After a strong week, Texas jumped Texas Tech to reach no. 2 in this week’s poll. The Longhorns earned seven first-place votes, but still sit behind Tennessee. The two teams won’t play during the regular season. The rest of the top 10 remained the same, though it surely won’t next week, with Texas Tech and Florida State facing off on Wednesday and providing an opportunity for a shakeup. Once again, there were no newcomers to the poll.

Player to watch

Alexis Jensen, P, Nebraska

Jensen was named the Big Ten’s Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 over Nebraska’s three-game series against Michigan. The freshman has notched 10 wins with a 3.14 ERA so far this season and has struck out 107 batters over 64.2 innings.

Top moment

.@char_lorenz said not today ❌#NCAASoftball x 🎥 SECN / @LSUsoftball pic.twitter.com/9woODj91sG

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) March 16, 2026

Char Lorenz’s robbery was a high point for LSU in a tough-fought split series against Texas A&M. The Tigers dropped both weekend matchups against the Aggies, including a tight 3-2 loss on Sunday, but bounced back to win 7-2 on Monday night.

Game to watch

No. 3 Texas Tech at No. 10 Florida State
Wednesday at 6 p.m., ACC Network

The Red Raiders head to Tallahassee this week to face off with another top 10 opponent and a chance to pick up another ranked win. This game will also be a prelude to a three-game series against UCF, a tough stretch for perhaps the best team in the country. Will NiJaree Canady and Texas Tech be able to get through unscathed, or will Florida State add a big win to its resume?

How to watch

Everything college softball on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, Big 12 Now on ESPN+, ESPN3, ESPN+, SEC Network+ and ACCNX is accessible here, in addition to being available on the ESPN App.

What’s the full schedule?

You can check out the complete scoreboard here to stay up to date this spring.

Subscribe to ESPN | Stream college softball on ESPN

Week 6 Top 25

Here is the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 ranking, plus each team’s record and next game.
All times Eastern.

1. Tennessee

Previous rank: 1
Record: 27-1

Next game: Friday at Florida, 6 p.m., SEC Network+

2. Texas

Previous rank: 3
Record: 26-1

Next game: Friday vs. Baylor, 7:30 p.m., SEC Network+

3. Texas Tech

Previous rank: 2
Record: 27-2

Next game: Tuesday at Stetson, 5 p.m., ESPN+

4. Oklahoma

Previous rank: 4
Record: 28-2

Next game: Wednesday at Memphis, 6 p.m., ESPN+

5. Nebraska

Previous rank: 5
Record: 21-5

Next game: Friday at Michigan State, 5 p.m., Big Ten Plus

6. Alabama

Previous rank: 6
Record: 26-1

Next game: Tuesday vs. UL Monroe, 3 p.m., SEC Network+

7. UCLA

Previous rank: 7
Record: 25-3

Next game: Saturday at Rutgers, 6 p.m., Big Ten Plus

8. Florida

Previous rank: 8
Record: 29-1

Next game: Friday vs. Tennessee, 6 p.m., SEC Network+

9. Arkansas

Previous rank: 9
Record: 23-4

Next game: Tuesday vs. Central Arkansas, noon, SEC Network

10. Florida State

Previous rank: 10
Record: 25-4

Next game: Wednesday vs. Texas Tech, 6 p.m., ACC Network

11. Arizona

Previous rank: 12
Record: 21-7

Next game: Friday vs. Arizona State, 9 p.m., ESPN+

12. Mississippi State

Previous rank: 14
Record: 27-4

Next game: Wednesday vs. UAB, 8 p.m., SEC Network

13. Georgia

Previous rank: 13
Record: 20-7

Next game: Wednesday vs. Georgia Tech, 6 p.m., SEC Network+

14. Virginia Tech

Previous rank: 11
Record: 23-4

Next game: Wednesday at Longwood, 4 p.m., ESPN+

15. Texas A&M

Previous rank: 16
Record: 19-9

Next game: Friday vs. Kentucky, 7 p.m., SEC Network+

16. Oregon

Previous rank: 19
Record: 21-7

Next game: Friday at Purdue, 5 p.m., Big Ten Plus

17. Washington

Previous rank: 21
Record: 22-6

Next game: Wednesday vs. North Dakota, 6 p.m., Big Ten Plus

18. Virginia

Previous rank: 18
Record: 25-3

Next game: Tuesday at JMU, 4 p.m., ESPN+

19. LSU

Previous rank: 17
Record: 19-9

Next game: Friday at South Carolina, 6 p.m., SEC Network+

20. Duke

Previous rank: 25
Record: 18-10

Next game: Tuesday vs. UNC Wilmington, 6 p.m., ACC Network

21. Oklahoma State

Previous rank: 15
Record: 18-9

Next game: Tuesday at Grand Canyon, 10 p.m., Mountain West Network

22. Grand Canyon

Previous rank: 23
Record: 30-0

Next game: Tuesday vs. Oklahoma State, 7 p.m., Mountain West Network

23. Stanford

Previous rank: 20
Record: 15-8

Next game: Friday at North Carolina, 6 p.m., ACC Extra

24. South Carolina

Previous rank: 24
Record: 19-10

Next game: Wednesday vs. Georgia Southern, 6 p.m., SEC Network+

25. UCF

Previous rank: 22
Record: 23-7

Next game: Wednesday at Florida International, 2 p.m., ESPN+

The team that went undefeated in the regular season and racked up more victories than anyone but Duke and Arizona — and fewer losses than any team at all — is anything but your run-of-the-mill basketball behemoth.

In fact, Miami (Ohio), despite that 31-1 record and maybe because of a little chip that’s been placed on its shoulder, is one of those plucky underdogs that makes the NCAA tournament what it is.

Welcome to March Madness with a twist.

While Duke (32-2) took the overall top seed on Selection Sunday, with Arizona (32-2), Michigan (31-3) and defending champion Florida (26-7) also on the top line, the RedHawks barely scratched their way into the bracket.

They are an 11-seed and have to play a First Four game against SMU on Wednesday. But after all the debate and hand-wringing that came with their single loss last week, which immediately turned them from sure thing into bubble team, they now enjoy the same privilege as the other 67 teams in the field.

They will have a chance to win and advance, with no selection committee, bracketologists or former coaches-turned-TV experts deciding their fate.

“I was very confident,” Miami forward Eian Elmer said. “I think it’s hard to leave a team that’s 31-0 in a regular season out. It just wouldn’t look right for the sport, diminishing something like that, something that’s very rarely done.”

After the First Four, the full slate of games begins Thursday and Friday, with the national champion set to be crowned in Indianapolis on April 6.

The chair of the selection committee, Keith Gill, tried to explain how Miami of the lightly regarded Mid-American Conference ended up where it did. The RedHawks, he said, were not the last of the 37 at-large teams slotted into the field.

But, he said, they were ranked last of those 37 teams because once they got in as they were compared against other teams close to them and things such as their 339th-ranked strength of schedule and zero wins (in fact, zero games) against top-caliber, or Quadrant 1, opponents worked against them.

Other factors worked for them, including having the nation’s second-ranked scoring offense, along with a “strength of record” in the top 30 and “wins above bubble” in the top 40 (each of those statistics would take a small pamphlet to explain).

“They have some really strong resume metrics that show their accomplishments,” Gill said.

For what it’s worth, Miami is an 8½-point underdog against SMU and a 1,500-1 longshot to win it all, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

Unlikely, indeed, but still better odds than the much-cited 9.2 quintillion-1 odds a person has of filling out a perfect bracket.

The favorite to win the national championship, according to DraftKings, is Duke, which was listed at +300 odds as of Sunday night, just a tad ahead of Michigan at +360.

The Wolverines took a mini-hit in the seedings, dropping a notch to overall No. 3 after an eight-point loss to Purdue in the Big Ten title game. The Boilermakers are a 2-seed instead of a 3 with the win, heading to St. Louis to play tournament first-timer Queens.

The conference title did not do as much for St. John’s, which stayed where it’s been predicted most of the season — as a No. 5 — even after a 20-point win over UConn for the Big East title.

“Their results in the nonconference did not have kind of the same depth and quality of some of the folks that are ahead of them,” Gill said of the Red Storm’s less-than-stellar nonconference showing this season.

Last year, St. John’s became the sixth team coach Rick Pitino had led to the tournament. This year, the Johnnies go again but they must travel to San Diego to face Northern Iowa in the first round.

“I said, ‘Don’t take it as a negative,'” Pitino said. “I’ve had teams go to a Final Four that first had to go to Portland and then Arizona from Louisville.”

Among those left out of the field of 68 were San Diego State, Indiana, Oklahoma and Auburn.

The Tigers had 16 losses but the nation’s third-best strength of schedule. The snub drew predictable blowback from Bruce Pearl, their former coach and father of their current coach, who was working for CBS and said, “They played the toughest schedule in the country and I don’t know if they were rewarded for it.”

Even with Oklahoma and Auburn left out, the SEC led the way by placing 10 teams in the field, four short of its record from last year.

The Big Ten followed with nine, the ACC and Big 12 with eight apiece — an unsurprising result in an era of massive conference expansion and NIL compensation drawing top players to the biggest spenders.

The Gators are the defending champion, trying to repeat their back-to-back titles from 2006-07. Last season, Florida was part of an all-No. 1 Final Four — the first time that had happened in 17 seasons.

A championship final rematch between the Gators and 2-seeded Houston could be looming in the South; the Cougars would host the regional final in their hometown should they make it.

“If we have to run into that issue, there’s worse problems in the world,” Gators coach Todd Golden said earlier this week. “[But] I would enjoy somebody else in Houston [rather] than Houston.”

Giving teams home games in regionals is something the NCAA tries to avoid. Gill said that it wasn’t possible in this case, and pointed out that last year, Houston was a No. 1 seed that beat Purdue in Indianapolis, which is located an hour away from the Boilermakers’ campus.

“What I would say is, it’s the NCAA tournament,” Gill said. “You’re going to have to win games away from home against really tough opponents, and that’s why this is the best postseason in sports.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger said it’s “a pleasure” to face Erling Haaland ahead of the team’s Champions League round-of-16 clash at Manchester City on Tuesday, after keeping the star forward quiet in last week’s first leg at the Bernabéu.

Haaland had just 10 touches — and no shots — in the game in Madrid, and was substituted in the 82nd minute as City were well beaten 3-0 thanks to a hat trick from Federico Valverde.

– Bellingham out, Mbappé has chance for second leg at City
– Arbeloa’s Real Madrid youth revolution is straight from Pep’s playbook
– Pep: City need ‘perfect game’ for miracle comeback vs. Real Madrid

The Premier League star has sometimes struggled against Madrid, failing to score when the teams met in 2023 and 2024, although he did find the net twice in City’s 3-2 loss to Madrid in February 2025, and converted a penalty when City won 2-1 in the league phase this season.

“I don’t think too deeply about things like statistics,” Rüdiger said in a news conference in Manchester on Monday. “In the game in the group stage, [Haaland] got the better of me… With players like Erling Haaland, it’s a huge pleasure to play against them. I like the physical battle.”

“I’ve faced him a lot, and he’s a top player,” Rüdiger added. “I like these kinds of duels…I find it fantastic to play against him. And he seems like a good guy.”

Rüdiger’s physical approach has faced recent criticism in Spain, after a challenge on Getafe‘s Diego Rico earlier this month saw the Germany international catch Rico in the face with his knee.

“When you see the images, in slow motion, of course it looks terrible,” Rüdiger admitted. “But he said I almost killed him, or something…He didn’t need to exaggerate it. If I wanted to hurt him, he wouldn’t have got up…It was never my intention to hurt anyone.

“I like to be tough on the pitch but I have boundaries. I think the boy exaggerated a bit.”

Rüdiger struggled with injuries earlier this season — making 11 appearances so far in LaLiga, and four in the Champions League — but is now playing regularly, with his Madrid contract due to expire this summer.

“For me, the most important thing is that I’m healthy,” Rüdiger said. “Right now, I feel great. As for all the rest, I’m very sure we’ll solve it. It’s not important right now. We don’t have to think about it.

“I feel great here, I feel the respect of the people. But you have to make decisions not based only on emotions… I’m fit now, and I like Real Madrid. I love Real Madrid.”