| Gender: | Women's |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Teams: | 64 |
| Finalfourarena: | Charlotte Coliseum |
| Finalfourcity: | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Champions: | Tennessee Volunteers |
| Titlecount: | 4th |
| Champgamecount: | 6th |
| Champffcount: | 9th |
| Runnerup: | Georgia Bulldogs |
| Gamecount: | 2nd |
| Runnerffcount: | 4th |
| Semifinal1: | Connecticut Huskies |
| Finalfourcount: | 3rd |
| Semifinal2: | Stanford Cardinal |
| Finalfourcount2: | 5th |
| Coach: | Pat Summitt |
| Coachcount: | 4th |
| Mop: | Michelle Marciniak |
| Mopteam: | Tennessee |
The 1996 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament took place March 15–31, 1996. The Final Four consisted of Connecticut, Georgia, Stanford, and Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Georgia 83–65 in the championship game.[1]
Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid.
Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.
Thirty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In seventeen cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-three additional at-large teams were selected from fourteen of the conferences.
| Bids | Conference | Teams | |
| 7 | Southeastern | Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt | |
| 6 | Big Ten | Penn St., Iowa, Michigan St., Ohio St., Purdue, Wisconsin | |
| 4 | Atlantic Coast | Clemson, Duke, North Carolina St., Virginia | |
| 4 | Big Eight | Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma St. | |
| 4 | Conference USA | Memphis, DePaul, Southern Miss., Tulane | |
| 4 | Southwest | Texas A&M, SMU, Texas, Texas Tech | |
| 3 | Atlantic 10 | George Washington, Massachusetts, Rhode Island | |
| 3 | Pacific-10 | Stanford, Oregon, Oregon St. | |
| 2 | Big East | Connecticut, Notre Dame | |
| 2 | Colonial | Old Dominion, James Madison | |
| 2 | Mid-American | Toledo, Kent St. | |
| 2 | Ohio Valley | Austin Peay, Middle Tenn. | |
| 2 | West Coast | San Francisco, Portland | |
| 2 | Western Athletic | Colorado St., Utah | |
| 1 | Big Sky | Montana | |
| 1 | Big South | Radford | |
| 1 | Big West | Hawaii | |
| 1 | Ivy | Harvard | |
| 1 | Metro Atlantic | Manhattan | |
| 1 | Mid-Continent | Youngstown St. | |
| 1 | Mid-Eastern | Howard | |
| 1 | Midwestern Collegiate | Butler | |
| 1 | Missouri Valley | Missouri St. | |
| 1 | North Atlantic | Maine | |
| 1 | Northeast | St. Francis (PA) | |
| 1 | Patriot | Holy Cross | |
| 1 | Southern | Appalachian St. | |
| 1 | Southland | Stephen F. Austin | |
| 1 | Southwestern | Grambling State | |
| 1 | Sun Belt | Louisiana Tech | |
| 1 | Trans-America | UCF |
In 1996, the field remained at 64 teams. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-16 in each region. In Round 1, seeds 1 and 16 faced each other, as well as seeds 2 and 15, seeds 3 and 14, seeds 4 and 13, seeds 5 and 12, seeds 6 and 11, seeds 7 and 10, and seeds 8 and 9. In the first two rounds, the top four seeds were given the opportunity to host the first-round game. In all cases, the higher seed accepted the opportunity.
The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the sixteen first and second round locations:
The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 23 to March 25 at these sites:
Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four held March 29 and March 31 in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Charlotte Coliseum, (co-hosted by Davidson College and UNC Charlotte).
The sixty-four teams came from thirty-two states, plus Washington, D.C. Texas and Tennessee had the most teams with five bids. Eighteen states did not have any teams receiving bids.
| Bids | State | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Tennessee | Austin Peay, Memphis, Tennessee, Middle Tenn., Vanderbilt | |
| 5 | Texas | Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, SMU, Texas, Texas Tech | |
| 4 | Ohio | Toledo, Youngstown St., Kent St., Ohio St. | |
| 4 | Virginia | Old Dominion, Radford, James Madison, Virginia | |
| 3 | Indiana | Butler, Notre Dame, Purdue | |
| 3 | Louisiana | Grambling State, Louisiana Tech, Tulane | |
| 3 | Massachusetts | Harvard, Holy Cross, Massachusetts | |
| 3 | North Carolina | Appalachian St., Duke, North Carolina St. | |
| 3 | Oregon | Oregon, Oregon St., Portland | |
| 2 | Alabama | Alabama, Auburn | |
| 2 | California | San Francisco, Stanford | |
| 2 | Colorado | Colorado, Colorado St. | |
| 2 | District of Columbia | George Washington, Howard | |
| 2 | Florida | UCF, Florida | |
| 2 | Mississippi | Ole Miss, Southern Miss. | |
| 1 | New York | Manhattan | |
| 1 | Connecticut | Connecticut | |
| 1 | Georgia | Georgia | |
| 1 | Hawaii | Hawaii | |
| 1 | Illinois | DePaul | |
| 1 | Iowa | Iowa | |
| 1 | Kansas | Kansas | |
| 1 | Maine | Maine | |
| 1 | Michigan | Michigan St. | |
| 1 | Missouri | Missouri St. | |
| 1 | Montana | Montana | |
| 1 | Nebraska | Nebraska | |
| 1 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma St. | |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | Penn St., St Francis | |
| 1 | Rhode Island | Rhode Island | |
| 1 | South Carolina | Clemson | |
| 1 | Utah | Utah | |
| 1 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin |
Sixteen conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play:
| Conference |
| Record | Win % | Round of 32 | Sweet Sixteen | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship Game | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeastern | 7 | .760 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Big Ten | 6 | .538 | 5 | 2 | – | – | – | ||
| Atlantic Coast | 4 | .600 | 4 | 1 | 1 | – | – | ||
| Big Eight | 4 | .500 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | ||
| Southwest | 4 | .429 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | ||
| Conference USA | 4 | .333 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||
| Pacific-10 | 3 | .571 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | ||
| Atlantic 10 | 3 | .250 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||
| Big East | 2 | .714 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | ||
| Colonial | 2 | .500 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | ||
| Mid-American | 2 | .500 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||
| West Coast | 2 | .500 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | ||
| Western Athletic | 2 | .333 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||
| Ohio Valley | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Sun Belt | 1 | .750 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | ||
| Southland | 1 | .667 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – |
This was the first year the NCAA used three officials in tournament games, which was the standard for men's games since the 1978-79 season. Several conferences, including the SEC, assigned three officials to its regular season and conference tournament games for several seasons before the NCAA changed its rules.