2011 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament explained

Gender:	Women's
Year:	2011
Teams:	64
Champions:	Texas A&M Aggies
Titlecount:	1st
Champgamecount:	1st
Champffcount:	1st
Coach:	Gary Blair
Coachcount:	1st
Mop:	Danielle Adams
Mopteam:	Texas A&M
Runnerup:	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Gamecount:	2nd
Runnerffcount:	3rd
Finalfourarena:	Conseco Fieldhouse
Finalfourcity:	Indianapolis, Indiana
Semifinal1:	Connecticut Huskies
Finalfourcount:	12th
Semifinal2:	Stanford Cardinal
Finalfourcount2:	10th

The 2011 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 19, 2011, and concluded on April 5, 2011. The Texas A&M Aggies won the championship, defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 76–70 in the final held at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.^{[1] [2] [3]}

The tournament was also notable for a historic run by Gonzaga that ultimately ended in the final of the Spokane Region. With the help of two games on their home court and a regional held less than two miles away, the #11-seeded Bulldogs became the lowest seed ever to make a regional final in the history of the women's tournament.^[4]

Tournament procedure

Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2011 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 36 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. 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).

The basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus.

The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.

2011 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

There were 64 teams in the tournament, placed in a seeded bracket with four regions. Thirty-two teams received automatic bids – thirty-one of which were their conference tournament champions; the other was for the Ivy League regular-season champion. An additional 32 teams were given at-large bids by the selection committee on the basis of their body of work during the regular season. Unlike the Men's Tournament, there was no "First Four" round.

First and Second rounds (Subregionals)

Subregionals were played from March 19 through March 22.

The following 16 sites were used for first and second-round games:

• The Pit, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Auburn Arena, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
• John Paul Jones Arena, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
• Cintas Center, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Comcast Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland
• St. John Arena, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
• Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
• Thompson-Boling Arena, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
• Jon M. Huntsman Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
• McCarthey Athletic Center, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington
• CenturyTel Center, Bossier City, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana Tech University)
• Maples Pavilion, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
• Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
• Bryce Jordan Center, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
• Ferrell Center, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
• INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas (Host: Wichita State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, which were held from March 26 to March 29, were at these sites:

• Dayton Regional, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio
• Spokane Regional, Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington (Host: Washington State University)
• Dallas Regional, American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (Host Big 12 Conference)
• Philadelphia Regional, Liacouras Center, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

NOTES: 1. Unless noted, all sites are on campus.
2. This marked the first time since the NCAA started pre-determining subregional sites that one city hosted both a sub-regional and regional final as Spokane served as a host city twice in the same tournament.

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and national championship)

• April 3 and 5
  • Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Horizon League and Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis)^[5]

This was the second time that Indianapolis hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament; the prior times were in 2005 as per the NCAA's policy of hosting one of each of the men's and women's Final Four every five years in the home city of the NCAA offices.

Tournament records

• Field goals—Maya Moore attempted 30 field goals in the semifinal against Notre Dame, the most ever attempted in a Final Four game.
• Free throws—Texas A&M completed ten out of ten free throw attempts, tied for the highest percentage free throw shooting by a team in an NCAA Tournament game (minimum-nine attempts).
• Free throws—Marquette completed zero free throws in a game against Texas, tied for the fewest free throws completed in an NCAA Tournament game.
• Field goals—Nicole Griffin, Oklahoma, hit 15 of 19 Field goal attempts, the highest field goal completion percentage for an individual in an NCAA Tournament.

Qualifying teams – automatic

Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA tournament. Tennessee continues its record of being present at every NCAA Tournament since the NCAA began sanctioning women's sports in the 1981–82 school year.

Automatic Bids
		Record
Qualifying School	Conference	Regular Season	Conference	Seed
Arkansas–Little Rock	Sun Belt			12
Baylor	Big 12			1
Bowling Green	MAC			12
	Big West			16
	C-USA			13
Connecticut	Big East			1
Duke	ACC			2
Fresno State	WAC			12
Gardner–Webb	Big South			14
Gonzaga	West Coast			11
Green Bay	Horizon			5
Hampton	MEAC			13
Hartford	America East			16
James Madison	Colonial			11
Marist	MAAC			10
McNeese State	Southland			15
Montana	Big Sky			14
Navy	Patriot			14
Northern Iowa	Missouri Valley			13
Ohio State	Big Ten			4
Prairie View A&M	SWAC			16
Princeton	Ivy			12
Saint Francis (PA)	Northeast			13
Samford	Southern			14
South Dakota State	Summit			15
Stanford	Pac-10			1
Stetson	Atlantic Sun			16
Tennessee	SEC			1
Tennessee–Martin	Ohio Valley			15
Utah	Mountain West			15
Xavier	Atlantic 10			2

Qualifying teams – at-large

Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.

At-large Bids
		Record
Qualifying School	Conference	Regular Season	Conference	Seed
Arizona State	Pac-10			7
Dayton	Atlantic 10			11
DePaul	Big East			3
Florida State	ACC			3
Georgetown	Big East			5
Georgia	SEC			6
Georgia Tech	ACC			5
Houston	C-USA			8
Iowa	Big Ten			6
Iowa State	Big 12			7
Kansas State	Big 12			8
Kentucky	SEC			4
Louisiana Tech	WAC			10
Louisville	Big East			7
Marquette	Big East			8
Maryland	ACC			4
Miami	ACC			3
Michigan State	Big Ten			4
Middle Tennessee	Sun Belt			11
North Carolina	ACC			5
Notre Dame	Big East			2
Oklahoma	Big 12			6
Penn State	Big Ten			6
Purdue	Big Ten			9
Rutgers	Big East			7
St. John's	Big East			9
Temple	Atlantic 10			10
Texas	Big 12			9
Texas A&M	Big 12			2
Texas Tech	Big 12			8
UCLA	Pac-10			3
Vanderbilt	SEC			10
West Virginia	Big East			9

Tournament seeds

valign=top	+Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Connecticut Big East 32–1 Automatic 2 Duke ACC 29–3 Automatic 3 DePaul Big East 27–6 At-large 4 Maryland ACC 23–7 At-large 5 Georgetown Big East 23–8 At-large 6 Penn State Big Ten 24–9 At-large 7 Iowa State Big 12 22–10 At-large 8 Kansas State Big 12 21–10 At-large 9 Purdue Big Ten 20–11 At-large 10 Marist MAAC 30–2 Automatic 11 Dayton Atlantic 10 21–11 At-large 12 Princeton Ivy 24–4 Automatic 13 Saint Francis (PA) Northeast 22–11 Automatic 14 Navy Patriot 20–11 Automatic 15 Tennessee-Martin Ohio Valley 21–10 Automatic 16 Hartford America East 17–15 Automatic	valign=top	+University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Tennessee SEC 31–2 Automatic 2 Notre Dame Big East 26–7 At-large 3 Miami (FL) ACC 27–4 At-large 4 Ohio State Big Ten 22–9 Automatic 5 Georgia Tech ACC 23–10 At-large 6 Oklahoma Big 12 21–11 At-large 7 Arizona State Pac-10 20–10 At-large 8 Marquette Big East 23–8 At-large 9 Texas Big 12 19–13 At-large 10 Temple Atlantic 10 23–8 At-large 11 James Madison CAA 26–7 Automatic 12 Bowling Green MAC 28–4 Automatic 13 UCF Conference USA 22–10 Automatic 14 Gardner-Webb Big South 23–10 Automatic 15 Utah Mountain West 18–16 Automatic 16 Stetson Atlantic Sun 20–12 Automatic
valign=top	+Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Stanford Pac-10 29–2 Automatic 2 Xavier Atlantic 10 28–2 Automatic 3 UCLA Pac-10 27–4 At-large 4 Kentucky SEC 24–8 At-large 5 North Carolina ACC 25–8 At-large 6 Iowa Big Ten 22–8 At-large 7 Louisville Big East 20–12 At-large 8 Texas Tech Big 12 22–10 At-large 9 St. John's Big East 21–10 At-large 10 Vanderbilt SEC 20–11 At-large 11 Gonzaga West Coast 28–4 Automatic 12 Fresno State WAC 25–7 Automatic 13 Hampton MEAC 26–6 Automatic 14 Montana Big Sky 18–14 Automatic 15 South Dakota State Summit 19–13 Automatic 16 UC Davis Big West 24–8 Automatic	valign=top	+American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Baylor Big 12 31–2 Automatic 2 Texas A&M Big 12 27–5 At-large 3 Florida State ACC 23–7 At-large 4 Michigan State Big Ten 26–5 At-large 5 Green Bay Horizon 32–1 Automatic 6 Georgia SEC 21–10 At-large 7 Rutgers Big East 19–12 At-large 8 Houston Conference USA 26–5 At-large 9 West Virginia Big East 23–9 At-large 10 Louisiana Tech WAC 24–7 At-large 11 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt 23–7 At-large 12 Arkansas-Little Rock Sun Belt 23–7 Automatic 13 Northern Iowa Missouri Valley 27–5 Automatic 14 Samford Southern 25–7 Automatic 15 McNeese State Southland 26–6 Automatic 16 Prairie View A&M SWAC 21–11 Automatic

Bids by conference

Thirty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In twenty-one cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-three additional at-large teams were selected from ten of the conferences.

Bids	Conference	Teams
9	Big East	Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Rutgers, St. John's, West Virginia
7	Big 12	Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
6	ACC	Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina
5	Big Ten	Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue
4	SEC	Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
3	Atlantic 10	Xavier, Dayton, Temple
3	Pac-10	Stanford, Arizona State, UCLA
2	C-USA	UCF, Houston
2	Sun Belt	Arkansas–Little Rock, Middle Tennessee
2	WAC	Fresno State, Louisiana Tech
1	America East	Hartford
1	Atlantic Sun	Stetson
1	Big Sky	Montana
1	Big South	Gardner-Webb
1	Big West	UC Davis
1	Colonial	James Madison
1	Horizon	Green Bay
1	Ivy	Princeton
1	MAAC	Marist
1	MAC	Bowling Green
1	MEAC	Hampton
1	Missouri Valley	Northern Iowa
1	Mountain West	Utah
1	Northeast	Saint Francis (PA)
1	Ohio Valley	Tennessee–Martin
1	Patriot	Navy
1	Southern	Samford
1	Southland	McNeese State
1	Summit	South Dakota State
1	SWAC	Prairie View
1	West Coast	Gonzaga

Bids by state

The sixty-four teams came from thirty states, plus Washington, D.C. Texas had the most teams with six bids. Twenty states did not have any teams receiving bids.

Bids	State	Teams
6	Texas	Baylor, Prairie View, Houston, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
4	California	Fresno State, Stanford, UC Davis, UCLA
4	Florida	Stetson, UCF, Florida State, Miami
4	Ohio	Bowling Green, Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton
4	Tennessee	Tennessee, Tennessee–Martin, Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt
3	Iowa	Northern Iowa, Iowa, Iowa State
3	Pennsylvania	Penn State, Saint Francis (PA), Temple
3	North Carolina	Duke, Gardner-Webb, North Carolina
2	Connecticut	Connecticut, Hartford
2	Georgia	Georgia, Georgia Tech
2	Indiana	Notre Dame, Purdue
2	Kentucky	Kentucky, Louisville
2	Louisiana	McNeese State, Louisiana Tech
2	Maryland	Navy, Maryland
2	New Jersey	Princeton, Rutgers
2	New York	Marist, St. John's
2	Virginia	Hampton, James Madison
2	Wisconsin	Green Bay, Marquette
1	Alabama	Samford
1	Arizona	Arizona State
1	Arkansas	Arkansas–Little Rock
1	District of Columbia	Georgetown
1	Illinois	DePaul
1	Kansas	Kansas State
1	Michigan	Michigan State
1	Montana	Montana
1	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
1	South Dakota	South Dakota State
1	Utah	Utah
1	Washington	Gonzaga
1	West Virginia	West Virginia

Brackets

* – Denotes overtime periodUnless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-04)^[6]

Final Four – Indianapolis, Indiana

Record by conference

Conference	of Bids	Record	Win %	Round of 32	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship Game
Big East	9	19–9	.679	9	5	2	2	1
Big 12	7	11–6	.647	3	3	2	1	1
ACC	6	9–6	.600	6	2	1
Big Ten	5	5–5	.500	4	1
SEC	4	6–4	.600	3	2	1
Pac-10	3	5–3	.625	2	1	1	1
Atlantic 10	3	2–3	.400	2
Conference USA	2	0–2	.000
Sun Belt	2	0–2	.000
WAC	2	0–2	.000
Horizon	1	2–1	.500	1	1
West Coast	1	3–1	.750	1	1	1
MAAC	1	1–1	.500	1

Eighteen conferences went 0–1: the America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Ivy League, MEAC, MAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC and the Summit

All-Tournament team

• Danielle Adams, Texas A&M
• Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame
• Maya Moore, Connecticut
• Tyra White, Texas A&M
• Devereaux Peters, Notre Dame

Game officials

• Lisa Jones (semifinal)
• Felicia Grinter (semifinal)
• Denise Brooks (semifinal)
• Lisa Mattingly (semifinal)
• Cameron Inouye (semifinal)
• Susan Blauch (semifinal)
• Dee Kantner (final)
• Tina Napier (final)
• Michael Price (final)

Media coverage

Television

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the first and second round, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN or ESPNU. All other games were aired regionally on ESPN2 and streamed online via ESPN3. Most of the nation got whip-a-round coverage during this time, which allowed ESPN to rotate between the games and focus the nation on the one that was the closest. The regional semifinals were split between ESPN and ESPN2, and ESPN aired the regional finals, national semifinals, and championship match.^[7]

Studio host & analysts

• Trey Wingo (Host)
• Kara Lawson (Analyst)
• Carolyn Peck (Analyst)

Commentary teams

First & Second Rounds Saturday/Monday

• Jon Sciambi and Stephen Bardo – Columbus, OH
• Dave Flemming and Kayte Christensen – Durham, NC
• Dave O'Brien and Debbie Antonelli – Knoxville, TN
• Justin Kutcher and Brenda VanLengen – University Park, PA
• Clay Matvick and Tamika Raymond – Albuquerque, NM
• Holly Rowe and Sean Farnham – Salt Lake City, UT
• Marc Kestecher and Krista Blunk – Spokane, WA
• Dave Pasch and Mary Murphy – Stanford, CA

Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday

• Dave Flemming, Rebecca Lobo, and Todd Harris – Dayton, OH
• Dave Pasch, Debbie Antonelli, and Heather Cox – Spokane, WA

Final Four

• Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – Indianapolis, IN

First & Second Rounds Sunday/Tuesday

• Beth Mowins and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude – Charlottesville, VA
• Bob Wischusen and Brooke Weisbrod – Cincinnati, OH
• Bob Picozzi and Rebecca Lobo – College Park, MD
• Mark Jones and Doris Burke – Storrs, CT
• Cara Capuano and LaChina Robinson – Auburn, AL
• Carter Blackburn and Fran Fraschilla – Shreveport, LA
• Pam Ward and Stephanie White – Waco, TX
• Dan McLaughlin and Abby Waner – Wichita, KS

Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Sunday/Tuesday

• Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, and Holly Rowe – Philadelphia, PA
• Pam Ward, Stephanie White, and Beth Mowins – Dallas, TX

Championship

• Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – Indianapolis, IN

See also

• NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
• 2011 NCAA Women's Division II basketball tournament
• 2011 Women's National Invitation Tournament
• 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational
• 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2011 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2011 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament

External links

• NCAA Division I Women's Basketball

Notes and References

1. News: Mechelle . Voepel. Adams, White lead Texas A&M to title. April 6, 2011. ESPN. April 5, 2011.
2. News: Aditi . Kinkhabwala. Texas A&M Wins Women's Basketball Title. April 6, 2011. The Wall Street Journal. April 6, 2011.
3. News: Mike . Lopresti. As Texas A&M wins first title, fight for parity continues. April 6, 2011. USA Today. April 6, 2011.
4. News: Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga hold off Louisville to earn Elite 8 trip . https://web.archive.org/web/20121106090817/http://espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=310850097 . dead . November 6, 2012 . Associated Press . ESPN . March 26, 2011 . April 22, 2011.
5. Web site: NCAA® unveils 2016 Women's Final Four® logo in Indianapolis. June 20, 2015. NCAA. 20 Jun 2015.
6. https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-women/d1/2011 Women's Basketball Bracket
7. Web site: Margolis. Rachel. March 14, 2011. ESPN Networks to Air All 63 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Games. ESPN. 14 Mar 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20140328094943/http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2011/03/espn-networks-to-air-all-63-ncaa-division-i-women%E2%80%99s-basketball-championship-games/. March 28, 2014. dead.