ASU women’s basketball gets at-large bid into NCAA Tournament after Big 12 tourney run

Arizona State women’s basketball earned an at-large bid into the 2026 NCAA Tournament in head coach Molly Miller’s first season thanks to a pair of wins in the Big 12 Tournament bolstering their resume.

The No. 10 Sun Devils will face No. 10 Virginia in a First Four game on Thursday in Iowa City. If they advance into the Round of 64, they will face No. 7 seed Georgia in the Sacramento Regional on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

They punched their ticket into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season, where the Sun Devils were a No. 5 seed. It also comes as Miller’s second appearance after she led the Grand Canyon Antelopes to a first-round loss against Baylor in 2024-25.

The Sun Devils defeated in-state rival Arizona and Iowa State in Kansas City before falling to No. 2-seed West Virginia in the conference tournament quarterfinals last Friday.

With Miller at the helm, ASU posted a 22-9 record in the regular season and was 9-9 in Big 12 play. ASU went 7-2 at home in its second go at Big 12 play since entering the conference.

Miller’s 24 wins were the most in program history by a first-year head coach and the tally is the most since ASU women’s basketball amounted 26 in the 2015-16 season. The Sun Devils will have the opportunity to add onto a 14-win improvement from last year (10-22).

ASU started the season a program-best 15-0, with the 15 consecutive wins also matching the longest win streak (2008-09 and 2015-16 teams).

While it was 23-4 against Quad 2, 3 and 4 teams, ASU was 1-6 against top-tier Quad 1 teams, its lone victory coming against Iowa State in the conference tournament.

The Sun Devils had two players earn conference recognition, as graduate student Gabby Elliott and junior McKinna Brackens were selected to the All-Big 12 Third Team. Elliott is averaging a team-high 16 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 34 games, while Brackens averages 14.6 points, a team-leading 6.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 33 games.

ASU entering the NCAA Tournament had the fifth-best total defense in the Big 12 (60.6 points allowed per game), 14th-best total offense (66.5 points per game) and 11th-best rebounding margin (+1.8).

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