2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	Connecticut
Regular season	November 10, 2017 – March 2, 2018
NCAA Tournament	2018
Tournament dates	March 23, 2018 – April 1, 2018
National Championship	Nationwide Arena Columbus, Ohio
NCAA Champions	Notre Dame
Other champions	Indiana (WNIT) Yale (WBI)
Player of the Year (Naismith,Wooden)	A'ja Wilson,South Carolina
←2016–17 2018–19 →

The2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began on November 10, 2017 and ended with theFinal Fourtitle game atNationwide Arena inColumbus, Ohio on April 1, 2018. Practices officially began in September 29, 2017.

• November 13 and 16 – Chastadie Barrs ofLamar recordedtriple-doubles in consecutive games, making her the eighth Division I women's player to do so. First, she recorded 14 points, 10 assists and 10 steals in a 93–62 win overDivision IIILouisiana College. Barrs fell one rebound short of aquadruple-double in this game.^[1] She then recorded 24 points, 10 rebounds and 11 steals in the Cardinals' 92–49 blowout ofNAIA schoolSouthwestern Assemblies of God.^[2]
• November 13 and 17 – On the night after Barrs recorded her second straight triple-double,Sabrina Ionescu ofOregon matched the feat, becoming the ninth Division I women's player to do so. In the preseasonWNIT, Ionescu recorded 29 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in Oregon's quarterfinal againstDrake, followed by 16 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds againstTexas A&M in the semifinals. This gave the sophomore six triple-doubles in her career, one shy of what was then the Division I women's record of seven.^[3]
• November 25 –Kelsey Mitchell ofOhio State became the all-time Division I women's leader in madethree-pointers. Mitchell's seven three-pointers in theBuckeyes' 104–62 romp overFlorida Gulf Coast gave her 402 for her career, surpassing the previous record of 398 byConnecticut'sKaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.^[4]
• December 17 – Ionescu recorded her seventh career triple-double, tying the NCAA women's all-divisions record then held bySuzie McConnell-Serio (Penn State) and Louella Tomlinson (Saint Mary's). She had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists in the Ducks' 90–46 blowout ofOle Miss.^[5]
• December 19 – Two coaches recorded their 1,000th career wins. First,North Carolina'sSylvia Hatchell reached the milestone when theTar Heels defeatedGrambling State 79–63. Later in the evening,Geno Auriemma reached the milestone whenUConn defeatedOklahoma 88–64. Auriemma became the fastest coach in either men's or women's Division I history to reach 1,000 wins, doing so in his 33rd season and 1,135th game.^[6]
• December 31 – Ionescu took sole possession of the record for career triple-doubles with 24 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in the Ducks' 94–83 win overWashington.^[7] This game was also the 500th career win for Ducks head coachKelly Graves.^[8]
• January 3 –Grambling State'sShakyla Hill became the first player in Division I basketball to record a quadruple-double sinceLester Hudson in2007, and the first to do so in D-I women's play since 1993. She had 15 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in the Lady Tigers' 93–71 win over Alabama State.^[9]
• January 7 –Mercer's KeKe Calloway hit 12 three-pointers in the Bears' 86–64 win at Furman, tying a Division I women's single-game record.^[10]
• January 13 – Mitchell became the 13th Division I women's player with3,000 career points, reaching the milestone with her first two points in the Buckeyes' 77–62 win atIndiana.^[11]
• January 27 – Mitchell became the all-time scoring leader in theBig Ten Conference, surpassingRachel Banham ofMinnesota during the Buckeyes' 78–62 win overMichigan State.^[12]
• February 1 –Chattanooga'sJim Foster became the eighth NCAA women's coach and the seventh in Division I with 900 career wins, reaching the mark with a 58–41 win overWestern Carolina.^[13]
• February 3 – In a more ignominious milestone, Chicago State set a new Division I women's record with its 59th consecutive loss, reaching the mark with a 59–43 home loss to Grand Canyon.^[14]
• February 17 – Oregon's Ruthy Hebard set a new Division I women's record for consecutive field goals made, going 12-for-12 in the Ducks' 80–74 double-overtime win overUSC to finish the game with an ongoing streak of 30. The previous record of 28 was set in 1998 bySouthern Utah's Myndee Kay Larsen.^[15]
• February 19 – Hebard made her first three basket attempts in Oregon's 101–94 overtime win overUCLA, ending with a streak of 33 consecutive field goals, the NCAA Division I record for a player of either sex. She had entered the game even withYale's Brandon Sherrod, who had a streak of 30 in 2016.^[16]
• March 16 – Ionescu recorded her sixth triple-double of the season in Oregon's 88–45 first-round NCAA tournament win overSeattle with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. This matched the single-season Division I triple-double record, previously accomplished by Danielle Carson ofYoungstown State in 1985–86,^[17] and also in men's play byBYU'sKyle Collinsworth in both 2014–15 and 2015–16.^[18] It was also the 16th triple-double in Division I women's tournament history, and the first sinceIowa'sSamantha Logic in2015.^[17]
• March 17 – UConn crushedSaint Francis (PA) 140–52 in the first round of the NCAA tournament, setting a new scoring record for a Division I women's tournament game. The only team to score more points in a Division I tournament game was theLoyola Marymount men, who scored 149 in a1990 game againstMichigan.^[19]

Three schools joined new conferences for the 2017–18 season.

In addition to the schools changing conferences, the 2017–18 season was the last for four schools in their then-current conferences:

• North Dakota left theBig Sky Conference for the Summit League.^[23]
• Hampton^[24] andUSC Upstate,^[25] respectively, left theMid-Eastern Athletic Conference andAtlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) to become members of theBig South Conference.
• Liberty left the Big South to join the ASUN.^[26]

• DePaul played its first season atWintrust Arena, which replacedMcGrath–Phillips Arena (though the DePaul women's volleyball team continues to use the older venue).
• NJIT played its first season at theWellness and Events Center, replacingFleisher Center.
• UMBC began the season at theRetriever Activities Center, the team's home since 1973, but the school opened the newUMBC Event Center in February 2018. The new facility opened on February 3 with the UMBC men hosting Vermont;^[27] the women's first game there was on February 8 against Binghamton.^[28]
• Wofford played its first season atJerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, replacingBenjamin Johnson Arena.

• Elon played its final season atAlumni Gym, which opened in 1950 for the Elon men's team and had housed the women's team since its first season of 1971–72. The school opened the newSchar Center, with more than three times the capacity of Alumni Gym, for the 2018 women's volleyball season (which precedes the basketball season).^[29]

Four Division I women's teams played the 2017–18 season in temporary homes due to renovation of their current venues. A fifth played in a temporary home following the demolition of its previous venue to accommodate a new arena.

• Cincinnati, which normally plays at the on-campusFifth Third Arena, played most of its home games at the gymnasium of nearby Catholic girls' schoolSt. Ursula Academy, also taking some games to the nearby campus of local community collegeCincinnati State College.^[30]
• Houston renovated Hofheinz Pavilion, which was renamedFertitta Center upon its reopening. The renovated venue was expected to open by the start of the 2018–19 season, but construction delays pushed back the reopening to December 2018.^[31] The Cougars played atTexas Southern'sHealth and Physical Education Arena,^[32] and continued to play there until Fertitta Center reopened.
• Northwestern played at Beardsley Gym on the campus ofEvanston Township High School whileWelsh–Ryan Arena was being renovated.^[33]
• Robert Morris closed theCharles L. Sewall Center, home to the Colonials since 1985, in June 2017. TheUPMC Events Center, under construction at the Sewall Center site, was scheduled to open in the middle of the 2018–19 basketball season.^[34] Until that time, the Colonials played home games at the Student Recreation and Fitness Center, which opened in September 2017 at the university'sNorth Athletic Complex as part of the UPMC Events Center project.^[35] (Later construction delays pushed back the opening of the UPMC Events Center to the 2019–20 season.^[36])
• Villanova played at its former on-campus home ofJake Nevin Field House during renovations to its normal home of The Pavilion, which was renamedFinneran Pavilion when it reopened for 2018–19.^[37]

The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches polls

For this list, an "upset" is defined as a win by a team seeded 7 or more spots below its defeated opponent.

Each of the 32 Division Iathletic conferences ends itsregular season with asingle-elimination tournament. The team with the best regular-season record in each conference is given the number one seed in each tournament, with tiebreakers used as needed in the case of ties for the top seeding. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

The NCAA has never recognized a consensus All-America team in women's basketball. This differs from the practice in men's basketball, in which the NCAA uses a combination of selections by theAssociated Press (AP), theNational Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), theSporting News and theUnited States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) to determine a consensus All-America team. The selection of a consensus team is possible because all four organizations select at least a first and second team, with only the USBWA not selecting a third team.

Of the major selectors in women's basketball, the AP and USBWA divide their selections into separate teams, but the 2017–18 season was the first in which the USBWA did so. The women's counterpart to the NABC, theWomen's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), continues the USBWA's former practice of selecting a single 10-member (plus ties) team. The NCAA does not recognizeSporting News as an All-America selector in women's basketball.

• Wooden Award:A'ja Wilson,South Carolina^[74]
• Naismith Award: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina^[75]
• Associated Press Player of the Year: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina^[76]
• Wade Trophy: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina^[77]
• Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's Player of the Year (USBWA): A'ja Wilson, South Carolina^[78]
• espnW National Player of the Year: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina^[79]

• USBWA National Freshman of the Year: Chennedy Carter,Texas A&M^[80]
• WBCA Freshman of the Year: Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M^[81]
• espnW Freshman of the Year: Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M^[79]

• Associated Press Coach of the Year:Muffet McGraw,Notre Dame^[82]
• Naismith College Coach of the Year:Vic Schaefer,Mississippi State^[83]
• WBCA National Coach of the Year: Vic Schaefer, Mississippi State^[84]
• espnW Coach of the Year: Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame^[79]

• Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard):Sabrina Ionescu,Oregon^[85]
• Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (top shooting guard; inaugural award):Victoria Vivians,Mississippi State^[85]
• Cheryl Miller Award (top small forward; inaugural award):Gabby Williams,Connecticut^[85]
• Katrina McClain Award (top power forward; inaugural award):Ruthy Hebard, Oregon^[85]
• Lisa Leslie Award (top center; inaugural award):A'ja Wilson,South Carolina^[85]
• WBCA Defensive Player of the Year:Kia Nurse, Connecticut^[86]
• Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year (inaugural award):Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State^[87]
• Senior CLASS Award: Gabby Williams, Connecticut^[88]
• Maggie Dixon Award (top rookie head coach):Bart Brooks,Belmont^[89]
• Academic All-American of the Year (top scholar-athlete): Cherise Beynon,New Mexico^[90]
• Elite 90 Award (top GPA among upperclass players at Final Four): Jordan Danberry, Mississippi State
• Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award: Avery Marz,Saint Joseph's player^[91]