 22 points in their quarterfinal and semifinal win, respectively. TCU also has a length advantage over West Virginia that will create second chance opportunities. TCU won both regular-season matchups against West Virginia, although they’ve been close. TCU won 51-50 on Jan. 14 and 59-50 on Feb. 15. Expect Sunday’s matchup to be close as well, but if TCU can limit its turnovers, they’ll be back-to-back Big 12 champs. ― Cydney Henderson
Big Ten prediction
UCLA 78, Iowa 65
UCLA and Iowa are the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Big Ten, but UCLA is quite possibly the best team in the country. The Bruins have a veteran lineup and multiple projected first-round draft picks in Gianna Kneepkens, Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, and Big Ten Player of the Year Lauren Betts. Betts, at 6-7, can tower over the entire Iowa lineup. She is dominant in the paint, averaging 16.7 points on 55% shooting. Iowa forward Hannah Stuelke is still working through an elbow injury she suffered on Feb. 26, too. She’s played in each of Iowa’s two Big Ten Tournament games, posting a double-double against Michigan, but head coach Jan Jensen said Saturday that Stuelke’s elbow “still doesn’t feel right.” These two teams have locked in hosting spots in the NCAA Tournament. But UCLA has the advantage in Indianapolis. ― Chloe Peterson
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SEC prediction
South Carolina 68, Texas 60
South Carolina and Texas split their regular season meetings this season, with the Longhorns winning in a non-conference clash in Las Vegas by two points, then the Gamecocks winning at home in Columbia by three points. But there’s something different about Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks in March and April, especially when they face a team coached by Vic Schaefer. In her career, Staley is 8-0 against Schaefer in the postseason, which includes wins for the Gamecocks over the Longhorns in last year’s SEC title game and the Final Four. Don’t bet against South Carolina in Greenville. — Mitchell Northam
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Predicting ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC women’s conference tournament champions
