The rush of filling out basketball tournament brackets arrives in Massachusetts earlier than March.
The MIAA has announced its 2026 state tournament playoff fields, and it's time to make our predictions in girls basketball. I've filled out MIAA brackets each of the last three years and fared pretty well. Last winter, I picked 16 out of 20 Final 4 members correctly across all five brackets, including three of five correct state champions. That's been about the same for me throughout all three seasons. It also speaks to how consistently high seeds win. Among 80 semifinalists in the statewide tournament era, 74 teams were a No. 6 seed or better and no seed lower than No. 10 has made a Final 4.
But this year feels different. The MIAA modified its power rankings and seeding formula to reduce the maximum margin of victory, which slightly impacts where teams were seeded. We'll see how that affects possible playoff matchups. And as we've said all season, this winter in general has felt like one of the more unpredictable seasons on the girls side in recent years.
Here are my locked-in bracket picks for all five divisions of this year's girls basketball tournament.
GIRLS MIAA SCHEDULES: Division 1 | Division 2 | Division 3 | Division 4 | Division 5
