2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

2022 NCAA Division I
women's basketball tournament

File:2022WFFlogo.jpg
Season	2021–22
Teams	68
Finals site	Target Center Minneapolis, Minnesota
NCAA Division I women's tournaments «2021 2023»

The 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament will involve 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion for the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 40th annual edition of the tournament is scheduled to begin in March 2022 and will conclude with the championship game on April 3 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Big South champion Longwood, Horizon champion IUPUI and Southland champion Incarnate Word are making their tournament debuts.

This will be the first women's tournament to feature 68 teams, expanding from the 64-team field used from 1994 through 2021 and matching the men's 68-team field in use since 2011.

Tournament procedure

Further information: NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament § Current tournament format

A total of 68 teams will enter the 2022 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 36 bids are "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. 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. (meaning where the two seeds add up to 17, that team will be assigned to play another). With the expansion, Women's play-in games will played for the first time. Like the Men's, the last four at-large teams and teams seeded 65 through 68 will compete in opening-round games prior to the start of the first and second rounds of the championship.

The top four teams outside of the ranking (commonly known as the "first four out" in pre-tourney analyses) will act as standbys in the event a school is forced to withdraw before the start of the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. Once the tournament starts, any team that is forced to withdraw would not be replaced; the bracket was not reseeded, and the affected team's opponent would automatically advance to the next round.

Any single-bid automatic champion would have to designate a preapproved replacement from within their own conference should they withdraw. Otherwise, the replacement teams are as follows, in order:

First Four Out

NET	School	Conference	Record
48	Boston College	ACC	19–11
50	Missouri	SEC	18–12
36	South Dakota State	Summit	22–9
41	UCLA	Pac-12	14–12

The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 68.

2022 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

Columbia

Tucson

Ames

Iowa City

Louisville

Waco

Ann Arbor

Knoxville

Stanford

College Park

Baton Rouge

Austin

Raleigh

Storrs

Bloomington

Norman

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2022 Subregionals – Fri/Sun (pink) and Sat/Mon (green)

Bridgeport

Greensboro

Wichita

Spokane

Minneapolis

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2022 NCAA Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, will be played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done from 2016 to 2019.

First Four

• March 16 and 17
  • Will take place at four of the campuses seeded in the Top 16.

Subregionals (First and Second Rounds)

• March 18 and 20 (Fri/Sun)
  • Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
  • James Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa (Host: Iowa State University)
  • Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: University of Iowa)
  • KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
  • Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor University)
  • Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)
  • XFINITY Center, College Park, Maryland (Host: University of Maryland)
  • Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas)

• March 19 and 21 (Sat/Mon)
  • McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona
  • Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)
  • Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Host: University of Michigan)
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana State University)
  • Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
  • Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Oklahoma (Host: University of Oklahoma)
  • Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana (Host: University of Indiana)
  • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 25–28
  • Bridgeport Regional, Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut (cohosts: University of Connecticut, Fairfield University)
  • Greensboro Regional, Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Greensboro, North Carolina (host: Atlantic Coast Conference)
  • Wichita Regional, Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas (host: Wichita State University)
  • Spokane Regional, Spokane Arena, Spokane, Washington (host: Gonzaga University)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

• April 1 and April 3
  • Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (host: University of Minnesota)

This is the second time the women's Final Four will be played in Minneapolis (previously, in 1995).

In the wake of criticism raised in 2021 over inequities between the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments, the NCAA announced that the 2022 women's tournament will be promoted with the "March Madness" branding for the first time.

Qualification and selection teams

Further information: 2022 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament: qualifying teams

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams automatically qualified for the 2022 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.

Conference	Team	Record	Appearance	Last bid
America East	Albany	23–9	7th	2017
American	UCF	25–3	7th	2021
ASUN	Florida Gulf Coast	29–2	8th	2021
Atlantic 10	UMass	26–6	3rd	1998
ACC	NC State	29–3	27th	2021
Big 12	Texas	26–6	34th	2021
Big East	UConn	25–5	33rd	2021
Big Sky	Montana State	22–12	3rd	2017
Big South	Longwood	21–11	1st	Never
Big Ten	Iowa	23–7	28th	2021
Big West	Hawaiʻi	20–9	7th	2016
Colonial	Delaware	24–7	5th	2013
C-USA	Charlotte	22–9	3rd	2009
Horizon	IUPUI	24–4	1st	Never
Ivy League	Princeton	24–4	9th	2019
MAAC	Fairfield	25–6	5th	2001
MAC	Buffalo	25–8	4th	2019
MEAC	Howard	20–9	6th	2001
Missouri Valley	Illinois State	19–13	6th	2008
Mountain West	UNLV	26–6	9th	2002
Northeast	Mount St. Mary's	16–12	4th	2021
Ohio Valley	Belmont	22–7	7th	2021
Pac-12	Stanford	28–3	35th	2021
Patriot	American	23–8	3rd	2018
SEC	Kentucky	19–11	17th	2021
Southern	Mercer	23–6	4th	2021
Southland	Incarnate Word	13–16	1st	Never
SWAC	Jackson State	23–6	6th	2021
Summit	South Dakota	27–5	4th	2021
Sun Belt	UT Arlington	20–7	3rd	2007
West Coast	Gonzaga	26–6	13th	2021
WAC	Stephen F. Austin	28–4	20th	2021

Bids by state

Bids	State(s)	Schools
1	Arizona	Arizona
1	Arkansas	Arkansas
1	California	Stanford
1	Colorado	Colorado
2	Connecticut	UConn, Fairfield
1	Delaware	Delaware
5	Florida	Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Miami, UCF, USF
3	Georgia	Georgia, Georgia Tech, Mercer
1	Hawaii	Hawaiʻi
2	Illinois	DePaul, Illinois State
3	Indiana	Indiana, IUPUI, Notre Dame
2	Iowa	Iowa, Iowa State
2	Kansas	Kansas, Kansas State
2	Kentucky	Kentucky, Louisville
1	Louisiana	LSU
1	Massachusetts	UMass
1	Maryland	Maryland, Mount St. Mary's
1	Michigan	Michigan
2	Mississippi	Jackson State, Ole Miss
1	Missouri	Missouri State
1	Montana	Montana State
2	Nebraska	Creighton, Nebraska
1	Nevada	UNLV
1	New Jersey	Princeton
2	New York	Albany, Buffalo
3	North Carolina	Charlotte, North Carolina, NC State
2	Ohio	Dayton, Ohio State
1	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
1	Oregon	Oregon
1	Pennsylvania	Villanova
1	South Carolina	South Carolina
1	South Dakota	South Dakota
2	Tennessee	Belmont, Tennessee
5	Texas	Baylor, Incarnate Wood, Stephen F. Austin, Texas, UT Arlington
2	Utah	BYU, Utah
2	Virginia	Longwood, Virginia Tech
1	Washington	Gonzaga
2	Washington, D.C.	American, Howard

Tournament seeds (list by region)

Greensboro Regional – Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type 1 South Carolina SEC 29–2 1 At-Large 2 Iowa Big Ten 23–7 Automatic 3 Iowa State Big 12 26–6 At-Large 4 Arizona Pac–12 20–7 At-Large 5 North Carolina ACC 23–6 At-Large 6 Georgia SEC 20–9 At-Large 7 Colorado Pac–12 22–8 At-Large 8 Miami (FL) ACC 20–12 At-Large 9 South Florida American 24–8 At-Large 10 Creighton Big East 20–9 At-Large 11* Dayton Atlantic 10 25–5 At-Large DePaul Big East 22–10 At-Large 12 Stephen F. Austin WAC 28–4 Automatic 13 UNLV Mountain West 26–6 Automatic 14 UT Arlington Sun Belt 20–7 Automatic 15 Illinois State Missouri Valley 19–13 Automatic 16* Howard MEAC 20–9 Automatic Incarnate Word Southland 13–16 Automatic

Wichita Regional – Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type 1 Louisville ACC 25–4 4 At-Large 2 Baylor Big 12 27–6 At-Large 3 Michigan Big Ten 22–6 At-Large 4 Tennessee SEC 23–8 At-Large 5 Oregon Pac–12 20–11 At-Large 6 BYU West Coast 26–3 At-Large 7 Ole Miss SEC 23–8 At-Large 8 Nebraska Big Ten 24–8 At-Large 9 Gonzaga West Coast 26–6 Automatic 10 South Dakota Summit 27–5 Automatic 11 Villanova Big East 23–8 At-Large 12 Belmont Ohio Valley 22–7 Automatic 13 Buffalo MAC 25–8 Automatic 14 American Patriot 23–8 Automatic 15 Hawaiʻi Big West 20–9 Automatic 16 Albany America East 23–9 Automatic

Spokane Regional – Spokane Arena, Spokane, Washington Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type 1 Stanford Pac–12 28–3 2 Automatic 2 Texas Big 12 26–6 Automatic 3 LSU SEC 25–5 At-Large 4 Maryland Big Ten 21–8 At-Large 5 Virginia Tech ACC 23–9 At-Large 6 Ohio State Big Ten 23–6 At-Large 7 Utah Pac–12 20–11 At-Large 8 Kansas Big 12 20–9 At-Large 9 Georgia Tech ACC 21–10 At-Large 10 Arkansas SEC 18–13 At-Large 11* Missouri State Missouri Valley – At-Large Florida State ACC – At-Large 12 Florida Gulf Coast ASUN 29–2 Automatic 13 Delaware CAA 24–7 Automatic 14 Jackson State SWAC 23–6 Automatic 15 Fairfield MAAC 25–6 Automatic 16 Montana State Big Sky 22–12 Automatic

Bridgeport Regional – Times Union Center, Albany, New York Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type 1 NC State ACC 29–3 3 Automatic 2 UConn Big East 25–5 Automatic 3 Indiana Big Ten 22–8 At-Large 4 Oklahoma Big 12 24–8 At-Large 5 Notre Dame ACC 22–8 At-Large 6 Kentucky SEC 19–11 Automatic 7 UCF American 25–3 Automatic 8 Washington State Pac–12 19–10 At-Large 9 Kansas State Big 12 19–12 At-Large 10 Florida SEC 21–10 At-Large 11 Princeton Ivy 24–4 Automatic 12 UMass Atlantic 10 26–6 Automatic 13 IUPUI Horizon 24–4 Automatic 14 Charlotte C-USA 22–9 Automatic 15 Mercer Southern 23–6 Automatic 16* Mount St. Mary's Northeast 16–12 Automatic Longwood Big South 21–11 Automatic

*See First Four

Tournament bracket

All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
* – Denotes overtime period

First Four

	March 16 – Greensboro Region
	16	Howard	7:00 p.m.
	16	Incarnate Word	ESPNU

	March 16 – Greensboro Region
	11	Dayton	9:00 p.m.
	11	DePaul	ESPNU

	March 17 – Bridgeport Region
	16	Mount St. Mary's	7:00 p.m.
	16	Longwood	ESPN2

	March 17 – Spokane Region
	11	Florida State	9:00 p.m.
	11	Missouri State	ESPN2

Greensboro Regional – Greensboro, North Carolina

First Round Round of 64 March 18–19

Second Round Round of 32 March 20–21

Regional Semifinals Sweet 16 March 25 or 26

Regional Final Elite 8 March 27 or 28

1

South Carolina

16

Howard/Incarnate Word

Columbia, South Carolina (Fri/Sun)

8

Miami (FL)

9

South Florida

5

North Carolina

12

Stephen F. Austin

Tucson, Arizona (Sat/Mon)

4

Arizona

13

UNLV

ESPN

6

Georgia

11

Dayton/DePaul

Ames, Iowa (Fri/Sun)

3

Iowa State

14

UT Arlington

7

Colorado

10

Creighton

Iowa City, Iowa (Fri/Sun)

2

Iowa

15

Illinois State

Greensboro Regional Final

ESPN

Wichita Regional – Wichita, Kansas

First Round Round of 64 March 18–19

Second Round Round of 32 March 20–21

Regional Semifinals Sweet 16 March 25 or 26

Regional Final Elite 8 March 27 or 28

1

Louisville

16

Albany

Louisville, Kentucky (Fri/Sun)

8

Nebraska

9

Gonzaga

5

Oregon

12

Belmont

Knoxville, Tennessee (Sat/Mon)

4

Tennessee

13

Buffalo

ESPN

6

BYU

11

Villanova

Ann Arbor, Michigan (Sat/Mon)

3

Michigan

14

American

7

Ole Miss

10

South Dakota

Waco, Texas (Fri/Sun)

2

Baylor

15

Hawaiʻi

Wichita Regional Final

ESPN

Spokane Regional – Spokane, Washington

First Round Round of 64 March 18–19

Second Round Round of 32 March 20–21

Regional Semifinals Sweet 16 March 25 or 26

Regional Final Elite 8 March 27 or 28

1

Stanford

16

Montana State

Stanford, California (Fri/Sun)

8

Kansas

9

Georgia Tech

5

Virginia Tech

12

Florida Gulf Coast

College Park, Maryland (Fri/Sun)

4

Maryland

13

Delaware

ESPN

6

Ohio State

11

Missouri State/Florida State

Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Sat/Mon)

3

LSU

14

Jackson State

7

Utah

10

Arkansas

Austin, Texas (Fri/Sun)

2

Texas

15

Fairfield

Spokane Regional Final

ESPN

Bridgeport Regional – Bridgeport, Connecticut

First Round Round of 64 March 18–19

Second Round Round of 32 March 20–21

Regional Semifinals Sweet 16 March 25 or 26

Regional Final Elite 8 March 27 or 28

1

NC State

16

Mount St. Mary's/Longwood

Raleigh, North Carolina (Sat/Mon)

8

Washington State

9

Kansas State

5

Notre Dame

12

UMass

Norman, Oklahoma (Sat/Mon)

4

Oklahoma

13

IUPUI

ESPN

6

Kentucky

11

Princeton

Bloomington, Indiana (Sat/Mon)

3

Indiana

14

Charlotte

7

UCF

10

Florida

Storrs, Connecticut (Sat/Mon)

2

UConn

15

Mercer

Bridgeport Regional Final

ESPN

Final Four – Minneapolis, Minnesota

	National Semifinals/Final Four April 1					National Championship Game April 3
	Greensboro Winner		TBA
	Wichita Winner		ESPN
								8:00 p.m.
								ESPN
	Spokane Winner		TBA
	Bridgeport Winner		ESPN

National Semifinals

ESPN

Friday, April 1

ESPN

Friday, April 1

National Championship

Main article: 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Game

ESPN

Sunday, April 3 8:00 pm EDT

Record by conference

Conference	Bids	Record	Win %	FF	R64	R32	S16	E8	F4	CG	NC
ACC	8	0–0	–
SEC	8	0–0	–
Big 12	6	0–0	–
Big Ten	6	0–0	–
Pac-12	6	0–0	–
Big East	4	0–0	–
American	2	0–0	–
Atlantic 10	2	0–0	–
Missouri Valley	2	0–0	–
WCC	2	0–0	–
America East	1	0–0	–
Atlantic Sun	1	0–0	–
Big Sky	1	0–0	–
Big South	1	0–0	–
Big West	1	0–0	–
Colonial	1	0–0	–
C-USA	1	0–0	–
Horizon	1	0–0	–
MAC	1	0–0	–
MAAC	1	0–0	–
MEAC	1	0–0	–
Mountain West	1	0–0	–
Northeast	1	0–0	–
Ohio Valley	1	0–0	–
Patriot	1	0–0	–
Southland	1	0–0	–
SWAC	1	0–0	–
Southern	1	0–0	–
Summit	1	0–0	–
Sun Belt	1	0–0	–
WAC	1	0–0	–

• 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.

Media coverage

Television

ESPN served as broadcaster of the tournament, as part of its multi-year deal to broadcast NCAA national championships. Following a similar broadcast arrangement to the men's tournament under the CBS/Turner consortium, ESPN announced that all games in the tournament would be televised nationally in their entirety by either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, or ABC, rather than use a mix of regional broadcasts, streaming, and "whiparound" feeds.

Television channels

• First Four – ESPN2 and ESPNU
• First and Second Round – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, and ABC
• Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) – ESPN and ESPN2
• National Semifinals (Final Four) and Championship – ESPN

Number of games per network

• ESPN:
• ESPN2:
• ESPNU:
• ESPNEWS:
• ABC:

Broadcast assignments

First Four

First and Second Rounds (Subregionals)

Regionals (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight)

Final Four and National Championship

Radio

Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament.

Regional Finals

Final Four and Championship

Internet

Video

Live video of games was available for streaming through the following means:

Audio

Live audio of games was available for streaming through the following means:

International

ESPN International had international rights to the tournament.

Local announcers

Region	Seed	Teams	Flagship station	Play-by-play announcer	Color analyst(s)
BR	1
BR	2
BR	3
BR	4
BR	5
BR	6
BR	7
BR	8
BR	9
BR	10
BR	11
BR	12
BR	13
BR	14
BR	15
BR	16
GR	1
GR	2
GR	3
GR	4
GR	5
GR	6
GR	7
GR	8
GR	9
GR	10
GR	11
GR	12
GR	13
GR	14
GR	15
GR	16
WR	1
WR	2
WR	3
WR	4
WR	5
WR	6
WR	7
WR	8
WR	9
WR	10
WR	11
WR	12
WR	13
WR	14
WR	15
WR	16
SR	1
SR	2
SR	3
SR	4
SR	5
SR	6
SR	7
SR	8
SR	9
SR	10
SR	11
SR	12
SR	13
SR	14
SR	15
SR	16

Most-watched tournament games

All times Eastern. Tournament seedings and region are in parentheses.

See also

• 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

External links

• NCAA Women's Basketball Division I