 | |||||
| Season | 2019–20 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 64 (planned) | ||||
| Finals site | Smoothie King Center, New Orleans,Louisiana | ||||
| Canceled due toCOVID-19 pandemic | |||||
| |||||
The2020 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 the2019–20 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Final Four was planned to be played at theSmoothie King Center inNew Orleans,Louisiana, with theUniversity of New Orleans,Tulane University and theSun 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 theUniversity 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 theCOVID-19 pandemic.[2] It was the first time the tournament had been canceled since its creation in1982.
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 theirconference'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[citation needed]. 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).
Theselection committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.
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)
On March 11, 2020, the NCAA announced that both men's and women's NCAA Tournaments would take place without fans due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[9] This was followed up, on March 12, by an announcement cancelling the tournaments.[2]
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.
| 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 |
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.