2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was played in March and April 2014, with the Final Four played April 6–8.^[1] The Ohio Valley Conference served as the host institution.^[2] The Final Four was played at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.^[3][4][5]

2014 NCAA Division I
women's basketball tournament

Season	2013–14
Teams	64
Finals site	Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Champions	UConn Huskies (9th title, 9th title game, 15th Final Four)
Runner-up	Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4th title game, 6th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Stanford Cardinal (12th Final Four) Maryland Terrapins (4th Final Four)
Winning coach	Geno Auriemma (9th title)
MOP	Breanna Stewart (UConn)
NCAA Division I women's tournaments «2013 2015»

Tennessee continued its streak of making every NCAA women's basketball tournament at 33 consecutive appearances. Connecticut (who made their seventh consecutive Final Four overall) and Notre Dame faced each other in the NCAA Final. Both were undefeated heading into the championship game, making it the first ever match up of two undefeated teams in the championship game. Connecticut prevailed, 79–58, to win their ninth national championship.

The previous day, Connecticut also won the men's tournament. It was just the second time in NCAA history the same school had won both the men's and women's tournament; UConn first accomplished that feat in 2004.^[6]

Tournament procedure

Further information: NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament § Current tournament format

Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2014 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.^{[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).

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.

2014 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—31 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)

The subregionals were played from March 22 to March 25, 2014.^[7] Sites chosen to host first- and second-round games in 2014 were:

Ames

Baton Rouge

Chapel Hill

College Park

College Station

Durham

Iowa City

Knoxville

Lexington

Los Angeles

Seattle

Storrs

Toledo

University Park

Waco

West Lafayette

2014 NCAA subregionals (hover over city to see link to host)

• March 22 and 24
  • Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa (Host: Iowa State)
  • Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina (Host: Duke)
  • Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: Tennessee)
  • Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: Kentucky)
  • Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles (Host: UCLA)
  • Savage Arena, Toledo, Ohio (Host: Toledo)
  • Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor)
  • Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana (Host: Purdue)
• March 23 and 25
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: LSU)
  • Carmichael Arena, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina)
  • Comcast Center, College Park, Maryland (Host: Maryland)
  • Reed Arena, College Station, Texas (Host: Texas A&M)
  • Carver–Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: Iowa)
  • Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle (Host: Washington)
  • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: Connecticut)
  • Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pennsylvania (Host: Penn State)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

Lincoln

Louisville

Notre Dame

Stanford

Nashville

2014 NCAA Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red) (Hover over city to see link to arena)

The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, were held from March 29 to April 1 at the following sites:^[8][9]

• March 29 and 31
  • Lincoln Regional, Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska (Host: Nebraska)
  • South Bend Regional, Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Indiana (Host: Notre Dame)
• March 30 and April 1
  • Louisville Regional, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: Louisville)
  • Stanford Regional, Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and national championship)

• April 6 & 8
  • Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee (Hosts: Southeastern Conference/Ohio Valley Conference and Belmont University/Vanderbilt University)^[5]

It was the first time that Nashville had hosted a women's Final Four basketball tournament.^[10]

Tournament records

• Team rebound margin – Notre Dame out rebounded Maryland 50 to 21; the margin of 29 is the widest margin in Final Four history
• Assists – Connecticut recorded 25 assists in the championship game against Notre Dame, the most ever recorded in a Final Four game since the NCAA began recording assists in 1985.^[11]
• Oklahoma scored 66 points in the second half of a first-round game against DePaul, the most points scored in a half of an NCAA tournament game, but lost to DePaul 104–100.^[12]

Automatic qualifiers

Further information: 2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament qualifying teams

The following teams earned automatic qualifiers for the 2014 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion receives the automatic bid):

Conference	Team	Appearances	Last bid
ACC	Notre Dame	21	2013
America East	Albany	3	2013
American	Connecticut	26	2013
Atlantic 10	Fordham	2	1994
Atlantic Sun	Florida Gulf Coast	2	2012
Big 12	Baylor	13	2013
Big East	DePaul	19	2013
Big Sky	North Dakota	1	Never
Big South	Winthrop	1	Never
Big Ten	Nebraska	12	2013
Big West	Cal State Northridge	2	1999
Colonial	James Madison	10	2011
C-USA	Middle Tennessee	17	2013
Horizon	Wright State	1	Never
Ivy League	Penn	3	2004
MAAC	Marist	10	2013
MAC	Akron	1	Never
MEAC	Hampton	8	2013
Missouri Valley	Wichita State	2	2013
Mountain West	Fresno State	7	2013
Northeast	Robert Morris	3	2008
Ohio Valley	Tennessee-Martin	4	2013
Pac-12	USC	16	2006
Patriot	Army	2	2006
SEC	Tennessee	33	2013
Southern	Chattanooga	12	2013
Southland	Northwestern State	3	2004
SWAC	Prairie View A&M	6	2013
Summit	South Dakota	1	Never
Sun Belt	Western Kentucky	17	2008
West Coast	Gonzaga	7	2013
WAC	Idaho	3	2013

Tournament seeds

Lincoln Regional Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Connecticut American 34–0 Automatic 2 Duke ACC 27–6 At-large 3 Texas A&M SEC 24–8 At-large 4 Nebraska Big Ten 25–6 Automatic 5 NC State ACC 25–7 At-large 6 Gonzaga West Coast 29–4 Automatic 7 DePaul Big East 27–6 Automatic 8 Georgia SEC 20–11 At-large 9 St. Joseph's Atlantic 10 22–9 At-large 10 Oklahoma Big 12 18–14 At-large 11 James Madison Colonial 28–5 Automatic 12 BYU West Coast 26–6 At-large 13 Fresno State Mountain West 22–10 Automatic 14 North Dakota Big Sky 22–9 Automatic 15 Winthrop Big South 24–8 Automatic 16 Prairie View A&M SWAC 14–17 Automatic

Stanford Regional Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 South Carolina SEC 27–4 At-large 2 Stanford Pac-12 29–3 At-large 3 Penn State Big Ten 22–7 At-large 4 North Carolina ACC 24–9 At-large 5 Michigan State Big Ten 22–9 At-large 6 Dayton Atlantic 10 23–7 At-large 7 Iowa State Big 12 20–10 At-large 8 Middle Tennessee State Conference USA 29–4 Automatic 9 Oregon State Pac-12 23–10 At-large 10 Florida State ACC 20–11 At-large 11 Florida SEC 19–12 At-large 12 Hampton MEAC 28–4 Automatic 13 Tennessee-Martin Ohio Valley 24–7 Automatic 14 Wichita State Missouri Valley 26–6 Automatic 15 South Dakota Summit 19–13 Automatic 16 Cal State Northridge Big West 18–14 Automatic

South Bend Regional Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Indiana Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Notre Dame ACC 32–0 Automatic 2 Baylor Big 12 29–4 Automatic 3 Kentucky SEC 24–8 At-large 4 Purdue Big Ten 21–8 At-large 5 Oklahoma State Big 12 23–8 At-large 6 Syracuse ACC 22–9 At-large 7 California Pac-12 21–9 At-large 8 Vanderbilt SEC 18–12 At-large 9 Arizona State Pac-12 22–9 At-large 10 Fordham Atlantic 10 25–7 Automatic 11 Chattanooga Southern 29–3 Automatic 12 Florida Gulf Coast Atlantic Sun 26–7 Automatic 13 Akron Mid-American 23–9 Automatic 14 Wright State Horizon 26–8 Automatic 15 Western Kentucky Sun Belt 24–8 Automatic 16 Robert Morris Northeast 21–11 Automatic

Louisville Regional KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Tennessee SEC 27–5 Automatic 2 West Virginia Big 12 29–4 At-large 3 Louisville American 30–4 At-large 4 Maryland ACC 24–6 At-large 5 Texas Big 12 21–11 At-large 6 Iowa Big Ten 26–8 At-large 7 LSU SEC 19–12 At-large 8 St. John's Big East 22–10 At-large 9 USC Pac-12 22–12 Automatic 10 Georgia Tech ACC 20–11 At-large 11 Marist MAAC 27–6 Automatic 12 Penn Ivy 22–6 Automatic 13 Army Patriot 25–7 Automatic 14 Idaho WAC 25–8 Automatic 15 Albany America East 28–4 Automatic 16 Northwestern State Southland 21–12 Automatic

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

Lincoln Regional

In their first-round match, DePaul and Oklahoma scored a combined 204 points, setting a tournament record for most points in a non-overtime game. Oklahoma's 66 second-half points was also a record a team in a single half.^[13]

Connecticut vs. Prairie View A&M aired nationwide on ESPN. Connecticut vs. Saint Joseph's aired nationwide on ESPNU. All other games aired with whip-around or regional coverage on ESPN or ESPN2.

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	UConn	87
	16	Prairie View A&M	44
						1	UConn	91
	Storrs, Connecticut – Sun/Tue
						9	St. Joseph's	52
	8	Georgia	57
	9	St. Joseph's	67
											1	UConn	70
											12	BYU	51
	5	NC State	57
	12	BYU	72
						12	BYU	80
	Los Angeles – Sat/Mon
						4	Nebraska	76
	4	Nebraska	74
	13	Fresno State	55
																1	UConn	69
																3	Texas A&M	54
	6	Gonzaga	63
	11	James Madison	72
						11	James Madison	69
	College Station, Texas – Sun/Tue
						3	Texas A&M	85
	3	Texas A&M	70
	14	North Dakota	55
											3	Texas A&M	84
											7	DePaul	65
	7	DePaul	104
	10	Oklahoma	100
						7	DePaul	74
	Durham, North Carolina – Sat/Mon
						2	Duke	65
	2	Duke	87
	15	Winthrop	45

Notre Dame Regional

Notre Dame vs. Robert Morris aired nationwide on ESPN. Notre Dame vs. Arizona State aired nationwide on ESPNews. All other games aired with whip-around or regional coverage on ESPN or ESPN2.

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Notre Dame	93
	16	Robert Morris	42
						1	Notre Dame	84
	Toledo, Ohio – Sat/Mon
						9	Arizona State	67
	8	Vanderbilt	61
	9	Arizona State	69
											1	Notre Dame	89
											5	Oklahoma State	72
	5	Oklahoma State	61*
	12	Florida Gulf Coast	60
						5	Oklahoma State	73
	West Lafayette, Indiana – Sat/Mon
						4	Purdue	66
	4	Purdue	84
	13	Akron	55
																1	Notre Dame	88
																2	Baylor	69
	6	Syracuse	59
	11	Chattanooga	53
						6	Syracuse	59
	Lexington, Kentucky – Sat/Mon
						3	Kentucky	64
	3	Kentucky	106
	14	Wright State	60
											3	Kentucky	72
											2	Baylor	90
	7	California	64
	10	Fordham	63
						7	California	56
	Waco, Texas – Sat/Mon
						2	Baylor	75
	2	Baylor	87
	15	Western Kentucky	74

Louisville Regional

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Tennessee	70
	16	Northwestern State	46
						1	Tennessee	67
	Knoxville, Tennessee – Sat/Mon
						8	St. John's	51
	8	St. John's	71
	9	USC	68
											1	Tennessee	62
											4	Maryland	73
	5	Texas	79
	12	Pennsylvania	61
						5	Texas	64
	College Park, Maryland – Sun/Tue
						4	Maryland	69
	4	Maryland	90
	13	Army	52
																4	Maryland	76
																3	Louisville	73
	6	Iowa	87
	11	Marist	65
						6	Iowa	53
	Iowa City, Iowa – Sun/Tue
						3	Louisville	83
	3	Louisville	88
	14	Idaho	42
											3	Louisville	73
											7	LSU	47
	7	LSU	98
	10	Georgia Tech	78
						7	LSU	76
	Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Sun/Tue
						2	West Virginia	67
	2	West Virginia	76
	15	Albany	61

Stanford Regional

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	South Carolina	73
	16	Cal. State Northridge	58
						1	South Carolina	78
	Seattle, Washington – Sun/Tue
						9	Oregon State	69
	8	Middle Tennessee	36
	9	Oregon State	55
											1	South Carolina	58
											4	North Carolina	65
	5	Michigan State	91
	12	Hampton	61
						5	Michigan State	53
	Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Sun/Tue
						4	North Carolina	62
	4	North Carolina	60
	13	Tennessee-Martin	58
																4	North Carolina	65
																2	Stanford	74
	6	Dayton	69
	11	Florida	83
						11	Florida	61
	University Park, Pennsylvania – Sun/Tue
						3	Penn State	83
	3	Penn State	62
	14	Wichita State	56
											3	Penn State	57
											2	Stanford	82
	7	Iowa State	44
	10	Florida State	55
						10	Florida State	44
	Ames, Iowa – Sat/Mon
						2	Stanford	63
	2	Stanford	81
	15	South Dakota	62

Final Four – Nashville, Tennessee

	National semifinals April 6					National championship game April 8
	LI1	UConn	75
	S2	Stanford	56
						LI1	UConn	79
						ND1	Notre Dame	58
	ND1	Notre Dame	87
	LO4	Maryland	61

Final Four summaries

ESPN

April 6, 2014 5:30 pm CDT

Recap

#4 Maryland Terrapins 61, #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 87
Scoring by half: 31-48, 30-39
Pts: Brionna Jones 16 Rebs: Alyssa Thomas 6 Asts: Lexie Brown 8		Pts: Kayla McBride 28 Rebs: Jewell Loyd, Markisha Wright 9 Asts: Lindsay Allen 5

Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, Tennessee Attendance: 17,548 Referees: Scott Yarbrough, Cameron Inouye, Mike Price

ESPN

April 6, 2014 8:00 pm CDT

Recap

#2 Stanford Cardinal 56, #1 Connecticut Huskies 75
Scoring by half: 24-28, 32-47
Pts: Amber Orrange 16 Rebs: Chiney Ogwumike 10 Asts: Amber Orrange 5		Pts: Breanna Stewart 18 Rebs: Breanna Stewart, Stefanie Dolson 7 Asts: Moriah Jefferson, Bria Hartley 4

Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, Tennessee Attendance: 17,548 Referees: Tina Napier, Joe Vaszily, Chuck Gonzales

National championship

ESPN

April 8, 2014 7:30 pm CDT

Recap

#1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 58, #1 Connecticut Huskies 79
Scoring by half: 38-45, 20-34
Pts: Kayla McBride 21 Rebs: Jewell Loyd 6 Asts: Lindsay Allen 5		Pts: Breanna Stewart 21 Rebs: Stefanie Dolson 16 Asts: Stefanie Dolson, Moriah Jefferson 7

Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, Tennessee Attendance: 17,570 Referees: Dee Kantner, Lisa Mattingly, Denise Brooks

Final Four in Nashville

Undefeated Connecticut faced undefeated Notre Dame in the final game, the first ever to feature two undefeated teams. After a hard-fought first half, the Connecticut Huskies pulled away in the second for a 79–58 victory. National Player of the Year Breanna Stewart scored 21 points for Connecticut. Stefanie Dolson added 17 points and 16 rebounds for the victors. Kayla McBride had 21 points for the Notre Dame Irish. Connecticut won the rebound battle 54–31 and held Notre Dame to a season low in points. After the game, Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said "I thought we were playing the Miami Heat for a while [Connecticut is] just that good."^[6]

By winning, Connecticut moved to 40–0 on the season and claimed their ninth title, surpassing Tennessee's eight titles for the most all-time. Coach Geno Auriemma said he was "flattered and grateful and all the things that come with this kind of accomplishment ... I'm more proud of the legacy that exists and what Connecticut basketball is as opposed to the number of championships."^[6] All nine of the school's titles, five with unbeaten records, have come during Auriemma's twenty seasons as head coach. Connecticut became the second school to finish the year 40–0, the other being Baylor. They have now won 46 consecutive games, the third most in NCAA history, but well short of their NCAA record of 90.^[6]

For Notre Dame, it was their third loss in the title game in the last four years. They were inhibited by the loss of senior starter Natalie Achonwa to injury in the Regional Final. The Irish had won seven of the previous nine meeting between the two powerhouses. However, Connecticut beat them during the tournament for the second consecutive year, having eliminated them in the Final Four in 2013.^[6]

All-Tournament team

• Breanna Stewart, Connecticut
• Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Connecticut
• Stefanie Dolson, Connecticut
• Kayla McBride, Notre Dame
• Jewell Loyd, Notre Dame^[11]

Game Officials

• Chuck Gonzalez (semifinal)
• Cameron Inouye (semifinal)
• Tina Napier (semifinal)
• Mike Price (semifinal)
• Joe Vaszily (semifinal)
• Scott Yarbrough (semifinal)
• Denise Brooks (final)
• Dee Kanter (final)
• Joe Vasily (Standby)
• Lisa Mattingly (final)^[11]

Record by conference

Source^[14]

Conference	Bids	Record	Win %	R64	R32	S16	E8	F4	CG	NC
American	2	9–1	0.900	2	2	2	2	1	1	1
ACC	8	15–8	0.652	8	6	3	3	2	1	–
Big East	2	3–2	0.600	2	2	1	–	–	–	–
SEC	8	12–8	0.600	8	6	5	1	–	–	–
Pac-12	5	7–5	0.583	5	4	1	1	1	–	–
Big Ten	5	6–5	0.545	5	5	1	–	–	–	–
Big 12	6	7–6	0.538	6	4	2	1	–	–	–
West Coast	2	2–2	0.500	2	1	1	–	–	–	–
Colonial	1	1–1	0.500	1	1	–	–	–	–	–
Atlantic 10	3	1–3	0.250	3	1	–	–	–	–	–

• The R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
• The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Conference USA, Horizon, Ivy, MEAC, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American (MAC), Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt, SWAC, and WAC conferences each had one representative that was eliminated in the first round.

Media coverage

Television

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament.^[15] For the first and second rounds, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN, ESPNU, or ESPNews. All other games aired regionally on ESPN or ESPN2 and streamed online via ESPN3. Most of the nation got whip-around coverage during this time, which allowed ESPN to rotate between the games and focus the nation on the one that has the closest score. The regional semifinals were split between ESPN and ESPN2, and ESPN aired the regional finals, national semifinals, and championship match.^[16]

Studio host & analysts

• Kevin Negandhi (Host)
• Kara Lawson (Analyst)
• Rebecca Lobo (Analyst)

Broadcast assignments

First & second rounds Saturday/Monday Mark Jones and LaChina Robinson – Durham, North Carolina Marc Kestecher and Brooke Weisbrod – Lexington, Kentucky Beth Mowins and Stephanie White – Toledo, Ohio Melissa Lee and Jimmy Dykes – West Lafayette, Indiana Clay Matvick and Fran Fraschilla – Ames, Iowa Joe Davis and Maria Taylor – Knoxville, Tennessee Dave Pasch and Doris Burke – Los Angeles, California Pam Ward and Carolyn Peck – Waco, Texas Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday Beth Mowins, Stephanie White, and Maria Taylor – South Bend, Indiana Pam Ward, Carolyn Peck, and LaChina Robinson – Lincoln, Nebraska Final Four Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, and Holly Rowe – Nashville, Tennessee

First & second rounds Sunday/Tuesday Cara Capuano and Nell Fortner – Baton Rouge, Louisiana Tom Hart and Mary Murphy – Chapel Hill, North Carolina Bob Wischusen and Christy Winters-Scott – College Park, Maryland Bob Picozzi and Krista Blunk – University Park, Pennsylvania Carter Blackburn and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude – College Station, Texas Holly Rowe and Brenda VanLengen – Iowa City, Iowa Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham – Seattle, Washington Dave O'Brien and Debbie Antonelli – Storrs, Connecticut Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Sunday/Tuesday Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, and Holly Rowe – Louisville, Kentucky Dave Pasch, Debbie Antonelli, and Brooke Weisbrod – Stanford, California Championship Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, and Holly Rowe – Nashville, Tennessee

Radio

Westwood One had nationwide broadcast and streaming radio rights from the regional finals on through the championship.^[17] The teams participating in the Regional Finals, Final Four, and championship were allowed to have their own local broadcasts, but were not allowed to stream their broadcast online.

Regional Finals Monday[18] Jason Benetti and Krista Blunk – South Bend, Indiana Craig Way and Brenda VanLengen – Lincoln, Nebraska Final Four[19] Dave Ryan, Debbie Antonelli, and Krista Blunk – Nashville, Tennessee

Regional Finals Tuesday[18] Dave Ryan and Ann Schatz – Louisville, Kentucky Brandon Gaudin and Ann Meyers Drysdale – Stanford, California Championship[19] Dave Ryan, Debbie Antonelli, and Krista Blunk – Nashville, Tennessee

See also

• 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2014 National Invitation Tournament
• 2014 Women's National Invitation Tournament