American college basketball tournament
The 2024 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was a 68-team single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 42nd edition of the tournament began on March 20, 2024, and concluded with the championship game on April 7, 2024 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Big South champion Presbyterian, Southland champion Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, WAC champion California Baptist and at-large bid Columbia all made their NCAA tournament debuts. Additionally, Big Sky champion Eastern Washington made its second-ever appearance and first since 1987, Big West champion UC Irvine made its first appearance since 1995 and Sun Belt champion Marshall made its first appearance since 1997. In the championship game, Iowa returned for their second straight appearance while South Carolina entered their third championship game in seven years and became the tenth team in Division I women's tournament history to finish an undefeated season at 38–0.
This was the first time where the top #1 seed won both the Men's & Women's NCAA Tournament since 2012.
Tournament procedure
A total of 68 teams participated in the 2024 tournament, consisting of the 32 conference champions, and 36 "at-large" bids that were determined by the NCAA Selection Committee. The last four at-large teams and teams seeded 65 through 68 overall competed in First Four games, whose winners advanced to the 64-team first round.[1]
2024 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, will be played at the sites of the top 16 seeds.
First Four
- March 20–21
- Four of the campuses seeded in the Top 16
Subregionals (First and Second Rounds)
- March 22 and 24 (Fri/Sun)
- Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
- Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon (Host: Oregon State University)
- Moody Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin)
- Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)
- Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas (Host: Kansas State University)
- Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana State University)
- Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, Virginia (Host: Virginia Tech)
- Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University)
- March 23 and 25 (Sat/Mon)
- Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana (Host: Indiana University)
- Purcell Pavilion, Notre Dame, Indiana (Host: University of Notre Dame)
- McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Washington (Host: Gonzaga University)
- Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
- Carver–Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: University of Iowa)
- Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: University of California, Los Angeles)
- Galen Center, Los Angeles, California (Host: University of Southern California)
- Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)
Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)
Cleveland hosted the women's Final Four for the second time; the first was in 2007.[2]
Qualification and selection of teams
Automatic qualifiers
The following teams automatically qualified for the 2024 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.[a]
- ^ a b Southern Indiana defeated UT Martin in the OVC championship. However, due to Southern Indiana's transition from Division II, UT Martin received the OVC's automatic bid.
Bids by state
The sixty-eight teams came from thirty-four states.
Participating teams in the 2024 tournament.
Bids by conference
Thirty-two conferences earned an automatic bid. In nineteen cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-six additional at-large teams were selected from twelve of the conferences.
Seeds
The tournament seeds and regions were determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process and were published by the selection committee after the brackets were released on March 17.
*See First Four
Source:
Tournament bracket
All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
First Four
The First Four games involve eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.
Albany regional 1 – Albany, NY
Albany regional 1 final
Albany regional 1 all-tournament team
Portland regional 4 – Portland, OR
Portland 4 regional final
Portland 4 regional all-tournament team
Albany regional 2 – Albany, New York
Albany regional 2 final
Albany regional 2 all-tournament team
Portland regional 3 – Portland, Oregon
Portland regional 3 final
Portland regional 3 all-tournament team
Final Four – Cleveland, Ohio
National semifinals
National championship
Final Four all-tournament team
Record by conference
- The FF, R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the first four, round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
Game summaries and tournament notes
Tournament upsets
Per the NCAA, an upset occurs "when the losing team in an NCAA tournament game was seeded at least five seed lines better than the winning team."[3]
Tournament records
Game officials
Media coverage
Most watched tournament games
(#) Tournament seedings and region in parentheses.
The Albany 2 regional final between Iowa and LSU, a rematch of the previous year's national championship game drew the largest audience ever for a women's college basketball game as well as the most watched college basketball game in the 45-year history of ESPN.[4] The record would last only a few days, as Iowa's national semifinal match with Connecticut averaged the most viewers for a basketball game at any level on ESPN.[5][failed verification] The Championship game again broke this record, with it becoming the most watched basketball game (including the NBA) since 2019 and the most watched basketball game to air outside of prime-time since the Fab Five played in the men's Final Four in 1992.[6]
Television
ESPN broadcast each game of the tournament across either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, or ABC. For the second consecutive season, the national championship game aired on ABC.[10][11]
ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show broadcast live from Iowa City for the Iowa Hawkeyes' first-round game.[12] ESPN provided Megacast coverage during the Final Four and national championship games, with the Bird & Taurasi Show alternate broadcast with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi returning on ESPN2 and ESPN during the Final Four and national championship respectively, and the "Beyond the Rim" (additional statistics) and rail cam feeds available on ESPN+.[13]
Studio host and analysts
- Elle Duncan (host) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)
- Kelsey Riggs (host) (first/second rounds)
- Rebecca Lobo (analyst) (first four, and first/second rounds)
- Andraya Carter (analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
- Chiney Ogwumike (analyst) (first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
- Carolyn Peck (analyst) (Final Four and national championship)
- Nikki Fargas (analyst) (first/second rounds)
- Aliyah Boston (analyst) (Final Four and national championship)
- Lisa Mattingly (rules analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)
- Denny Meyer (rules analyst) (Final Four and national championship)
Radio
Westwood One will serve as radio broadcaster of the tournament.
Regionals (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight)
- Sam Neidermann and Isis Young – Albany, New York 1
- Troy Clardy and Debbie Antonelli – Portland, Oregon 4
- Lance Medow and Kim Adams – Albany, New York 2
- Matt Chazanow and Krista Blunk – Portland, Oregon 3
Final Four and National Championship
Notes
See also
References
- ^ "Expansion of 2022 DI women's basketball tournament to 68 teams approved". ncaa.com. 2018-11-17. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
- ^ "Women's Final Four: Future dates & sites". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
- ^ Wittry, Andy (March 15, 2023). "Here's how to pick March Madness men's upsets, according to the data". NCAA. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
- ^ ESPN News Services (April 3, 2024). "Iowa-LSU sets women's NCAA hoops ratings record with 12.3M viewers". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ a b "Nearly 19 million for South Carolina-Iowa women's title game". ESPN.com. Associated Press. 6 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
- ^ a b Lewis, Jon (2024-04-08). "South Carolina-Iowa women's final is top hoops game in five years". Sports Media Watch. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ Lewis, Jon (3 April 2024). "Monday (4/1) sports viewership: Record Iowa-LSU rematch dominates". Sports Media Watch. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "Ratings - NCAA Semifinals on ESPN Shatter Viewership Records - UConn-Iowa Delivers 14.2 Million Viewers, Friday's NCAA Women's Final Four Scores Average Audience of 10.8 Million | TheFutonCritic.com". www.thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ Lewis, Jon (2 April 2024). "Saturday (3/30) sports ratings: March Madness, MLB, UFL and more". Sports Media Watch. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "ESPN acquires NCAA rights for US$500 million". SportsPro Media. April 2, 2012. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
- ^ "Calling on Cleveland: ESPN Is the Exclusive Home of NCAA March Madness Women's Basketball for the 29th Year". ESPN Press Room U.S. 2024-03-17. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
- ^ "The Pat McAfee Show and WWE champion Roman Reigns are heading to Iowa City on March 22". Iowa City Press-Citizen. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
- ^ Lucia, Joe (2024-04-04). "'The Bird & Taurasi Show' highlights ESPN's MegaCast Final Four broadcasts". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ a b c "ESPN Announces Commentator Pairings for Exclusive Coverage of NCAA March Madness Women's Basketball". ESPN Press Room U.S. 2024-03-18. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
- ^ "NCAA Women's March Madness Marches On Across ESPN Platforms". ESPN Press Room U.S. 2024-03-18. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
- ^ "Calling on Cleveland! ESPN's MegaCast Presentation of the 2024 NCAA Women's Final Four Tips Off Friday, April 5". ESPN Press Room U.S. 2024-04-03. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
External links
- NCAA Women's Basketball Division I
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