Five bold predictions for women's NCAA Tournament

We have finally made it to the best three-week stretch of the sports calendar. The men's NCAA Tournament began Thursday. The women's tournament, which drew TV huge ratings last season, will begin Friday.

Here are five bold predictions for the women's tournament.

All four No. 1 seeds reach Final Four

This season's No. 1 seeds may be as dominant as they've ever been in the history of the women's tournament. All four have spent time as the No. 1 team in the AP poll this season.

With the dominance shown by UCLA (30-2), reigning champion South Carolina (30-3), Texas (31-3) and Southern California (28-3), it would not be a surprise to see an all one-seed Final Four. (The last time this occurred was 2018, per NCAA.com.)

The Bruins, led by 6-foot-7 center Laura Betts (19.6 PPG), are the tournament's overall top seed. Their only losses have come against Southern Cal.

Per ESPN Bet, South Carolina is favored to win the title.

Juju Watkins scores 30+ points in each game

Watkins, who averages 26.9 points and 6.9 rebounds, is one of the premier scorers in women's college basketball. She scored 30+ points seven times during the regular season.

The offense runs through her and No. 1 seed Southern California (28-3) knows that to win a national championship, Watkins must perform at an extremely high level. But she's fully capable of scoring 30-plus points a game.

She's also used to the spotlight. In star-studded Los Angeles, people flocked to the guard during the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation Blue Diamond Gala in May.

“Everywhere I’m turning, these fans and these people that are here go, ‘JuJu! JuJu!'” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb told The Athletic's Sabreena Merchant. “She’s as recognizable with (her) bun (hairstyle) as any of the Dodgers and was the biggest star. I came back and I said to my staff and the administration here, this was next level. Amongst L.A., she is kind of the star amongst the stars.”

Grand Canyon reaches Elite Eight

No team in women's college basketball is playing better than the No. 13 seed Antelopes (32-2) heading into the tournament. 

They have won 30 straight games and have not lost since Nov. 18, when they fell 70-54 to Oregon. With a favorable first-round matchup against No. 4 seed Baylor, which allows 60 points per game (84th in the nation), Grand Canyon can keep its momentum rolling.

And the Antelopes and their coach, Molly Miller, would like nothing more than to replicate this wild locker-room celebration following their win in the Western Athletic Conference tournament title game. As of Thursday morning, it had 3.4 million views on X.