The 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Division I Final Four is officially set. Former champions South Carolina, along with UConn, Texas, and first-timers UCLA, are all ready for a dance with fate. Some predicted this exact bracket, while others had different expectations. And if you jumped the gun, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Already feeling the gloom over Juju Watkins’ injury, USWNT icon Alex Morgan also ended up shooting in the dark with her March Madness pick.
In order to understand how it all came to this, let’s rewind back to a couple of weeks ago. On the occasion of March Madness, Togethxr—a media and commerce brand that the former San Diego Wave co-owns alongside Sue Bird, Simone Manuel, and Chloe Kim—launched a unique initiative for everyone to make their predictions for the NCAA final four and who’ll be taking the trophy home.
Interestingly, her Final Four predictions had some bold calls. Firstly, she backed USC to knock out Angel Reese’s LSU in the Spokane region showdown, with South Carolina powering through Regional 2 in Birmingham. Ohio State, her pick from Regional 3, also made the cut. Of those, she backed South Carolina to reach the final.
But in the end, it was USC that triumphed, taking down the Gamecocks to clinch the national championship. In fact, she proudly showcased her prediction by sharing it on her Instagram story, adding the caption, “Who ya got?! .” Fast forward to today, boy is she forced to eat her own words. Clearly, the actual final four is way different from what she predicted it to be: Texas is set to face South Carolina, with UConn facing UCLA.
Then again, she ain’t completely wrong in her forecast. The former USWNT star had backed South Carolina to reach the final, although she had them losing to USC—who didn’t even make the last four. So if the Gamecocks end up winning it all, she could still claim a partial victory. No wonder that just hours ago, she returned to her Instagram stories after the Final Four was confirmed, sharing a post of the bracket with the caption, “LFG.”
That said, it doesn’t end here. One shall recall that the 2x World Cup winner was also upset over Juju Watkins’ injury. The USC Trojans star had sustained an unfortunate ACL tear forcing Morgan to send a speedy recovery message to Watkins. So it seems that South Carolina is the only hope for Morgan to call the March Madness a happy ending. But we think she doesn’t need to go hard on herself, considering another USWNT icon also made a wrong yet correct call!
Alex Morgan is not alone in eating her words!
Besides Alex Morgan, former USWNT teammate Megan Rapinoe also jumped on the bandwagon alongside her significant other Sue Bird. The power couple shared their predictions on their co-hosted A Touch More podcast. In their books, UCLA was backed from Regional 1 Spokane, while UConn was their pick from Regional 4. However, Rapinoe jokingly listed USC as her unofficial backup, suggesting Bird only picked UConn out of “safety” reasons.
Interestingly, even Bird acknowledged the bias but stood by her alma mater. While they officially backed UConn, Rapinoe admitted she’d still count USC as her personal win if they made a deep run. Simultaneously, Bird explained why she picked her former side to play safe. “Do I want to see UCLA and USC play against each other for the fourth time this year in the final four? There’s a part of me that wants that storyline but not more than my own safety. So UConn’s in the final four,”
Aug 9, 2024; Paris, France; Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird watch a women’s basketball semifinal game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Rapinoe rounded out their bracket by choosing South Carolina from Regional 2 and Notre Dame from Regional 3. In their Final Four, UConn beat UCLA, South Carolina took down Notre Dame, and for the final, their pick was clear. “UConn is going to win. Paige Bueckers is going to ride off into glory right into Dallas to start her WNBA career.”
While half of Morgan and Sue Bird’s prediction isn’t correct, they still deserve a pat on their back for getting South Carolina and UConn right. Whether their ultimate prediction turns out to be true is something that remains to be seen.
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