2020 NCAA Division I
women's basketball tournament
Season2019–20
Teams64 (planned)
Finals siteSmoothie King Center
New Orleans, Louisiana
Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
NCAA Division I women's tournaments
«2019 2021»

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

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. 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

2020 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is located in the United States
Dallas
Dallas
Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne
Greenville
Greenville
Portland
Portland
New Orleans
New Orleans
2020 NCAA regionals and Final Four

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)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

Coronavirus impact

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

Automatic qualifiers

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
  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ 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

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. 1 2 "NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". news.yahoo.com. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  3. ↑ "2019 - 2022 Future DI NCAA Championship Sites". NCAA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  4. ↑ "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.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ "Greenville selected to host NCAA men and women basketball tournaments". Greer Today. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  7. ↑ Moran, Danny (April 19, 2017). "NCAA basketball tournaments returning to Portland". OregonLive/The Oregonian. Advance Local Media LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Women's Final Four sites for 2017-20 includes record fourth for New Orleans". NCAA.com. November 17, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ "America East basketball championships canceled". March 12, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Women's Basketball Tournament Cancelled". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Ivy League Cancels Basketball Tournaments, Limits Spectators In All Sporting Events". Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  13. ↑ "2020 Hercules Tires MAAC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships". Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  14. ↑ "MAC Tournament Press Conference: March 12, 2020". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  15. ↑ "2020 NEC Tournament Canceled". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  16. ↑ ""Robbed": Trojans react to championship season cut short - the Tropolitan". March 29, 2020.
  17. ↑ "WAC Official Statement". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
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