Annual college basketball tournament for women, NCAA women's college basketball tournaments, NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. ODU has always used on-campus arenas, first the ODU Fieldhouse and since 2002 Chartway Arena. Prior to 1996, seeding was conducted on a regional basis. 2023 NCAA | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Watch the final seconds from every title game, Schools with most players selected in single WNBA draft, The colleges (and conferences) with the most players taken in the 2023 WNBA draft, Every WNBA draft No. Top 9 largest point differentials accumulated over the entire tournament by tournament champion. First Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference, with Louisville announcing later they would follow in 2014. Among the report's findings was that U.S. television rights for the women's tournament would be worth at least $81 million annually by the time the current broadcast contract with ESPN expires in 2024. The national semi-finals, branded as the Women's Final Four, are traditionally scheduled on the same weekend as the men's Final Four, but in a different host city. The format for the 2024 NCAA tournament will stay the same for the first time in three years. This was during the AIAW era for women's basketball. The 6661 loss was UConn's first of the season, but not its last. This is the case for California Baptist, which began a transition from Division II in 2018 and thus cannot play in the NCAA tournament until 2023. The following table shows the UConn players recipients of the major individual awards in women's college basketball. She led UConn to the Final Four, but in the national semifinals against Notre Dame in St. Louis, Taurasi had a poor shooting game, and despite UConn having attained a 16-point lead at one point, the team lost. The #7 seed is 7137 against the #10 seed (.657). [6] The second streak counts 90 consecutive wins, including two undefeated seasons (200809 and 200910), and was delimited by two losses against Stanford, the first on April 6, 2008 in the National Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, and the second three seasons later on December 19, 2010. [19], In the first two rounds, one channel (typically ESPN or ESPN2's high definition feed) typically aired "whiparound" coverage during each window, carrying rolling coverage of all games in progress. They marched through the Big East tournament, including their 3rd victory of the year over Notre Dame in the Big East tournament Championship Game. Ms. Balthaser continued to expand the program, leading UConn to its first winning season in her first year as coach, and finishing with a 5288 record over five seasons. America East Conference commissioner Amy Huchthausen argued that the ESPN contract "provides a measure of financial certainty, but it does not provide women's basketball (or any of the other sports, for that matter) an incentive to grow". In 2023, South Carolina entered the tournament 32-0, but lost in the Final Four to. In 2010 Lobo became the first Connecticut player inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, among a class of six inductees,[19] followed by teammate Jennifer Rizzotti in the class of 2013.[20]. [14] The season started with an 80-point win over Morgan State; two weeks later, UConn defeated powerhouse North Carolina State by 23 points on the road. In 1997, UConn entered the tournament 300, but lost in the Midwest Regional Final to Tennessee. In December Griner led #1 ranked Baylor against #2 UConn, scoring 25 points to go along with nine blocks. [7] The Huskies also own the longest winning streak in regular-season games in college history; after an overtime loss to Stanford on November 17, 2014, they won their next 126 regular-season games until a 6857 loss to Baylor on January 3, 2019.[8]. 2 Notre Dame. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Lobo graduated in 1995 receiving countless accolades: the Naismith College Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy, the Associated Press Women's College Basketball Player of the Year award, the USBWA Women's National Player of the Year award, the Honda-Broderick Cup, the Best Female Athlete ESPY Award (first basketball player ever), the Associated Press Athlete of the Year (second basketball player after Sheryl Swoopes), the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the Academic All-America of the Year and also All-sports Academic All-America of the Year. The LSU Tigers defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 Sunday to win the programs first NCAA womens basketball national championship in Dallas, Texas. Only one team has ever played the Final Four on its home court. Division regular season champion A special selection committee appointed by the NCAA determines which 68 teams will enter the tournament, and where they will be seeded and placed in the bracket. 2 South Carolina. In the 2002 WNBA draft, the four UConn players tabbed "TASS Force" (Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones, Sue Bird, Swin Cash) were all first round selections, each having immediate impact with their WNBA team. In 1996, seeds were assigned on a national basis using an "S-Curve" format[clarification needed] similar to the process used in selecting the field for the men's tournament. Connecticut recovered focus after the loss and got through the rest of the regular season undefeated, regaining the #1 ranking along the way after Baylor's loss to Texas Tech in February. This page was last edited on 28 April 2023, at 05:31. 7 championship games have featured two teams from the same conference (winner listed first and bolded): Broadcast rights to the NCAA women's basketball tournament are included in a larger package covering most NCAA Division I championships,[13][14] outside of men's basketball (which is held by CBS and Warner Bros. 6 Creighton 85, No. Auriemma felt guilty that he put Sales through the ordeal and was angry that some columnists chose to fault her and not him. 5 Saint Mary's 55 | Watch highlights No. Connecticut's Auriemma, that's who", "Case for UConn's Geno Auriemma being best coach ever goes beyond basketball", "UConn Women's Basketball 2015-2016 Media Guide", "UConn Women's Basketball 2020-2021 Media Guide", "2021-22 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Connecticut Athletics", "UConn Women's Basketball 2022-2023 Media Guide", "Ray Allen, Rebecca Lobo to have UConn numbers retired", "UConn women's basketball retires Swin Cash's number at Gampel Pavilion: 'I'm humbled, I'm honored', "Connecticut's Fab Four Makes Pro Basketball History", "Breanna Stewart top pick in WNBA, leading 1-2-3 UConn sweep", "March Madness 2023: Stats and reactions to Ohio State-UConn upset", "UConn Huskies' NCAA-record win streak snapped at 111 games", "Despite loss, UConn women still have incredible streak going", "St. John's women stun UConn, end 99-game streak", Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UConn_Huskies_women%27s_basketball&oldid=1152671077, Articles containing potentially dated statements from April 2022, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 11 NCAA Tournament Championships (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), 27 Conference tournament Championships: 19 Big East Conference (1989, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2021, 2022) and 7 American Athletic Conference (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), 28 Conference regular season Championships: 20 Big East Conference (1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2021, 2022) and 7 American Athletic Conference (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), Most NCAA Championships, any Division, men's or women's (11), Most NCAA Division I Final Fours, men's or women's (22), Most NCAA Division I tournament #1 seeds, men's or women's (22), Most NCAA Division I undefeated seasons, men's or women's (6), Most NCAA Division I 30-win seasons, men's or women's (25), Most NCAA Division I weeks ranked No. [24] With Shea Ralph and senior Nykesha Sales out for the entire season, freshman Svetlana Abrosimova led a young UConn team to the NCAA Tournament Regional Final where they eventually lost to North Carolina State 6052. UConn was a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but eventually lost to LSU in the regional final to end the season with a 324 record. The AIAW continued to conduct its established championship program in the same 12 (and other) sports; however, after a year of dual women's championships, the NCAA prevailed, while the AIAW disbanded. [66], The 20172018 season was very similar to the previous one. [64], After easy wins in both conference regular season and conference tournament, UConn entered the NCAA tournament unbeaten, #1 overall and once again a heavy favorite to win it all; the season came to an unexpected end when Mississippi State's Morgan William hit a buzzer-beater to give its team a 6664 overtime victory in the NCAA Final Four. [57] Breanna Stewart was named the AP Player of the year, only the third time in history a sophomore has won the honor. During the game there was a scuffle involving Tennessee's Semeka Randall and Connecticut's Svetlana Abrosimova where Randall threw the ball down, hitting Abrosimova's head. At the time of her injury, she was only one point shy of Kerry Bascom's school scoring record. Postseason invitational champion The #6 seed is 7533 against the #11 seed (.694). note: The #9 vs. #16 game was Arkansas over Harvard in 1998. The team was unstoppable all season long, beating every opponent by an average of 39.7 points, and easily winning conference regular season and tournament. Geno Auriemma jokingly once referred to Pat Summitt and Tennessee as the "evil empire", like Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino said of the Yankees. Statistics correct through March 18, 2023.[78][79][80][81]. Women's Basketball Records Books (since 2001) Women's Final Four Records Books (since 2001) Women's Basketball Championships Results and [10] As, by definition, a team would have to win its conference tournament, and thus secure an automatic bid to the tournament, to be undefeated in a season, the only way a team could finish undefeated and not reach the tournament is if the team is banned from postseason play. With Faris and Doty graduated, sophomore Breanna Stewart was the undisputed leader of the 201314 UConn team, starting in all 40 games and leading the team with 19.4 points and 2.8 blocks per game; her 291 field goals made was the third-highest single-season total in UConn annals. Taken together during the three years 20052007, UConn never made a Final Four, something that had become almost routine (17 final fours in 22 years from 1995 to 2016). The UConn Huskies women's basketball team is the college basketball program representing the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, in NCAA Division I women's basketball competition. She was also named the 2000 Naismith and Parade Magazine National High School Player of the Year. The first NCAA women's basketball tournament was held in 1982. In 2012, Baylor entered the tournament 340, beat Notre Dame for the national title, and ended the season 400. [20] In 2023, the national championship game aired on ABC for the first time. UConn was found to have committed a secondary violation (involving a tour of the ESPN campus) and no punishment was handed out.[42][43]. The trio of Stewart-Jefferson-Tuck ended its college career with a 1515 record, the most victories for college basketball players; they are the only 4-time winners in college basketball history (freshmen were not eligible to play during UCLA men's streak). UConn followed up its surprise run to the Final Four in 1991 by landing All-American Rebecca Lobo from Southwick, Massachusetts. UConn has also been one of the leaders in women's basketball attendance; the team plays its home games at both the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and the XL Center in Hartford. The four lowest-seeded automatic bids, and the four lowest-seeded at-large bids, compete in the First Four games to advance to the 64-team bracket in the first round. 2 Southern Cal. [41], After three down years by UConn standards, the team emerged as a heavy contender for the championship in the 2008 season. Ultimately Notre Dame found its revenge with an upset win in the NCAA Tournament Final Four, ending the season with a 31 record against the Huskies, a record that would be repeated the following year. The Huskies of Honor is a program recognizing the most significant figures in UConn history, with plaques in Gampel Pavilion commemorating the inductees. [82] UConn's announcement did not make it clear whether both numbers would be retired across both men's and women's programs, but a university spokesperson clarified that the retirements applied only to the teams that Lobo and Allen competed for, meaning that #50 remains available in men's basketball and #34 in women's. 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: 33 points. 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. During the regular season UConn played 11 games against ranked opponents (including 6 in the top ten) with an average margin of victory of 24. The remaining teams were then seeded based on their geographic region. Conference tournament champion, UConn played in the Big East Conference from the 198283 season, the first in which the league sponsored women's basketball and held a tournament, until the conference split in 2013. Dr. Marilyn McNeil, vice president/director of athletics at Monmouth University is the current chairwoman. Shortly after Moore's commitment to UConn, Tennessee announced they were cancelling the annual series with UConn, thus ending one of the biggest rivalries in the sport. For each season, the 4 teams seeded No. Players expected to be active in 202223 are in bold. [39] Behind a home state crowd, UConn almost upset #1 ranked Duke in the regional final, before falling in overtime by 2 points. Maya Moore and Tina Charles played little more than half the minutes of every game, with Moore averaging one point per minute played, and the team outscoring its opponents by an average of 47 points. The team gave up large leads against Duke and suffered losses to Notre Dame and Villanova, also losing to Boston College in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. From 2003 to 2014, sixteen predetermined sites were selected for first and second-round games. Conference regular season and conference tournament champion With no seniors on the roster, 2003 was supposed to be a rebuilding year for UConn, but as the year progressed it became clear that Taurasi was up to the challenge of carrying a group of young players to the championship. The end of 201213 season saw the breakup of the Big East Conference. UConn finished the regular season undefeated and established a 70-game winning streak, shattering the previous mark of 54 set by Louisiana Tech; the streak ended in the Big East championship game loss to Villanova. Maya Moore returned for her senior season after a summer with the U.S. National team, but UConn lost major contributors Tina Charles and Kalana Greene who graduated in 2010. After a brief stint at a small college in Pennsylvania, she applied for the job at UConn, starting in 1975 and leading the team to a 3866 record in five seasons. From 1994 to 2021, 64 teams competed in each tournament. The current contract, which includes rights not only to the women's tournament but also 28 other NCAA championship events, provides the NCAA an average of $34 million over the life of the contract. As of 2022, the tournament follows the same format and selection process as its men's counterpart, with 32 automatic bids awarded to the champions of the Division I conferences, and 36 "at-large bids" extended by the NCAA Selection Committee, which are placed into four regional divisions and seeded from 1 to 16. He was head coach of the United States women's national basketball team from 2009 until stepping down from that role after the 2016 Summer Olympics. UConn has featured a great number of star players, All-Americans, Hall of Famers and recipients of individual trophies. Even if the Huskies were still a strong national contender, they were no longer viewed as a favorite to win it all. In 2016, UConn entered the tournament 320, beat Syracuse for the national title, ending the season 380. In the NCAA tournament UConn key-players Stewart, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Stefanie Dolson and senior Kelly Faris raised their level of play, and UConn easily advanced to the Final Four; in the semifinals they handily beat Notre Dame and in the finals they obtained a 9360 win over Louisville, who had earlier upset Baylor, for a record tying eighth national championship. [30] As a consequence, Taurasi had to play a much larger role than anticipated in the NCAA Tournament. On December 7, 2018, UConn announced that the #50 worn by Rebecca Lobo would be permanently retired, effective with ceremonies to be held during the Huskies' final 201819 home game on March 2, 2019. Whether you're a Five of them have been first overall picks: Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011), and Breanna Stewart (2016). In 2022 NCAA tournament, in the Bridgeport Region UConn beat the 15th seed Mercer, 7th seed UCF, 3rd seed Indiana and the 1st seed, Nc State to reach the final four for the 14th consecutive year. [2] The tournament is often overshadowed by the more-prominent men's tournament; after a gender equality review following the 2021 tournament, the NCAA expanded it to the current 68-team format of the men's tournament, and extended the "March Madness" branding to the tournament as well. Motivated by the previous disappointing season, UConn came back in 19992000 with the clear goal of reaching the championship level again. [40], In the 200607 season, the team improved with the additions of Renee Montgomery, Mel Thomas, Ketia Swanier, and the #1 ranked high school player Tina Charles, helping UConn emerge as a contender again. UConn finished the regular season undefeated for the 5th time in school history with a 300 record. Out-of-market games were carried via pay-per-view. The results for all years are shown in this table below.[7]. [72] From 201314 to 201920, UConn played in the American Athletic Conference, where they went unbeaten both in regular season and conference tournament games, with a perfect 1390 record and 7 conference tournaments. The sports under consideration were the four major professional sports (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL) along with the three most prominent college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. 3 Baylor 76 | Watch highlights No. The 201213 season began with high hopes having UConn landed three highly ranked recruits: #1 overall Breanna Stewart from Cicero North Syracuse High School, forward Morgan Tuck and guard Moriah Jefferson. In 202021, UConn rejoined several of its former conference mates in the current Big East Conference. 16 FDU 70 | Watch highlights No. All four #1 seeds have made it to the Final Four 4 times (champion in bold): The championship game has matched two #1 seeds 14 times: Three teams have beaten three #1 seeds during the course of a tournament (the largest number of such teams that can be faced) (all three teams won the national championship as beating a 3rd #1 seed in a single tournament can only happen in the finals): Prior to the expansion of the tournament to 64 teams, all four #1 seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with three exceptions. Rebecca Lobo was part of the 1997 inaugural draft, with the top players allocated to founding teams without any particular order; similarly Nykesha Sales was part of the 1998 WNBA expansion players allocation. Attendance and interest in the women's championship have grown over the years, especially from 2003 to 2016, when the final championship game was moved to the Tuesday following the Monday men's championship game. The win was even more special as the UConn men's basketball team won the men's national championship the previous night, marking the first time one University won both the men's and women's basketball championships in one season, a feat UConn repeated in 2014. 1 overall pick, and where they went to college, LSU vs. Iowa - 2023 NCAA womens national championship | FULL REPLAY, Every HBCU player ever selected in the WNBA draft, The 13 highest-scoring individual performances in March Madness history, Best moments from 2023 March Madness, captured in photos, The record-breaking national championship between LSU and Iowa, by the numbers, Kim Mulkey has won at every stop in her career, but it meant the most at LSU, Women's Final Four Most Outstanding Players from 1982 to present, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. They won their 17th Big East Regular Season title and their 15th Big East tournament title beating the Louisville Cardinals. The only close game the Huskies played all year long was a win at Virginia Tech. The Lady Vols havent been back to the Final Four since. [73], Sandra Hamm, a Terryville native, was employed part-time as the interim women's coach in the 19741975 season, when the team was 28. The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness,[1] is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), to determine the national championship. Additionally, junior guard Caroline Doty would be out the entire season due to a third knee injury. Tennessee defeated Connecticut again in the 199798 regular season. [18] In 2021, ESPN adopted a broadcast arrangement similar to the men's tournament, with all games airing nationally in their entirety on either an ESPN linear channel or, for the first time, ABC. After the 1995 Championship title, UConn rose to national prominence as one of the powerhouses in women's college basketball, giving coach Auriemma the chance to recruit star talents from high school like Shea Ralph in 1996 and Svetlana Abrosimova in 1997. In 1980 the university hired Jean Balthaser, who had coached at the University of Pittsburgh. Senior Nykesha Sales suffered a season-ending injury in one of the final games of the regular season. Bascom was hit with early foul trouble and Virginia held off a late UConn rally. In 2015, Princeton entered the tournament 300, but lost in the second round to Maryland. The 200405 season was marked with sloppy play and ragged offense; UConn lost 8 games and failed to win the Big East regular season crown for the first time since 1993. In its announcement, UConn stated that going forward, number retirement would be reserved for former Huskies players inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as Lobo was in 2017. In her amazing college career Maya Moore won 150 games and only lost 4, amassing a total 3036 points (1st Husky ever and 4th all-time in NCAA division I women's basketball), 1276 rebounds (2nd Husky ever), 310 steals (3rd Husky ever), 544 assists (6th Husky ever) and 204 blocks (4th Husky ever); she is the only women's basketball player in Division I history to record 2500 points, 1000 rebounds, 500 assists, 250 steals and 150 blocked shots. [15] UConn blew out Stanford in the semifinals behind Wolters' 31 points, reaching the championship game for a rematch against Tennessee. UConn also signed a landmark deal during the season with Connecticut Public Television to broadcast their games.[18]. [3], After losing the stellar trio of Stewart, Jefferson and Tuck, many predicted a sub-par season for UConn standards; the AP Poll ranked the team third in the nation, and coach Auriemma had designed a very tough non-conference calendar to test the strength of his young team. One exception is Cal Baptist, who was excluded from the 2021 tournament as a transitional Division I member, despite a 240 record. Still, the tournament receives a smaller amount of funding from broadcast rights (which are held by ESPN, and are pooled with those of other NCAA Division I championships besides golf and men's basketball) and sponsorship (which are sold by CBS and Turner Sports) than the men's tournament. The #1 seed is 1071 against the #16 seed (.991). Their combined record is 12823 .848; they have been to 22 Final Fours and are 11-time National Champions (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016). [25], Many people weighed in on the decision on both national and local levels. [3] The team had also made the semi-finals for 14 consecutive tournaments. The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), to determine the national championship. The Scope has never been the Lady Monarchs' regular home court. Taurasi finished her high school career ranked second to Cheryl Miller in state history with 3,047 points.[29]. The remaining teams are granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.