2020 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
 | |||||
| Season | 2019–20 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 64 (planned) | ||||
| Finals site | Smoothie King Center New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||
| Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||||
| |||||
The 2020 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was scheduled to be played in March and April 2020, with the Final Four played Friday, April 3 and Sunday, April 5 to determine the champion of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Final Four was planned to be played at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the University of New Orleans, Tulane University and the Sun Belt Conference serving as hosts. This is the fourth time that New Orleans has been selected as a women's Final Four location (previously, in 1991, 2004, and 2013) and third time at the Smoothie King Center (previously named New Orleans Arena); the 1991 Final Four was contested at the University of New Orleans' Lakefront Arena. ESPN had planned to nationally televise all 63 games of the women's tournament for the first time ever.[1]
However, on March 12, the NCAA announced that this tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] It was the first time the tournament had been canceled since its creation in 1982.
Tournament procedure[edit]
Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2020 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 32 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[citation needed]. 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).
The selection committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.
2020 NCAA tournament schedule and venues[edit]
The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, were to be played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done from 1995 to 2004 and since 2016.
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 27–30[3]
- Dallas regional, Moody Coliseum, Dallas, Texas[a] (Host: SMU)[4]
- Fort Wayne regional, Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana (Host: Purdue Fort Wayne[b])[5]
- Greenville regional, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina (Host: Southern Conference)[6]
- Portland regional, Moda Center, Portland, Oregon (Host: Oregon State)[7]
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)
- April 3 and April 5
[edit]
On March 11, 2020, the NCAA announced that both men's and women's NCAA Tournaments would take place without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[9] This was followed up, on March 12, by an announcement cancelling the tournaments.[2]
Subregionals tournament and automatic qualifiers[edit]
Automatic qualifiers[edit]
The following teams had automatically qualified for the 2020 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament. All conference tournaments that had not been completed were cancelled, the majority of which without naming an automatic qualifier.
- Teams marked with † received automatic bids after their conference tournaments were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
| Conference | Team | Record | Appearance | Last bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | NC State | 28–4 | 26th | 2019 |
| America East | Stony Brook †[10] | 28–3 | 1st | Never |
| American | UConn | 29–3 | 32nd | 2019 |
| Atlantic 10 | Dayton | 25–8 | 9th | 2018 |
| Atlantic Sun | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| Big 12 | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| Big East | DePaul | 28–5 | 25th | 2019 |
| Big Sky | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| Big South | Campbell †[11] | 21-8 | 2nd | 2000 |
| Big Ten | Maryland | 28–4 | 28th | 2019 |
| Big West | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| Colonial | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| C-USA | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| Horizon | IUPUI | 23–8 | 1st | Never |
| Ivy League | Princeton †[12] | 26–1 | 9th | 2019 |
| MAAC | Rider †[13] | 26-4 | 1st | Never |
| MAC | Central Michigan †[14] | 23-7 | 6th | 2019 |
| MEAC | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| Missouri Valley | Tournament cancelled, no automatic bid | |||
| Mountain West | Boise State | 24–9 | 7th | 2019 |
| Northeast | Robert Morris †[15] | 23-7 | 7th | 2019 |
| Ohio Valley | Southeast Missouri State | 25–7 | 3rd | 2007 |
| Pac-12 | Oregon | 31–2 | 16th | 2019 |
| Patriot | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| SEC | South Carolina | 32–1 | 17th | 2019 |
| Southern | Samford | 18–14 | 3rd | 2012 |
| Southland | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| SWAC | Tournament canceled, no automatic bid | |||
| Summit League | South Dakota | 30–2 | 3rd | 2019 |
| Sun Belt | Troy †[16] | 25–4 | 4th | 2017 |
| West Coast | Portland | 21–11 | 5th | 1997 |
| WAC | Kansas City †[17] | 21-10 | 1st | Never |
- Notes
- ^ Moody Coliseum is physically located in University Park, Texas, a city contained within the city limits of Dallas. All locations within University Park have a Dallas mailing address.
- ^ At the time the regional venues were announced, the host institution was Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). In July 2018, IPFW was dissolved and replaced by separate institutions affiliated with Indiana University and Purdue University. Since the IPFW athletic program was transferred to the newly launched Purdue University Fort Wayne, that institution inherited hosting duties.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Elchlepp, Kimberly (January 21, 2020). "NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship: Semifinals Move to ESPN; First and Second Rounds to Be Available Nationally" (Press release). ESPN Press Room. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
In its continued commitment to women's college basketball, ESPN will air the entire 2020 Women's Final Four (semifinals and championship) in primetime on the flagship network. Additionally, the entire first and second rounds of the women's championship will be available nationally on ESPN's television networks, eliminating regionalization.
- ^ a b "NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". news.yahoo.com. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ "2019 - 2022 Future DI NCAA Championship Sites". NCAA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
- ^ "Dallas, Fort Worth to host NCAA tournament games in 2020, 2021, 2022". FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth. Fox Television Stations. Archived from the original on April 25, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
- ^ Crandall, Kayla (October 14, 2019). "Fort Wayne to host 2020 NCAA Women's Basketball Regional". WPTA 21. WPTA Television, Inc. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- ^ "Greenville selected to host NCAA men and women basketball tournaments". Greer Today. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
- ^ Moran, Danny (April 19, 2017). "NCAA basketball tournaments returning to Portland". OregonLive/The Oregonian. Advance Local Media LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
- ^ "Women's Final Four sites for 2017-20 includes record fourth for New Orleans". NCAA.com. November 17, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
- ^ Schad, Tom (March 11, 2020). "NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments will not include fans due to coronavirus concerns". USA Today. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
- ^ "America East basketball championships canceled". March 12, 2020.
- ^ "Women's Basketball Tournament Cancelled". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ "Ivy League Cancels Basketball Tournaments, Limits Spectators In All Sporting Events". Retrieved March 10, 2020.
- ^ "2020 Hercules Tires MAAC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships". Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ "MAC Tournament Press Conference: March 12, 2020". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ "2020 NEC Tournament Canceled". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ ""Robbed": Trojans react to championship season cut short - the Tropolitan". March 29, 2020.
- ^ "WAC Official Statement". Retrieved March 12, 2020.