The 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament began on March 16, 2018, and concluded with the national championship game on Sunday, April 1. The Final Four was played at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. This is the third time that the women's Final Four was played in Ohio after previously being held in Cincinnati in 1997 and Cleveland in 2007 and the first time that the women's Final Four was played in Columbus. For only the fourth time in the tournament's 37-year history, all four of the number one seeds made it to the Final Four.
Tennessee continued its record streak of making every NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at 37 consecutive appearances. Connecticut also continued its record streak of 11 consecutive Final Four appearances.
Video 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
2018 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, were played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done in 2016 and 2017. The following are the sites selected to host the last four rounds of the 2018 tournament.
Subregionals (First and Second Rounds)
- March 16-18
- KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
- Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)
- Reed Arena, College Station, Texas (Host: Texas A&M University)
- Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
- Edmund P. Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Indiana (Host: University of Notre Dame)
- Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
- Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon (Host: University of Oregon)
- Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas, (Host: Baylor University)
- March 17-19
- Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)
- Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, Georgia (Host: University of Georgia)
- St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio, (Host: Ohio State University)
- Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Tallahassee, Florida (Host: Florida State University)
- Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi (Host: Mississippi State University)
- Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)
- Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: University of California, Los Angeles)
- Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin)
Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 23-25
- Kansas City Regional, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 12)
- Lexington Regional, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)
- March 24-26
- Albany Regional, Times Union Center, Albany, New York (Hosts: MAAC)
- Spokane Regional, Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington (Host: University of Idaho)
National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)
- March 30 and April 1
- Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University)
Maps 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
Subregionals Tournament and automatic qualifiers procedures
Selections for the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship were announced at 7 p.m. Eastern time, Monday, March 12 via ESPN.
The basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus.
A total of 64 teams entered the 2018 tournament. 32 automatic bids teams were given to teams that won their conference tournament. The remaining 32 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 64.
Automatic qualifiers
The following teams automatically qualified for the 2018 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.
Tournament seeds
Bracket
All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Albany Regional - Albany, New York
Albany Regional Final
Albany Regional all tournament team
- Gabby Williams, UConn (MOP)
- Cierra Dillard, Buffalo
- A'ja Wilson, South Carolina
- Crystal Dangerfield, UConn
- Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn
Kansas City Regional - Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City Regional Final
Kansas City Regional all tournament team
- Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State (Co-MOP)
- Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State (Co-MOP)
- Kiara Leslie, NC State
- Jordin Canada, UCLA
- Monique Billings, UCLA
Lexington Regional - Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington Regional Final
Lexington Regional all tournament team
- Asia Durr, Louisville (MOP)
- Myisha Hines-Allen, Louisville
- Arica Carter, Louisville
- Sam Fuehring, Louisville
- Marie Gülich, Oregon State
Spokane Regional - Spokane, Washington
Spokane Regional Final
Spokane Regional all tournament team
- Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame (MOP)
- Marina Mabrey, Notre Dame
- Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M
- Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon
- Ruthy Hebard, Oregon
Final Four
During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the top overall top seed's region (Connecticut's Albany Region) plays against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region (Notre Dame's Spokane Region), and the champion of the second overall top seed's region (Mississippi State's Kansas City Region) plays against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region (Louisville's Lexington Region).
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio
* - Denotes overtime period
Final Four
National Championship
Final Four all-tournament team
- Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame (MOP)
- Jessica Shepard, Notre Dame
- Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State
- Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State
- Napheesa Collier, Connecticut
Record by conference
- The R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
- The America East, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Conference USA, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy League, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, WAC and West Coast conferences each had one representative that was eliminated in the first round.
Media coverage
Television
ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. During the first and second rounds, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPNews. All other games aired regionally on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN3 and were streamed online via WatchESPN. Most of the nation got whip-a-round coverage during this time, which allowed ESPN to rotate between the games and focus the nation on the game that had the closest score.
Studio host and analysts
- Maria Taylor (Host)
- Andy Landers (Analyst)
- Rebecca Lobo (Analyst) (First, Second Rounds, Final Four and National Championship Game)
- Nell Fortner (Analyst) (Regionals, Final Four and National Championship Game)
Broadcast assignments
Radio
Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament. Teams participating in the Regional Finals, Final Four, and Championship were allowed to have their own local broadcasts, but they weren't allowed to stream those broadcasts online.
See also
- 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 Women's National Invitation Tournament
- 2018 U Sports Women's Basketball Championship
- 2018 National Invitation Tournament
- 2018 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
- 2018 Women's Basketball Invitational
- 2018 College Basketball Invitational
- 2018 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
References
External links
- NCAA Women's Basketball Division I
Source of article : Wikipedia
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