NCAA women's college basketball
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Fill out your bracket. Battle local fans round by round. The best sixteen teams play at home the first weekend, so every upset you call is one most fans missed.
Nothing to join right now.
Dates for the next one are to be decided. They appear here as soon as they are — or pick another sport below, which may well be running.
What you buy
One buy-in covers the whole tournament, start to finish. You make every pick in one sitting, and that is the last thing it asks of you.
The tournament
once a seasonYou pick all sixty-three games of the bracket, in one sitting, before a ball is tipped.
5 battle rounds inside it, each against a fan from your own city — or, once in a while, a rivalry battle against another city altogether.
- Round 1 (64 teams)20% at stake
- Round 2 (32 teams)20% at stake
- Round 3 (16 teams)20% at stake
- Round 4 (8 teams)10% at stake
- Round 5 (semifinals and championship)10% at stake
Banked for your charity the moment it locks10%
Mad4Change, which is what pays the card fees10%
That is the whole of it: 20 + 20 + 20 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 100. The first 10% is your charity’s whatever happens next, and we never ask you to cover the card fee on top. From $20, in whole dollars, and you can top it up until it locks.
The field
Who you are picking between, and what it took them to get there.
68
teams are invited
The field went from sixty-four to sixty-eight in 2022, so it now matches the men's exactly. Conference champions are in automatically; a committee picks the rest on the strength of their season and announces the whole field on one Sunday in March.
16
teams host the first weekend
The top four seeds in each of the four regions play rounds one and two on their own campus, in front of their own crowd. That is the single biggest difference from the men's tournament, where every game is at a neutral site — and it is why the opening weekend here produces fewer upsets.
63
games to call
Four regions of sixteen, seeded one to sixteen, with four opening games cutting sixty-eight down to sixty-four first. Those four are not picked and not battled — your bracket starts at sixty-four. The last sixteen teams then meet at two sites rather than four.
How it works
- Pick the winner of every game in the 64-team bracket, and change it as often as you like until the opening round tips off.
- Five battle rounds: tournament rounds 1 to 4, then the semifinals and championship together.
- The top sixteen seeds host the first two rounds on their own courts, so the first weekend is loud and the upsets are rarer. Worth knowing before you call one.
- Leave a game blank and your backup rule fills it in: the better seed, or the better record. We never use betting lines.
Every round is a new battle
Each round, you face one other fan. Pick more games correctly and you take a bigger share of the round for your charity. Then the slate resets, the matchups change, and you battle someone new.
- Round 1new opponent
- Round 2new opponent
- Round 3new opponent
- Round 4new opponent
- Round 5new opponent
Round 1, Philadelphia
Made-up exampleBlitzForGood
Won the roundPlaying for Hometown Food Pantry
Correct picks
24
Stake
$20.00
SteelCitySteve
Lost the roundPlaying for Kids' Hospital Fund
Correct picks
19
Stake
$20.00
BlitzForGood picked more games right, so the two stakes of $20.00 come together as $40.00:
$28.00
banked for Hometown Food Pantry
Guaranteed. It can never be lost again.
$12.00
carried into round 2
BlitzForGood starts the next round with more at stake.
SteelCitySteve keeps every dollar already banked for Kids' Hospital Fund, and still has a stake waiting in rounds 2 to 5.
Level on correct picks? We look at your score across every round so far, then at who called the games fewer fans got right. If you are still inseparable it is a genuine tie, and each of you keeps your own stake — split the same way a win is, so you both carry something into the next round. In the last round there is no next round, so it is all banked.
Who do you battle?
Your friends, in a group
Start a group, send the link by email or text, and you are matched inside your group first. It is the office pool, except the bragging rights come with donations.
- Set your own buy-in for the group, at or above the $20 minimum.
- Four ready members and your group plays on its own.
- Friends in another city can join and you all battle each other — each of you still playing for a charity where you live.
Your city, in the open pool
No group? You are matched with another fan from your city. Different charities battling each other is the whole point, so the money moves around the city rather than in a circle.
- Matched with someone who gave a similar amount, so it stays fair.
- We avoid pairing you with the same charity, or the same opponent twice.
- Odd number of fans? Three of you battle, and the top score takes both stakes.
Where a $100 donation goes
When the tournament starts, your donation gets put to work. Some is locked in for your charity right away, some is set aside for each battle round, and a small portion helps keep Mad4Change running.
Then the fun starts. Each round gives you a chance to steal a bigger share of the money for your charity. Lose one battle? No problem. You’re back the next round with a new opponent and another shot to take more for your cause.
An example of how a stretch like this one splits. Each stretch carries its own figures, and you will see them before you donate to it.
| Block | Share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| At stake in Round 1 (64 teams) | 20% | $20.00 |
| At stake in Round 2 (32 teams) | 20% | $20.00 |
| At stake in Round 3 (16 teams) | 20% | $20.00 |
| At stake in Round 4 (8 teams) | 10% | $10.00 |
| At stake in Round 5 (semifinals and championship) | 10% | $10.00 |
| Banked for your charity right away | 10% | $10.00 |
| Mad4Change operational expenses | 10% | $10.00 |
Win a round and you take your opponent's stake for it: a percentage is banked for your charity and the rest carries into your next round. The last round banks everything.
What if I win every round?
Assuming each opponent staked the same as you. This is the best case, not a promise.
| Round | You stake | Round total | Banked | Carried |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banked at the start | — | — | $10.00 | — |
| Round 1 (64 teams) | $20.00 | $40.00 | $28.00 | $12.00 |
| Round 2 (32 teams) | $32.00 | $64.00 | $44.80 | $19.20 |
| Round 3 (16 teams) | $39.20 | $78.40 | $54.88 | $23.52 |
| Round 4 (8 teams) | $33.52 | $67.04 | $46.93 | $20.11 |
| Round 5 (semifinals and championship) | $30.11 | $60.22 | $60.22 | — |
| Total for your charity | $244.83 | |||
Lose every round instead and your charity still keeps the $10.00 banked at the start, while your stakes bank for other fans' charities. Either way, 90% of every dollar reaches a charity.
Worth knowing about NCAA women's college basketball
Home court is real here
A twelve seed knocking over a five is the story of the men's first weekend. It happens less often here, because that five seed is at home with its own crowd — the top sixteen teams host rounds one and two. Picking the same bracket you would pick for the men's tournament is the mistake to avoid: the first weekend rewards the favourite far more often.
When it runs
2027 tournament
- Registration opens
- March 1, 2027
- First game
- March 19, 2027
- Last game
- April 4, 2027
Dates are from the published schedule and can move for television. Picks close the moment your first game starts, and we remind you before that.
City vs city
Example — the real race starts when the first season opensBattle local fans. Back local charities. Keep the money in your city.
Then, when a rivalry battle comes up, your city gets a chance to steal a bigger share from another city’s total — all while competing to see which city can raise the most for home.
Philadelphia
LeadingPhiladelphia and South Jersey
$6,417.50
banked for Philadelphia charities
- Fans playing
- 174
- Per fan
- $36.88
Pittsburgh
Western Pennsylvania
$4,863.00
banked for Pittsburgh charities
- Fans playing
- 118
- Per fan
- $41.21
- Philadelphia: $6,417.50
- Pittsburgh: $4,863.00
- Combined: $11,280.50 for local charities
Philadelphia leads on the total, but Pittsburgh fans bank more each ($41.21 per fan). Bring more fans and the total follows.
Not in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh? You can still play: pick the city you want to raise money for.