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2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 40th edition of the tournament began on March 16, 2022, and concluded with the championship game on April 3 at Target Center in Minneapolis, where the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the UConn Huskies 64–49 to win their second NCAA title, and handing UConn its first loss in the championship game. This tournament marked the introduction of the "First Four" round and an expansion of the field of participants from 64 teams to 68, mirroring the men's tournament since 2011.

Big South champion Longwood, Horizon champion IUPUI and Southland champion Incarnate Word made their tournament debuts. Tennessee continued its record streak of making every edition of the tournament, while UConn extended its record streak of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances.

Tournament procedure

For the first time, the women's tournament was expanded from 64 to 68 teams, adopting the format that has been used by the men<nowiki>'</nowiki>s tournament since 2011; these teams consisted of the 32 conference champions, and 36 "at-large" bids that were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The last four at-large teams and the teams seeded 65 through 68 overall competed in First Four games, whose winners advanced to the 64-team first round.

The top four teams outside of the ranking (commonly known as the "first four out") were designated as standbys in the event a school was forced to withdraw before the start of the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. Once the tournament began, teams that withdrew would not be replaced, and the affected team's opponent would automatically advance to the next round by walkover.

2022 NCAA tournament schedule and venues

After the 2020 tournament was cancelled and the 2021 tournament was held in a single location due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reverted to the standard format for the first time since 2019.

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

First Four

  • March 16 and 17
  • Four of the campuses seeded in the Top 16.

Subregionals (first and second rounds)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

National semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

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

Automatic qualifiers

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

Bids by state

<noinclude>

<span id="RegionSeeds"> Tournament seeds (list by region)</span>

<section begin="RegionSeeds" />

<nowiki>*</nowiki>See First Four <section end="RegionSeeds" />

Tournament records

  • Rebounds—South Carolina recorded 294 rebounds, the most ever recorded by a single team in an NCAA Tournament.

Tournament bracket

All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time ()<br> <nowiki>*</nowiki> – Denotes overtime period

First Four

Greensboro regional – Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro regional final

Greensboro regional All Tournament team

Wichita regional – Wichita, Kansas

Wichita regional final

Wichita regional All Tournament team

Spokane regional – Spokane, Washington

Spokane regional final

Spokane regional All Tournament team

Bridgeport regional – Bridgeport, Connecticut

Bridgeport regional final

Bridgeport regional All Tournament team

Final Four – Minneapolis, Minnesota

National semifinals

National championship

Final Four all-tournament team

Record by conference

  • The FF, R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the first four, round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.

Game summaries and tournament notes

Upsets

Greensboro

Wichita

Spokane

Bridgeport

Media coverage

Television

ESPN served as the exclusive broadcaster of the tournament, with all games airing on either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, or ABC. ESPN offered Megacast coverage for the Women's Final Four and championship game, including The Bird & Taurasi Show on ESPN2 (hosted by Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, with similarities to ESPN's Monday Night Football with Payton and Eli), along with a feed featuring enhanced statistics and augmented reality graphics using player and ball tracking, and "Beyond the Rim" and "On the Rail" camera options on ESPN+.

Studio host and analysts

  • Elle Duncan (Host) (First Four, First, Second rounds, Regionals, Final Four, and National championship game)
  • Kelsey Riggs (Host) (First Four, First, and Second rounds)
  • Rebecca Lobo (Analyst) (First Four, First, Second rounds, Final Four, and National championship game)
  • Andraya Carter (Analyst) (First Four, First, and Second rounds)
  • Nikki Fargas (Analyst) (First Four, First, Second rounds, Regionals, Final Four, and National championship game)
  • Monica McNutt (Analyst) (First Four, First, Second rounds, and Regionals)
  • Carolyn Peck (Analyst) (Final Four and National championship game)

Broadcast assignments

First Four

First & second rounds Friday/Sunday (Subregionals)

First & second rounds Saturday/Monday (Subregionals)

Regionals (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight)

  • Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe, and Andraya Carter – Bridgeport, Connecticut
  • Beth Mowins, Debbie Antonelli, and Angel Gray – Spokane, Washington
  • Courtney Lyle, Carolyn Peck, and Steffi Sorensen – Greensboro, North Carolina
  • Pam Ward, Stephanie White, and Christy Winters-Scott – Wichita, Kansas

Final Four and National Championship

  • Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe, and Andraya Carter – Minneapolis, Minnesota

Radio

Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament.

Regionals

Final Four and Championship

See also

References

External links