NCAA Div. I Women's Basketball Tournament: Hampton and Prairie View Destinations Set

SWAC Champions #16 seeded Prairie View faces #1 Connecticut in Storrs; MEAC Champions #12 seeded Hampton plays #5 seeded Michigan State in Chapel Hill

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana  -- Historical milestones weave the way through the 64-team field of competitors for the 2014 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, as announced on Monday by the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.

Highlighting the selections are five programs that are making their first appearance, while two others are celebrating being selected more than 30 times in the 33-year history of the championship.

Earning No. 1 seeds are Connecticut (34-0), Notre Dame (32-0), Tennessee (27-5) and South Carolina (27-4). Tennessee was the Southeastern Conference (SEC) tournament champion, while South Carolina was an at-large selection from the SEC after winning the conference regular-season championship. UConn and Notre Dame each concluded the regular season with unblemished records en route to winning conference regular season and tournament titles in the American Athletic and Atlantic Coast Conferences, respectively. The perfect records mark only the second time in the history of Division I women’s basketball that two teams enter the tournament undefeated. The only other time was in 1998 when both Tennessee and Liberty were undefeated entering tournament play. Tennessee went on to win the national championship with a 39-0 record, while Liberty was eliminated in the first round.

Thirty-two conferences were granted automatic bids for the championship and the remaining 32 teams were selected at-large.

First- and second-round games will be played at 16 sites Saturday, March 22 through Tuesday, March 25, with the 16 second-round winners moving on to the four regional sites. The Lincoln Regional (Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Neb.) and the Notre Dame Regional (Purcell Pavilion, Notre Dame, Ind.) will be played on Saturday, March 29 and Monday, March 31, while the Louisville Regional (KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.) and the Stanford Regional (Maples Pavilion, Stanford, Calif.) will be held Sunday, March 30 and Tuesday, April 1. The four regional winners will advance to the 2014 NCAA Women’s Final Four, April 6 and 8 in Nashville, Tenn. at Bridgestone Arena.

Tennessee continues its appearance streak, participating in all 33 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championships. Second on the all-time appearance list is Georgia, making its 31st overall appearance. Akron, North Dakota, South Dakota, Winthrop and Wright State are all making their first NCAA tournament appearance.

In the history of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, 14 schools have captured the national title. Tennessee and UConn lead the way with eight championships apiece. UConn is the defending national champion after claiming the 2013 title in New Orleans with a 93-60 win against Louisville in the title game, matching Tennessee for the most national championships won by a single school. If it is able to score six more wins in the 2014 championship, UConn would equal Baylor’s record for most wins in a season, with Baylor going 40-0 in 2012.

Interactive Bracket
Printable Bracket
                                  

Automatic Qualifiers

CONFERENCE	SCHOOL	RECORD	APPS.	WON	LOST	LAST APP.
America East	Albany	28-4	2	0	2	2013
American Athletic	Connecticut	34-0	25	91	17	2013
Atlantic Coast	Notre Dame	32-0	20	41	19	2013
Atlantic Sun	Florida Gulf Coast	26-7	1	0	1	2012
Atlantic 10	Fordham	25-7	1	0	1	1994
Big East	DePaul	27-6	18	10	18	2013
Big Sky	North Dakota	22-9	FIRST APPEARANCE
Big South	Winthrop	24-8	FIRST APPEARANCE
Big Ten	Nebraska	25-6	11	7	11	2013
Big 12	Baylor	29-4	12	30	10	2013
Big West	Cal State Northridge	18-14	1	0	1	1999
Colonial	James Madison	28-5	9	7	9	2011
Conference USA	Middle Tennessee	29-4	16	5	16	2013
Horizon	Wright State	26-8	FIRST APPEARANCE
Ivy	Pennsylvania	22-6	2	0	2	2004
Metro Atlantic	Marist	27-6	9	5	9	2013
Mid-American	Akron	23-9	FIRST APPEARANCE
Mid-Eastern	Hampton	28-4	7	0	7	2013
Missouri Valley	Wichita State	26-6	1	0	1	2013
Mountain West	Fresno State	22-10	6	0	6	2013
Northeast	Robert Morris	21-11	2	0	2	2008
Ohio Valley	Tennessee-Martin	24-7	3	0	3	2013
Pac-12	Southern California	22-12	15	29	13	2006
Patriot	Army	25-7	1	0	1	2006
Southeastern	Tennessee	27-5	32	115	24	2013
Southern	Chattanooga	29-3	11	1	11	2013
Southland	Northwestern State	21-12	2	0	2	2004
Southwestern	Prairie View A&M	14-17	5	0	5	2013
Summit	South Dakota	19-13	FIRST APPEARANCE
Sun Belt	Western Kentucky	24-8	16	17	16	2008
West Coast	Gonzaga	29-4	6	8	6	2013
Western Athletic	Idaho	25-8	2	0	2	2013

At-Large Bids
 

SCHOOL	CONFERENCE	RECORD	APP.	WON	LOST	LAST APP.
Arizona State	Pac-12	22-9	11	13	11	2011
BYU	West Coast	26-6	9	3	9	2012
California	Pac-12	21-9	9	9	9	2013
Dayton	Atlantic 10	23-7	4	2	4	2013
Duke	Atlantic Coast	27-6	20	52	20	2013
Florida	Southeastern	19-12	13	11	13	2012
Florida State	Atlantic Coast	20-11	12	13	12	2013
Georgia	Southeastern	20-11	30	55	30	2013
Georgia Tech	Atlantic Coast	20-11	8	5	8	2012
Iowa	Big Ten	26-8	22	18	22	2013
Iowa State	Big 12	20-10	14	17	14	2013
Kentucky	Southeastern	24-8	10	15	10	2013
LSU	Southeastern	19-12	22	41	22	2013
Louisville	American Athletic	30-4	16	19	16	2013
Maryland	Atlantic Coast	24-6	21	33	20	2013
Michigan State	Big Ten	22-9	13	16	13	2013
North Carolina	Atlantic Coast	24-9	24	42	23	2013
NC State	Atlantic Coast	25-7	21	19	21	2010
Oklahoma	Big 12	18-14	16	30	16	2013
Oklahoma State	Big 12	23-8	11	8	11	2013
Oregon State	Pac-12	23-10	5	2	5	1996
Penn State	Big Ten	22-7	24	30	24	2013
Purdue	Big Ten	21-8	23	45	22	2013
St. John’s (N.Y.)	Big East	22-10	8	6	8	2013
Saint Joseph’s	Atlantic 10	22-9	12	6	12	2013
South Carolina	Southeastern	27-4	10	11	10	2013
Stanford	Pac-12	29-3	27	71	25	2013
Syracuse	Atlantic Coast	22-9	5	0	5	2013
Texas	Big 12	21-11	26	32	25	2012
Texas A&M	Southeastern	24-8	10	18	9	2013
Vanderbilt	Southeastern	18-12	26	39	26	2013
West Virginia	Big 12	29-4	9	7	9	2013

NCAA RELEASE