Women’s conference tournaments: Power 4 scores and highlights

The top four seeds in the Power 4 conferences will begin their March Madness road Friday

The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC’s top teams take the court in their respective conference tournaments after earning double byes. South Carolina (SEC), UCLA (Big Ten), Duke (ACC) and TCU (Big 12) each earned No. 1 seeds and double-byes in their respective conferences and have the easiest path to winning their postseason tournaments. All four teams won their conference tournament last season and are looking to repeat.

The 2026 NCAA Tournament begins on March 18 and the conference tournaments will go a long way in figuring who is in and who is out. Conference tournament winners get an automatic an bid. Every other team will have to sweat it out on Selection Sunday on March 15 to see if they received at-large bid.

Thursday saw a boatload of upsets, but none bigger than Maryland’s loss to Oregon and Michigan State’s to Illinois. Both teams had been projected to be in the top 16 seeds and host first- and second-round games. Being upset in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament leaves to door ajar for Kentucky, WVU and UNC to host instead.

USA TODAY Sports is following along with the Power Four conference tournaments. Follow along for live updates, highlights and results here:

No. 9 Clemson vs. No. 1 Duke 11:00 a.m. ET | ESPN2

Duke Blue Devils starting lineup

Head coach: Kara Lawson

4 Riley Nelson | G 6-2 – Sophomore
3 Ashlon Jackson | G 6-0 – Senior
12 Delaney Thomas | F 6-3 – Junior
22 Taina Mair | G 5-9- Senior
35 Toby Fournier | F 6-2 – Sophomore

Clemson Tigers starting lineup

Head coach: Shawn Poppie

10 Taylor Johnson-Matthews | G 5-9 – Senior
11 Rusne Augustinaite | G 6-0 – Junior
14 Rachel Rose | G 5-7 – Senior
25 Demeara Hinds | F 6-2- Senior
32 Raven Thompson | F 5-10 – Senior

Big Ten Tournament schedule, bracket, scores

The 2026 Big Ten women’s basketball tournament unfolds over five days during March, with all games played in Indianapolis.

Here’s the daily schedule:

Wednesday, March 4 – First round

Thursday, March 5 – Second round

Friday, March 6 – Quarterfinals

Game 8 | #1 UCLA vs. #8 Washington | 12 p.m. ET | BTN
Game 9 | #4 Minnesota vs. #5 Ohio State | 25 minutes following Game 8 | BTN
Game 10 | #2 Iowa vs. #10 Illinois | 6:30 p.m. ET | BTN
Game 11 | #3 Michigan vs. #11 Oregon | 25 minutes following Game 10 | BTN

Saturday, March 7 – Semifinals

Game 12 | G8 winner vs. G9 winner | 2 p.m. ET | BTN
Game 13 | G10 winner vs. G11 winner | 4:30 p.m. ET | BTN

Sunday, March 8 – Championship

Game 14 | G12 winner vs. G13 winner | 2:15 p.m. ET | CBS

Big 12 Tournament schedule, bracket, scores

All times Eastern

March 4

First Round

March 5

Second Round

March 6

Quarterfinals

Game 9: No. 12 Kansas State vs. No. 4 Oklahoma State | noon (ESPNU)
Game 10: No. 9 BYU vs. No. 1 TCU | 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 11: No. 10 Arizona State vs. No. 2 West Virginia | 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 12: No. 6 Colorado vs. No. 3 Baylor | 9 p.m. (ESPN+)

March 7

Semifinals

Game 13: Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10 | 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 14: Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12 | 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

March 8

Championship: Winner of Game 13 vs. Winner of Game 14 | 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women’s basketball conference tournaments live: Scores and highlights

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