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2025 Women’s March Madness Futures Odds: Will Anyone Stop South Carolina?
Written by: Eddie Griffin
Last Updated: Fri Mar 21, 2025, 03:35 AM
Read Time: 7 minutes
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Last April, the South Carolina Gamecocks stamped themselves into the women’s college basketball history books by completing a perfect season with a national championship game win over Caitlin Clark and Iowa. Today, this year’s edition of women’s March Madness tips off, and Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks will be one of the leading favorites to cut down the nets at Amalie Arena in Tampa on April 6.
But while they are one of the four #1 seeds in the women’s March Madness bracket, they are just one of several contenders hoping to come away with the crown.
Bet on Women’s March Madness Odds at the Best Online Sportsbooks
Los Angeles has been at the center of an exciting women’s college basketball season, as UCLA and USC battled it out for the regular season and tournament titles in the Big Ten, which not only survived but thrived this season post-Clark thanks to National Player of the Year candidates Lauren Betts and Juju Watkins.
The Bruins are one of the three teams that defeated South Carolina in the regular season, and the two others, Texas and UConn, join South Carolina, UCLA, and USC as the top five national championship favorites entering the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Odds to Win the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship
Odds are via Bovada.
- South Carolina +210
- UConn +250
- UCLA +460
- USC +750
- Texas +800
- Notre Dame +1500
- Duke +3500
- LSU +5000
- NC State +5500
- TCU +6600
Who Are the Favorites to Win This Year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship?
South Carolina (+210)
- Record: 30-3, SEC regular season co-champions, SEC tournament champions
- Women’s NCAA Tournament Seed: #1 in the Birmingham 2 Regional
To be the best, you have to beat the best, and at this point, the road to the title still goes through South Carolina, much like the road to the Super Bowl title this past NFL season went through the Kansas City Chiefs.
That they sit atop these odds a little more than a month after a 29-point home loss to UConn is notable, but they did exactly what a team should do after such a loss. They won their next seven games by an average of 22 points, and six of those games were against fellow NCAA Tournament teams.
This South Carolina team doesn’t have a stat-stuffer like a Betts or Watkins, but it takes more to beat them than it does anyone else. And they typically save their best for the biggest games. Entering the NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks are 12-3 against ranked teams this season, and only one of those wins, a 70-63 win at Tennessee on January 27, did not come by double digits.
UConn (+250)
- Record: 31-3, won Big East regular season and tournament titles
- Women’s March Madness Seed: #2 in the Spokane 4 Regional
Since UConn’s last national title nine years ago, women’s college basketball has undergone a period of significant growth, and the Huskies being booted off of their pedestal is both a cause and effect of that growth.
Still, they remain one of the sport’s standard-bearers, and each tournament brings high hopes and high expectations for the Huskies.
This go-round is Paige Bueckers’ last ride before she moves on to the professional ranks, as she spurned the WNBA last season to take one more crack at an elusive title.
Injuries have affected UConn’s March Madness aspirations multiple in recent years, but they enter this year’s tournament with both Bueckers and Azzi Fudd both healthy and available, which wasn’t the case last year (Fudd missed all but two games last season) or the year before (Bueckers missed the entire season).
That will go a long way, as will the presence of their next superstar, freshman Sarah Strong. That trio can power the Huskies to yet another Final Four trip, but can they replicate what they did to South Carolina in Columbia?
UCLA (+460)
- Record: 30-2, won Big Ten tournament title
- Women’s March Madness Seed: #1 in the Spokane 1 Regional (#1 overall seed)
The Bruins opened the season with 23 consecutive wins before losing at USC, and after losing again to the Trojans at home to end the regular season in a Big Ten regular season title decider, they got a major measure of rivalry revenge with a spirited rally in the championship game of the Big Ten tournament.
A fourth meeting could beckon in the national semifinals in Tampa, but that would require the Bruins doing something that they have never done before. The other four favorites all have at least one national championship and multiple Final Four appearances; the best result in UCLA history is trips to the Elite Eight in 1999 and 2018.
Each top contender faces a high level of pressure, but the Bruins are trying to venture into uncharted waters. Can they reach the promised land?
A 10-2 mark against ranked teams, including a 15-point home win over then-#1 South Carolina on November 24, is a positive mark for their championship credentials, but a lack of big-game experience at this point of the season is a point of concern.
USC (+750)
- Record: 28-3, won Big Ten regular season title
- Women’s March Madness Seed: #1 in the Spokane 4 Regional
Last season, the Trojans reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 1994, and their season came to an end there at the hands of UConn.
USC may have to battle the beast again to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1986, but can they win that battle this time around? They already know they can beat UCLA. They have had the better of the Bruins overall across three matchups in three different venues, and a fourth won’t faze them. But will they get to that fourth matchup? No one else in the region should touch them, but they do need to guard against looking ahead to that potential regional final rematch with the Huskies.
Texas (+800)
- Record: 31-3, SEC regular season co-champions
- Women’s March Madness Seed: #1 in the Birmingham 3 Regional
In his last seven NCAA Tournament appearances, Texas coach Vic Schaefer has two Final Four appearances and four Elite Eight appearances. Three of those four Elite Eight trips came in his first four seasons at Texas, including last season, when the Longhorns were upset by NC State.
Anything less than the program’s first Final Four trip since 2003 will be even more painful than that loss to the Wolfpack, both with those near misses in mind and how good the ‘Horns have been this season.
Defense has been the backbone of Schaefer’s success at Mississippi State and Texas, and that was especially on display in an eight-day stretch in February in which they recorded wins over South Carolina, Kentucky, and LSU.
But will they be able to drum up enough offense to win? Madison Booker has delivered in many of Texas’s big wins this season, but if she gets shut down, that puts the Longhorns in a difficult spot. There’s a good chance that this will come into focus at some point during the tournament, whether in regional action or in Tampa. How they respond–if they respond–could decide if a Schaefer squad finally reaches the summit.
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