NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship

The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season. The NCAA tournament was preceded by the AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, which was held annually from 1972 to 1982. Basketball was one of twelve women's sports added to the NCAA championship program for the 1981-82 school year, as the NCAA engaged in battle with the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women for sole governance of women's collegiate sports. The AIAW continued to conduct its established championship program in the same twelve (and other) sports; however, after a year of dual women's championships, the NCAA prevailed, while the AIAW disbanded.

Attendance and interest in the Women's Division I Championship have grown over the years, especially since 2003, when the final championship game was moved to the Tuesday following the Monday men's championship game. The women's championship game is now the final overall game of the college basketball season. Before that, the Women's Final Four was usually played on the Friday before the Men's Final Four or the hours before the men played on the final Saturday of the tournament. The final was usually played the Sunday afternoon following the Men's Final Four.

The tournament bracket is made up of champions from each Division I conference, which receive automatic bids. The remaining slots are at-large bids, with teams chosen by an NCAA selection committee. The selection process and tournament seedings are based on several factors, including team rankings, win-loss records and Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) data.

Unlike the men's tournament, there are only 33 at-large bids, and no play-in game. The women's tournament, like the men's, is staged in a single elimination format, and is part of the media and public frenzy known colloquially as March Madness or The Big Dance.

All 63 games have been broadcast on television since 2003 on ESPN and ESPN2. Similar to the pre-2011 men's tournament coverage on CBS, local teams are shown on each channel when available, with "whip-around" coverage designed to showcase the most competitive contests in the rest of the country.

Tournament format
A total of 64 teams qualify for the tournament played in March and April. 30 of the 64 teams earn automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments. Since the Ivy League does not conduct a post-season tournament, the regular-season conference champion receives an automatic bid. The remaining teams are granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. Dr. Marilyn McNeil, vice president/director of athletics at Monmouth University is the current chairwoman. On March 1, 2011, Bowling Green State University's director of intercollegiate athletics, Greg Christopher, was appointed chair of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee during the 2011–12 academic year.

The tournament is split into four regional tournaments, and each regional has teams seeded from 1 to 16, with the committee ostensibly making every region as comparable to the others as possible. The top-seeded team in each region plays the #16 team, the #2 team plays the #15, etc.

Number of teams, and seeding
The first NCAA women's basketball tournament was held in 1982. The AIAW also held a basketball tournament in 1982, but most of the top teams, including defending AIAW champion Louisiana Tech, decided to participate in the NCAA tournament.

The championship consisted of 32 teams from 1982–1985, 40 teams from 1986–1988, and 48 teams from 1989–1993. Since 1994 64 teams compete in each tournament.

Prior to 1996, seeding was conducted on a regional basis. The top teams (eight in the 32-, 40-, and 48-team formats, and 16 in the 64-team format) were ranked and seeded on a national basis. The remaining teams were then seeded based on their geographic region. Teams were moved outside of its geographic region only if it was necessary to balance the bracket, or if the proximity of an opponent outside of its region would be comparable and a more competitive game would result. In 1993, all teams except for the top four were explicitly unseeded. The regional seeding resumed in 1994. In 1996, seeds were assigned on a national basis using an "S-Curve" format similar to the process used in selecting the field for the men's tournament.

Selection process
A special selection committee appointed by the NCAA determines which 64 teams will enter the tournament, and where they will be seeded and placed in the bracket. Because of the automatic bids, only 33 teams (the at-large bids) rely on the selection committee to secure them a spot in the tournament.

NCAA Championship Game Appearance By School
Winner of National Championship game marked with *

Multiple NCAA championship coaches
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Top-ranked teams
Since the women's tournament began in 1982, 13 teams have entered the tournament ranked #1 in at least 1 poll and gone on to win the tournament:
 * 1982: Louisiana Tech
 * 1983: USC
 * 1986: Texas
 * 1989: Tennessee
 * 1995: Connecticut
 * 1998: Tennessee
 * 1999: Purdue
 * 2000: Connecticut
 * 2002: Connecticut
 * 2003: Connecticut
 * 2009: Connecticut
 * 2010: Connecticut
 * 2012: Baylor

Champions excluded the next year
Only once has the reigning champion (the previous year's winner) not made it to the tournament the next year.
 * 1985 champion Old Dominion went 15-13 in 1986.

#1 seeds
Since 1982, at least one #1 seed has made the Final Four every year.

Only twice have all #1 seeds made it to the Final Four: The championship game has matched two #1 seeds 10 times:
 * 1989 Auburn, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Tennessee
 * 2012 Baylor, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Stanford
 * 1983 USC defeated Louisiana Tech
 * 1986 Texas defeated USC
 * 1989 Tennessee defeated Auburn
 * 1991 Tennessee defeated Virginia
 * 1995 Connecticut defeated Tennessee
 * 2000 Connecticut defeated Tennessee
 * 2002 Connecticut defeated Oklahoma
 * 2003 Connecticut defeated Tennessee
 * 2010 Connecticut defeated Stanford
 * 2012 Baylor defeated Notre Dame

Three teams have beaten three #1 seeds during the course of a tournament (the largest number of such teams that can be faced):
 * 1987 Tennessee (beat Auburn, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech)
 * 1988 Louisiana Tech (beat Auburn, Tennessee, Texas)
 * 2005 Baylor (beat LSU, Michigan State, North Carolina)

Prior to the expansion of the tournament to 64 teams, all #1 seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with three exceptions. Notably, the first two times this occurred were at the hands of the same school:
 * 1986 East #1 seed Virginia lost to #8 seed James Madison
 * 1991 East #1 seed Penn State lost to #8 seed James Madison
 * 1992 Midwest #1 seed Iowa lost to #8 seed Southwest Missouri State

High seeds

 * 1999 was the first time in tournament history (since the expansion to 64 teams) that all top seeds (1, 2, 3, and 4 seeds) made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Low seeds
Lowest seeds to reach each round since the expansion to 64 teams:
 * Second Round: #16 seed<
 * Harvard in 1998 (the only #16 seed to defeat a #1 seed in either the women's or men's tournament)


 * Regional Semifinals (Sweet Sixteen): #13 seed<
 * Texas A&M in 1994
 * Liberty in 2005
 * Marist in 2007


 * Regional Finals (Elite Eight): #11 seed
 * Gonzaga in 2011


 * National Semifinals (Final Four): #9 seed<
 * Arkansas in 1998


 * National Finals (Championship Game): #4 seed
 * Louisiana Tech in 1994
 * Rutgers in 2007


 * National Champion: #3 seed<
 * North Carolina in 1994
 * Tennessee in 1997

First-round games
Since the expansion to 64 teams only one #16 seed has defeated a #1 seed (while the men's tournament has none):
 * Stanford lost to Harvard in 1998 (4 points, 71–67)

Unlike in the men's tournament, no #14 or #15 seeds have made it to the Second Round of the women's tournament.

Since the expansion to 64 teams in 1994, each seed-pairing has played a total of 76 first-round games.


 * 1) The #1 seed is 75–1 against the #16 seed (98.68%).
 * 2) The #2 seed is 76–0 against the #15 seed (100%).
 * 3) The #3 seed is 76–0 against the #14 seed (100%).
 * 4) The #4 seed is 70–6 against the #13 seed (92.11%).
 * 5) The #5 seed is 60–16 against the #12 seed (78.95%).
 * 6) The #6 seed is 53–23 against the #11 seed (69.74%).
 * 7) The #7 seed is 51–25 against the #10 seed (67.11%).
 * 8) The #8 seed is 37–39 against the #9 seed (48.68%).

Second-round games
Since the expansion to 64 teams in 1994, the following results have occurred for each pairing:
 * In the 1/16/8/9 bracket:
 * In the 2/15/7/10 bracket:
 * In the 3/14/6/11 bracket:
 * In the 4/13/5/12 bracket:

Teams entering the tournament undefeated
Twelve times, a team has entered the tournament undefeated. Seven times the team went on to win the National Championship and remain undefeated.
 * In 1986, Texas entered the tournament 30–0, won the national title, and ended the season 34–0.
 * In 1990, Louisiana Tech entered the tournament 29–0, but lost in the Final Four to Auburn.
 * In 1992, Vermont entered the tournament 29–0, but lost in the first round to George Washington.
 * In 1993, Vermont entered the tournament 28–0, but lost in the first round to Rutgers.
 * In 1995, Connecticut entered the tournament 29–0, won the national title, and ended the season 35–0.
 * In 1997, Connecticut entered the tournament 30–0, but lost in the Midwest Regional final to Tennessee.
 * In 1998, Tennessee (33–0) and Liberty (28–0) each entered the tournament undefeated. Liberty lost in the first round to Tennessee. Tennessee won the national title and ended the season 39–0.
 * In 2002, 2009, and 2010, Connecticut entered the tournament 33–0, won the national title in each, and ended those seasons 39–0.
 * In 2012, Baylor entered the tournament 34-0, won the national title, and ended the season 40-0. The Lady Bears became the first team in NCAA college basketball history, for either women or men, to win 40 games in a season.

Home state
Only one team has ever played the Final Four on its home court. Two other teams have played the Final Four in their home cities, and seven others have played the Final Four in their home states.

The only team to play on its home court was Texas in 1987, which lost its semifinal game at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center.

Old Dominion enjoyed nearly as large an advantage in 1983 when the Final Four was played at the Norfolk Scope in its home city of Norfolk, Virginia, but also lost its semifinal. The Scope has never been the Lady Monarchs' regular home court. ODU has always used on-campus arenas, first the ODU Fieldhouse and since 2002 the Ted Constant Convocation Center. The following year, USC won the national title at Pauley Pavilion, the home court of its Los Angeles arch-rival UCLA.

Of the other teams to play in their home states, Stanford (1992) won the national title; Notre Dame (2011) lost in the championship game; and Western Kentucky (1986), Penn State (2000), Missouri State (2001), LSU (2004), and Baylor (2010) lost in the semifinals.

Championship margins

 * Overtime games in a championship game:
 * Tennessee 70, Virginia 67/OT (1991)
 * Maryland 78, Duke 75/OT (2006)


 * Smallest margin of victory in a championship game: 1 point
 * North Carolina 60, Louisiana Tech 59 (1994)


 * Biggest margin of victory in a championship game: 23 points
 * Tennessee 67, Louisiana Tech 44 (1987)


 * Margin of 10 points: Louisiana Tech (1982), Tennessee (1987 & 1989), Purdue (1999), Connecticut (2000, 2002, & 2009), and Baylor (2012) are teams to win every game in the tournament by 10 points or more on their way to a championship.


 * Top 5 largest point differentials accumulated over the entire tournament by tournament champion. Notably, Louisiana Tech's differential is prior to the expansion of 64 teams and the addition of one more round of play.
 * 2010 Connecticut (+214)
 * 2000 Connecticut (+187)
 * 2002 Connecticut (+161)
 * 1982 Louisiana Tech (+158)
 * 2009 Connecticut (+151)

Same-conference championship games
4 championship games have featured two teams from the same conference:
 * 1989 SEC, Tennessee and Auburn
 * 1996 SEC, Tennessee and Georgia
 * 2006 ACC, Maryland and Duke
 * 2009 Big East, Connecticut and Louisville

Result by school and by year
259 teams have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in one or more years, between 1982 (the initial year that the post-season tournament was under the auspices of the NCAA) and 2012. The results for each year are summarized in the table below.

The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:


 * - Not in tournament
 * O Opening Round (only in 1983)
 * 1 First round
 * 2 Second Round
 * S Sweet Sixteen
 * E Elite Eight
 * F Final Four
 * R National Runner-up
 * C National Champion