Women's March Madness snubs: BYU leads teams left out of NCAA tournament
Women's March Madness snubs: BYU leads teams left out of NCAA tournament
Meghan L. Hall, USA TODAYMon, March 16, 2026 at 2:57 AM UTC
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The madness of March officially started with the women's Selection Sunday show.
Many women's college basketball teams across the country were glued to their televisions, waiting to learn their fate for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. In total, 68 programs were selected to go dancing for a chance at a national championship.
NCAA Tournament action officially starts with the First Four on Wednesday, March 18, and Thursday, March 19, and continues with the first and second rounds on March 20-23. Unfortunately, for some teams, the dream ended Sunday when they weren't selected for the NCAA Tournament.
Here are five team who were snubbed from March Madness:
1. BYU Cougars (22-11)
The Cougars were a bubble team before March Madness. There was some hope the team would go dancing, but it was still a long shot. Unfortunately, a five-game win streak at the end of the season, which culminated in a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals appearance, wasn't enough to send BYU deeper into the postseason.
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2. Mississippi State Bulldogs (18-13)
Mississippi State did itself no favors leading up to Selection Sunday. The Bulldogs lost seven of their last nine matchups to end the season, including five straight games. Three of those losses came to ranked teams: South Carolina, LSU and Texas.
3. North Dakota State Bison (28-4)
NDSU also needed some help to get into the NCAA Tournament, but losing in the Summit League conference championship likely didn't help its case. After a magical run to the title game, the Bision lost 64-51 heartbreakingly. NDSU had turnover issues, including five during the final stretch of the matchup against South Dakota State, and didn't score at all in the final 90 seconds of regulation.
4. Texas A&M Aggies (14-12)
Despite winning six of their final seven games of the regular season, the Aggies also found themselves on the outside looking in. Unfortunately, Texas A&M had a brutal stretch to open SEC play at the start of the year, losing eight of its first conference games. Six of those losses came to ranked teams, including Oklahoma (twice), Vanderbilt, LSU, Texas and South Carolina.
5. Utah Utes (19-12)
For the first time in five seasons, Utah will not be in the NCAA Tournament. Late-season losses proved to be really costly for the program. Utah went 3-5 in the last month of the regular season, dropping multiple Big 12 matchups, including two games to BYU, who was also bounced from March Madness.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women's NCAA Tournament snubs: These teams were left off 2026 bracket
Source: “AOL Sports”
