2024 NCAA Division I
women's basketball tournament

Season	2023–24
Teams	68
Finals site	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio
Champions	South Carolina Gamecocks (3rd title, 3rd title game, 6th Final Four)
Runner-up	Iowa Hawkeyes (2nd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists	NC State Wolfpack (2nd Final Four) UConn Huskies (23rd Final Four)
Winning coach	Dawn Staley (3rd title)
MOP	Kamilla Cardoso (South Carolina)
NCAA Division I women's tournaments «2023 2025»

The2024 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was a 68-teamsingle-elimination tournament to determine theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Division Icollege basketball national champion for the2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 42nd edition of thetournament began on March 20, 2024, and concluded with thechampionship game on April 7, 2024 atRocket Mortgage FieldHouse inCleveland, Ohio.

Big South championPresbyterian,Southland championTexas A&M–Corpus Christi,WAC championCalifornia Baptist and at-large bidColumbia all made their NCAA tournament debuts. Additionally,Big Sky championEastern Washington made its second-ever appearance and first since 1987,Big West championUC Irvine made its first appearance since 1995 andSun Belt championMarshall made its first appearance since 1997. In the championship game, Iowa returned for their second straight appearance while South Carolina entered their third championship game in seven years and became the tenth team in Division I women's tournament history to finish an undefeated season at 38–0.

This was the first time where the top #1 seed won both the Men's & Women's NCAA Tournament since 2012.

A total of 68 teams participated in the 2024 tournament, consisting of the 32conference champions, and 36 "at-large" bids that were determined by the NCAA Selection Committee. The last four at-large teams and teams seeded 65 through 68 overall competed inFirst Four games, whose winners advanced to the 64-team first round.^[1]

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

First Four

• March 20–21
• Four of the campuses seeded in the Top 16

Subregionals (First and Second Rounds)

• March 22 and 24 (Fri/Sun)
  • Colonial Life Arena,Columbia, South Carolina (Host:University of South Carolina)
  • Gill Coliseum,Corvallis, Oregon (Host:Oregon State University)
  • Moody Center,Austin, Texas (Host:University of Texas at Austin)
  • Maples Pavilion,Stanford, California (Host:Stanford University)
  • Bramlage Coliseum,Manhattan, Kansas (Host:Kansas State University)
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center,Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host:Louisiana State University)
  • Cassell Coliseum,Blacksburg, Virginia (Host:Virginia Tech)
  • Value City Arena,Columbus, Ohio (Host:Ohio State University)
• March 23 and 25 (Sat/Mon)
  • Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall,Bloomington, Indiana (Host:Indiana University)
  • Purcell Pavilion,Notre Dame, Indiana (Host:University of Notre Dame)
  • McCarthey Athletic Center,Spokane, Washington (Host:Gonzaga University)
  • Reynolds Coliseum,Raleigh, North Carolina (Host:North Carolina State University)
  • Carver–Hawkeye Arena,Iowa City, Iowa (Host:University of Iowa)
  • Pauley Pavilion,Los Angeles, California (Host:University of California, Los Angeles)
  • Galen Center,Los Angeles, California (Host:University of Southern California)
  • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion,Storrs, Connecticut (Host:University of Connecticut)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 29 – April 1
  • Albany Regional,MVP Arena,Albany, New York (Hosts: TheMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference andSiena College)
  • Portland Regional,Moda Center,Portland, Oregon (Host:Oregon State University)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

• April 5 and April 7
  • Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse,Cleveland, Ohio (Hosts:Cleveland State University and theMid-American Conference)

Cleveland hosted the women's Final Four for the second time; the first was in2007.^[2]

The following teams automatically qualified for the 2024 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.^[a]

The sixty-eight teams came from thirty-four states.

Richmond

Notre Dame

Presbyterian

Iowa

UT Martin

USC

South Carolina

Chattanooga

Marshall

UConn

Green Bay

Portland

South Dakota State

Texas

Eastern Washington

Rice

UNLV

Texas A&M–Corpus Christi

Sacred Heart

Maine

Kent State

California Baptist

Fairfield

Norfolk State

Princeton

Jackson State

Middle Tennessee

UC Irvine

Florida Gulf Coast

Stanford

LSU

UCLA

Ohio State

Oregon State

NC State

Virginia Tech

Gonzaga

Oklahoma

Indiana

Utah

Kansas State

Colorado

Syracuse

West Virginia

Duke

Baylor

Louisville

North Carolina

Tennessee

Ole Miss

Creighton

Nebraska

Kansas

Florida State

Alabama

Michigan State

Iowa State

Texas A&M

Marquette

Holy Cross

Drake

Drexel

Maryland

Michigan

Vanderbilt

Columbia

Auburn

Arizona

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Participating teams in the 2024 tournament.

Thirty-two conferences earned an automatic bid. In nineteen cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-six additional at-large teams were selected from twelve of the conferences.

The tournament seeds and regions were determined through theNCAA basketball tournament selection process and were published by the selection committee after the brackets were released on March 17.

*SeeFirst Four
Source:

All times are listed inEastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

TheFirst Four games involve eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.

• Kamilla Cardoso (MOP) –South Carolina
• Raven Johnson – South Carolina
• Raegan Beers –Oregon State
• Timea Gardiner – Oregon State
• Sydney Parrish –Indiana

• Aziaha James (MOP) –NC State
• Saniya Rivers – NC State
• Aaliyah Moore –Texas
• Shay Holle – Texas
• Kiki Iriafen –Stanford

• Caitlin Clark (MOP) –Iowa
• Lauren Betts –UCLA
• Angel Reese –LSU
• Flau'jae Johnson – LSU
• Sydney Affolter – Iowa

• Paige Bueckers (MOP) –UConn
• Rayah Marshall –USC
• McKenzie Forbes – USC
• JuJu Watkins – USC
• Aaliyah Edwards – UConn

• Kamilla Cardoso (MOP) –South Carolina
• Tessa Johnson –South Carolina
• Caitlin Clark –Iowa
• Hannah Stuelke –Iowa
• Paige Bueckers –UConn

• 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.

Per the NCAA, an upset occurs "when the losing team in an NCAA tournament game was seeded at least five seed lines better than the winning team."^[3]

(#) Tournament seedings and region in parentheses.

The Albany 2 regional final between Iowa and LSU, a rematch of the previous year'snational championship game drew the largest audience ever for a women's college basketball game as well as the most watched college basketball game in the 45-year history ofESPN.^[4] The record would last only a few days, as Iowa's national semifinal match with Connecticut averaged the most viewers for a basketball game at any level on ESPN.^{[5][failed verification]} The Championship game again broke this record, with it becoming the most watched basketball game (including the NBA) since 2019 and the most watched basketball game to air outside of prime-time since theFab Five played in the men's Final Four in 1992.^[6]

ESPN broadcast each game of the tournament across eitherESPN,ESPN2,ESPNU,ESPNEWS, orABC. For the second consecutive season, the national championship game aired on ABC.^[10][11]

ESPN'sThe Pat McAfee Show broadcast live from Iowa City for theIowa Hawkeyes' first-round game.^[12] ESPN providedMegacast coverage during the Final Four and national championship games, with theBird & Taurasi Show alternate broadcast withSue Bird andDiana Taurasi returning on ESPN2 and ESPN during the Final Four and national championship respectively, and the "Beyond the Rim" (additional statistics) and rail cam feeds available onESPN+.^[13]

• Elle Duncan (host) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)
• Kelsey Riggs (host) (first/second rounds)
• Rebecca Lobo (analyst) (first four, and first/second rounds)
• Andraya Carter (analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
• Chiney Ogwumike (analyst) (first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
• Carolyn Peck (analyst) (Final Four and national championship)
• Nikki Fargas (analyst) (first/second rounds)
• Aliyah Boston (analyst) (Final Four and national championship)
• Lisa Mattingly (rules analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)
• Denny Meyer (rules analyst) (Final Four and national championship)

Westwood One will serve as radio broadcaster of the tournament.

Regionals (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight)

• Sam Neidermann and Isis Young – Albany, New York 1
• Troy Clardy andDebbie Antonelli – Portland, Oregon 4
• Lance Medow and Kim Adams – Albany, New York 2
• Matt Chazanow andKrista Blunk – Portland, Oregon 3

Final Four and National Championship

• Ryan Radtke, Debbie Antonelli, andRos Gold-Onwude – Cleveland, Ohio

On March 21st, theUtah Utes team and staff were arriving at a local restaurant inCoeur d'Alene, the location of their hotel, when they were jeered at and calledracial slurs by locals.^[17] The team was relocated to Spokane for the remainder of their games.

• 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2024 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 2024 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 2024 NAIA women's basketball tournament

• NCAA Women's Basketball Division I

• NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• Basketball competitions in Cleveland
• 2024 in Cleveland
• 2024 in sports in Ohio
• Women's sports in Cleveland

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2025
• All articles with failed verification
• Articles with failed verification from April 2024