South Dakota State gets 11-seed, will face Washington in women’s NCAA tournament

BROOKINGS — If Fort Worth ever crossed Aaron Johnston’s mind, it probably wasn’t to play the Washington Huskies.

But that’s the draw his Jackrabbits earned in the 2026 NCAA tournament.

SDSU earned an 11-seed and will face 6th-seeded Washington on Friday at TCU’s Schollmaier Arena.
The Huskies went 21-10 as members of the Big Ten this season. They are in their fifth season under coach Tina Langley, who took Washington to the First Four last year.

Should the Jacks get past the Huskies they’d face the winner of 3rd-seeded TCU and 14-seed UC-San Diego.

The Jackrabbits are 27-6 and headed to their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament and 14th under Johnston. They were the 2-seed in the Summit League tournament and knocked off No. 1 seed and regular season Summit League champion North Dakota State in the title game to punch their ticket to the Big Dance.

SDSU will bring a 10-game winning streak into the tournament.

The Jacks have six wins in the tournament among their 13 appearances, including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2019. They were a 10-seed last year and defeated 7th-seed Oklahoma State in the first round before losing to eventual national champion Connecticut in the second round.

The Summit League’s men’s champion, North Dakota State, earned a 14-seed and will play Michigan State in the first round.

In another interesting development with Summit League ties, three former USD Coyotes women’s coaches are in the tournament, and two of them are playing each other. While Amy Williams and Nebraska earned an at-large bid, Minnesota will host Green Bay in the first round. The Gophers are coached by former USD coach Dawn Plitzuweit and Green Bay’s coach is Kayla Karius, who followed Plitzuweit to Vermillion.

Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.