In one sense, the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament stays consistent: Eight of the last 10 were won by either Notre Dame or NC State, this year’s regular season co-champions.
Yet the league’s annual trip to the Carolinas has gotten weird in recent runs. The fourth-seeded Irish whooped tourney favorite Virginia Tech by almost 30 points in the 2024 semifinal, then went on to beat the Wolfpack for the title. The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds were knocked out before the 2023 final, and massive sleeper Miami pulled off a pair of upsets en route to the final as a No. 7 seed in 2022.
This latest installment teases the star power of Hannah Hidalgo and the intrastate animosity between N.C. State, UNC and Duke. With three teams in the national top 10 and another three ranked programs seeking a March surge, this postseason ACC stretch has a lot to offer.
How to watch the 2025 ACC women’s basketball tournament
Venue: First Horizon Coliseum — Greensboro, N.C.
Dates: March 5-9
TV: ACC Network, ESPN, ESPN2
Streaming: Fubo (try for free), ESPN+ and Disney+ for all ESPN games, ACC app for all ACC Network games
Watching in-person? Get tickets on StubHub
Full schedule (all times Eastern)
First round — Wednesday, March 5
Game 1 | No. 13 Syracuse vs. No. 12 Boston College | ACC Network | 1 p.m.
Game 2 | No. 15 Pitt vs. No. 10 Virginia | ACC Network | 3:30 p.m.
Game 3 | No. 14 Clemson vs. No. 11 Stanford | ACC Network | 6:30 p.m.
Second round — Thursday, March 6
Game 4 | G1 winner vs. No. 5 North Carolina | ACC Network | 11 a.m.
Game 5 | No. 9 Georgia Tech vs. No. 8 Virginia Tech | ACC Network | 1:30 p.m.
Game 6 | G2 winner vs. No. 7 Cal | ACC Network | 5 p.m.
Game 7 | G3 winner vs. No. 6 Louisville | ACC Network | 7:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals — Friday, March 7
Game 8 | G4 winner vs. No. 4 Florida State | ESPN2 | 11 a.m.
Game 9 | G5 winner vs. No. 1 NC State | ACC Network | 1:30 p.m.
Game 10 | G6 winner vs. No. 2 Notre Dame | ESPN2 | 5 p.m.
Game 11 | G7 winner vs. No. 3 Duke | ACC Network | 7:30 p.m.
Semifinals — Saturday, March 8
Game 12 | G8 winner vs. G9 winner | ESPN2 | Noon
Game 13 | G10 winner vs. G11 winner | ESPN2 | 2:30 p.m.
Championship — Sunday, March 9
Game 14 | G12 winner vs. G13 winner | ESPN, Fubo | 1 p.m.
Paths to victory
(1) NC State: Wes Moore has gotten the most out of his Pack, which ranked 21st in the Jan. 20 poll before finishing the regular season out at 12-1. That one loss was by one point in Chapel Hill. Senior Aziaha James was on a heater in February, shooting exactly 50 percent overall and bumping up to 36.7 on 3s.
This was the ACC’s only undefeated team at home. Greensboro is a short drive from the Raleigh campus, and the Wolfpack should hear those howls of encouragement throughout the weekend. They’ll have a healthy shot if they seize the foul margins and if the playmaking trio of James, fellow senior Saniya Rivers and sophomore grinder Zoe Brooks plays well. The starting lineup is small but balanced and can run at a high tempo.
(2) Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish can feasibly repeat their tournament triumph as long as Hidalgo locks in. Notre Dame’s last conference Player of the Year was Jewell Loyd in 2014-15. Hidalgo dropped video game numbers on beleaguered opponents — more than 24 points per game on clean 46/40/86 shooting splits, with healthy assist and rebound totals and the most steals in the conference.
Senior initiator Olivia Miles may be the No. 2 pick in the forthcoming WNBA Draft, her brilliant passing and steely long-range shooting belying her arduous recovery from a 2023 ACL tear. Miles has one of the smoothest stepbacks in women’s basketball, but she also has an understated and clever feel for coast-to-coast action.
The conference couldn’t ask for a more talented second seed. Niele Ivey’s team paced the ACC in 2- and 3-point shooting and defensive and net ratings.
This year’s head-to-head between the Irish and Wolfpack was one of the best games of the season. Hidalgo, Miles and Sonia Citron each eclipsed 20 points, but Zoe Brooks was the top scorer with 33, and State hung tough in double overtime.
(3) Duke: The Blue Devils played winning defense this winter. Opposing jump-shooters were left looking disoriented, possessions reduced to sulking giveaways. In short, this is a very annoying group to match up with, having led the conference in turnovers generated and second chances created. They’re fine trudging through the mud and mixing things up with their second unit. Oluchi Okananwa brings a high jump and a relentless motor off the bench, and freshman forward Toby Fournier was the team’s top scorer despite finishing seventh in total minutes. The two teams ahead of them have more polish, sure, but Duke has tough energy and convincingly won its final three tilts. There should also be a solid contingency of Cameron Crazies in Greensboro.
(4) Florida State: The Seminoles know precisely how they can win this tournament … by closing their eyes and blazing past everyone in front of them. They had the conference’s best offensive rating and its fastest pace while leading the country in points per game. Coached by Brooke Wyckoff, Florida State had a volatile few months — double-digit losses to NC State, Duke, Louisville and Cal, but triumphant and close road wins over Georgia Tech, UNC and mighty Notre Dame. Anything can happen in a single-elimination tourney, and the last of the double-bye teams should be rested up and ready to run. Ta’Niya Latson is potent enough to swing momentum and reclaim a neutral gym. She was the top scorer in college ball at 25.4 points per game, and her three-year Seminole stint has yielded the highest usage rate in ACC history. If there’s an improbable “One Shining Moment” to be had here, it starts and ends with Latson.
Never say never…
North Carolina went 13-5 but drew the fifth seed due to tiebreakers. Reniya Kelly is a twitchy sharpshooter, and Lexi Donarski was fourth in made 3s during ACC play. The Tar Heels wrapped up with dispiriting losses to rival Duke and struggling Virginia, but UNC actually had better net and defensive ratings than top-seeded NC State.
Tajianna Roberts of Louisville looked intrepid in her first collegiate season. She paced her team in minutes, scoring and steals, and recently dropped a scorching 18-point second half in the Cardinals’ victory over Clemson last week. Maybe she has a cool freshman breakout queueing up.
Charmin Smith’s Cal Golden Bears were first in 3s attempted and last in free throws attempted. That is not a sustainable blueprint, but at its absolute best, Cal has the outside proficiency to pull an upset or even two. Greece’s Ioanna Krimili and Australia’s Lulu Twidale each shot around 38 percent on more than seven 3-point tries.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish, North Carolina State Wolfpack, Duke Blue Devils, Florida State Seminoles, Women’s College Basketball, Sports Betting
2025 The Athletic Media Company
#watch #ACC #womens #basketball #tournament #Game #times #listings
