Gophers will open with Washington as Big Ten women's basketball tournament bracket is set

USC won the conference championship outright Saturday night and will be the No. 1 seed; the Gophers are seeded 13th and will play Washington in the first round Wednesday.

By Star Tribune staff Star Tribune

March 2, 2025 — 6:48pm

Southern California and UCLA have been titans of women's basketball throughout their first season in the Big Ten. If they continue their dominance in this week's Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis, there's a good chance fans can watch the rivals play again Sunday.

No. 4 USC won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday night with an 80-67 victory at No. 2 UCLA, getting 30 points, five assists, three blocks and two steals from star sophomore JuJu Watkins. The Trojans swept their two regular-season games with their crosstown rivals — UCLA's only two losses all season.

"I'm confident," Watkins told reporters after the game. "The work speaks for itself, so as long as we continue to stick with the process, we'll see success."

The two Los Angeles schools will be the top two seeds this week in the conference tournament, meaning neither will play until Friday's quarterfinals. Two victories for each would mean they would play for the tournament title Sunday.

Before that, the tournament begins with three first-round games Wednesday. The Gophers will play in the tournament's very first game after finishing 13th following seven losses in their final nine games, a stretch that has jeopardized their NCAA tournament hopes. They will open the tournament against 12th-seeded Washington. A victory in that game would mean a second-round game Thursday against fifth-seeded Michigan.

The tournament is back in Indianapolis for the 26th time since it began in 1995, after it was played the past two seasons at Target Center. With the Big Ten now at 18 teams, this will be the first time not all the teams will be participating, as only the top 15 teams are invited.

That means that Penn State, Northwestern and Purdue — which has the most Big Ten tournament championships of any program, with nine — have been left with no path to the automatic NCAA tournament berth that goes to the Big Ten tournament champion.