Kentucky will not host in 2026 NCAA Women's Tournament

Women’s basketball is doing selection weekend a bit different in 2026. Before the selection show arrives on Sunday, there was a bracket soft launch revealed on Saturday between the SEC Tournament intermission. ESPN has announced the top 16 seeds. Kentucky will not be hosting the opening weekend this year.

• Duke
• Iowa
• Louisville
• LSU
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• North Carolina
• Ohio State
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• TCU
• Texas
• UCLA
• UCon
• Vanderbilt
• West Virginia

ESPN did not release seeds. All we know is that Kentucky is not among the top 16. That means Historic Memorial Coliseum will not host in the first weekend.

The unveiling of the 68-team field will be live on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. We now know who the hosts will be. Where will Kentucky end up? We will find out shortly.

Kentucky (23-10) had a 2-1 run at the SEC Tournament with double-digit wins against Arkansas and Georgia before falling to No. 1 seed South Carolina in the quarterfinals. UK wants to build off the good postseason play put on the floor in Greenville.

“Continuing to build off what we’ve been doing the past few days at the tournament — our games throughout the whole season,” Strack said of what Kentucky needs to do leading up to the NCAA Tournament. “Just continue to build off that, being able to execute, everything like that.”

That will have to occur on the road as a likely No. 5 seed. We will officially find out Kentucky’s destination tomorrow night. March Madness is off and running.

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