Aaliyah Chavez and Jennie Baranczyk

Freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez and head coach Jennie Baranczyk during the game against Arkansas on Feb. 26, 2026.

 Annie Davenport/OU Daily

No. 10 OU women’s basketball (24-7, 11-5 SEC) clocked in as a No. 4 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday and is set to take on No. 13 seed Idaho (29-5, 17-1 Big Sky).

Despite its quarterfinal exit in the SEC Tournament, OU remained a top-16 team in the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s overall rankings and will host a first-round game in Norman as the No. 4 seed in region four in Sacramento. 

The Sooners never dropped out of the AP Top 25 in all 19 weeks, making them a season-long tournament lock. Their lowest ranking came during week 12 when they were No. 16, and their highest ranking came during Week 10 when they sat as the No. 5 team nationally. During the regular season, OU faced 11 teams that made the 68-team cut and finished with a 6-5 record against them.

Head coach Jennie Baranczyk has found success during her five-year tenure in Norman, reaching the NCAA Tournament in all five seasons. Last season marked the furthest OU had gone under Baranczyk, where the Sooners fell to the eventual champions, No. 2 seed Connecticut, in the Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed.

The other three seasons in March Madness have seen OU fall in just the second round, though the Sooners hosted both first and second-round games in 2022 and 2025 and will now play at least one more game at Lloyd Noble Center in this season’s NCAA Tournament with its No. 4 seed. Notably, OU has never clocked in lower than the No. 5 seed in March Madness under Baranczyk, as in 2022, they were No. 4, No. 5 in 2023 and 2024 and No. 3 in 2025.

This season, the Sooners enter the tournament headlined by first team All-SEC senior center Raegan Beers and second team All-SEC, All-SEC freshman team and national freshman of the year guard Aaliyah Chavez. The entire starting five of Chavez, Beers, redshirt senior guard Payton Verhulst, junior forward Sahara Williams and freshman guard Zya Vann average double figures in scoring, helping OU enter the tournament as the No. 3 offense in the nation. 

OU will host its first-round game against Idaho on Friday. The time is yet to be determined.

This story was edited by Joshua McDaniel.

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