most ncaa women's basketball championships

[66], The 20172018 season was very similar to the previous one. In the 1999 meeting at Gampel Pavilion, Tennessee prevailed again. UConn's season ended with a 6155 loss to top-seeded Virginia in the national semifinals at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. In 2016, UConn entered the tournament 320, beat Syracuse for the national title, ending the season 380. The #8 seed is 5355 against the #9 seed (.491). They have taken part in every NCAA tournament since 1989; as of the end of the 201819 season, this is the third-longest active streak in Division I. Senior Nykesha Sales suffered a season-ending injury in one of the final games of the regular season. Auriemma signed his best recruiting class to date in 1998 when he signed five top-15 nationally ranked players. UConn won the Big East tournament over Notre Dame in a game remembered for the Bird at the Buzzer shot, but lost key players Abrosimova and Ralph to season-ending injuries. The women's tournament championship game had 9.9 million views, becoming the most-watched women's basketball game in history. Taken together during the three years 20052007, UConn never made a Final Four, something that had become almost routine (17 final fours in 22 years from 1995 to 2016). [62] Five of them have been first overall picks: Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011), and Breanna Stewart (2016). UConn became the first team to win a championship without a senior on their roster.[34][35]. UConn fans booed Randall the rest of the game and Tennessee fans later gave her the nickname "Boo. The Orange fell short in their NCAA tournament bid, falling to NC State 83-58 in the ACC Tournament, but they received a bid for this years Womens National Led by juniors Stewart and Jefferson and senior Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, UConn quickly recovered winning every other season game, including a 7658 win against rival Notre Dame. With Faris and Doty graduated, sophomore Breanna Stewart was the undisputed leader of the 201314 UConn team, starting in all 40 games and leading the team with 19.4 points and 2.8 blocks per game; her 291 field goals made was the third-highest single-season total in UConn annals. With Taurasi joining the core of the 2000 Championship team, Auriemma confidently predicted another championship in 2001, but the season turned out to be more difficult than expected. In 1998, Tennessee (330) and Liberty (280) both entered the tournament unbeaten; Liberty lost in the first round to Tennessee, which went on to beat Louisiana Tech for the national title and ended the season 390. After graduating from college in California, Wanda Flora went to graduate school at Indiana University, where she was an assistant coach for the women's basketball team and coached the junior varsity team. The first NCAA women's basketball tournament was held in 1982. "[36], Taurasi received many personal accolades at UConn including the 2003 and 2004 Naismith College Player of the Year awards, the 2003 Wade Trophy, the 2003 Associated Press Women's College Basketball Player of the Year award, the 2003 USBWA Women's National Player of the Year award and the 2004 Best Female Athlete ESPY Award. [31] The championship game that year shattered ratings for ESPN and at the time was the highest rated college basketball game to air on the network, men's or women's. This season also saw the birth of one of the greatest rivalries in college sports, the UConn-Tennessee rivalry, that began when the two teams met for the first time on Martin Luther King Day at Gampel Pavilion. [2] The tournament is often overshadowed by the more-prominent men's tournament; after a gender equality review following the 2021 tournament, the NCAA expanded it to the current 68-team format of the men's tournament, and extended the "March Madness" branding to the tournament as well. Bascom was hit with early foul trouble and Virginia held off a late UConn rally. Even if both coaches remained vague and unspecific about the reasons of the cancellation, Tennessee filed a complaint to the NCAA about UConn's recruitment of Moore. The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), to determine the national championship. Auriemma was criticized for compromising the integrity of the game, but defended the decision saying it was a school record and he would never had done it without Bascom's blessing.[26]. [22], UConn defeated Tennessee during the 199697 regular season; after a season-ending injury for Shea Ralph in the first round of the NCAA tournament, UConn reached the Regional Final where the two teams met again, with Tennessee prevailing and ending Connecticut's unbeaten season by winning 9181.[23]. Despite the two regular season meetings being close battles, UConn used tenacious defense and backdoor cuts to overwhelm Tennessee 7152 for their second national championship. Of the other teams to play in their home states, Stanford (1992) won the national title; Notre Dame (2011) lost in the championship game; and Western Kentucky (1986), Penn State (2000), Missouri State (2001), LSU (2004), and Baylor (2010) lost in the semifinals. UConn finished the regular season undefeated and established a 70-game winning streak, shattering the previous mark of 54 set by Louisiana Tech; the streak ended in the Big East championship game loss to Villanova. On February 28 she was enshrined in the Huskies of Honor (3rd time ever for an active player). Other key players included sophomores Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley, junior Kelly Faris and senior Tiffany Hayes, who would be all selected in the WNBA drafts after graduation. Rebecca Lobo was part of the 1997 inaugural draft, with the top players allocated to founding teams without any particular order; similarly Nykesha Sales was part of the 1998 WNBA expansion players allocation. Relative to their high standards, UConn struggled during the first two years following Taurasi's graduation in 2004. For the second consecutive year (and the sixth time in school history) UConn finished the regular season undefeated, with an average margin of victory of 35.9 points. [17] The team was honored with a parade in Hartford, CT that drew over 100,000 spectators. She was also named the 2000 Naismith and Parade Magazine National High School Player of the Year. [72] From 201314 to 201920, UConn played in the American Athletic Conference, where they went unbeaten both in regular season and conference tournament games, with a perfect 1390 record and 7 conference tournaments. [69], 2021-2022 First National Title Game in Six Years. Leading up to the Final Four in San Antonio, UConn dominated teams from Southern, Temple, Iowa State and Florida State. UConn has featured a great number of star players, All-Americans, Hall of Famers and recipients of individual trophies. In 1996, seeds were assigned on a national basis using an "S-Curve" format[clarification needed] similar to the process used in selecting the field for the men's tournament. Women's Basketball Records Books (since 2001) Women's Final Four Records Books (since 2001) Women's Basketball Championships Results and The format for the 2024 NCAA tournament will stay the same for the first time in three years. Branded athletically as "UConn" since the 201314 season. Although the entire team returned and expectations were sky high for a "three-peat" in Taurasi's senior year, UConn had an uneven season. From 2003 to 2014, sixteen predetermined sites were selected for first and second-round games. Of the 19 teams who have entered the tournament unbeaten, 9 went on to win the National Championship.[9]. ESPN's standard definition channels were used to broadcast games on a regional basis, while games could also be viewed in their entirety on ESPN3 or alternate channels. 1 in the polls for the first time in program history. During the game there was a scuffle involving Tennessee's Semeka Randall and Connecticut's Svetlana Abrosimova where Randall threw the ball down, hitting Abrosimova's head. The first season for the highly ranked class in 199899 was up and down and featured many injuries: Sue Bird tore her ACL and was lost for the season after only 10 games. In 2018, UConn entered the tournament 320, but lost in the Final Four to Notre Dame, ending their 36-game winning streak to finish 361. The following year, USC won the national title at Pauley Pavilion, the home court of its Los Angeles arch-rival UCLA. The LSU Tigers defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 Sunday to win the programs first NCAA womens basketball national championship in Dallas, Texas. In the final game UConn found itself in early trouble when Lobo was called for three personal fouls in 94 seconds in the first half, but in the second half the team was able to rally from a 9-point deficit and a key Rizzotti layup gave UConn the lead with less than 2 minutes to go, a lead that the team kept until the final score of 7064 and their first national title. Geno Auriemma is now the only coach in college basketball to have won 11 titles, passing UCLA legend John Wooden (who has 10) and reaching former NBA coach Phil Jackson. The championship consisted of 32 teams from 1982 to 1985 (in 1983, 36), 40 teams from 1986 to 1988, and 48 teams from 1989 to 1993. Players expected to be active in 202223 are in bold. [61] On December 7, 2018, UConn announced that the #50 worn by Rebecca Lobo would be permanently retired, effective with ceremonies to be held during the Huskies' final 201819 home game on March 2, 2019. [3] The team had also made the semi-finals for 14 consecutive tournaments. WebThe UConn Huskies are the most successful women's basketball program in the nation, having won a record 11 NCAA Division I National Championships and a women's UConn went unbeaten through the Conference regular season and Tournament and easily advanced into the NCAA Tournament; in the regional final against Virginia a 4-points win in their closest game of the year opened the doors of the Final Four at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Since 1982, at least one #1 seed has made the Final Four every year. In her career at UConn, Taurasi led the team to four consecutive Final Fours and three straight national titles. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [51] That game, however, was largely a warm-up match for their biggest test of the season, a December 30 matchup at the powerhouse Stanford Cardinal. Two key rivals were the usual conference foe Notre Dame and the new rival Baylor, who had the nation's top player in Brittney Griner. All four #1 seeds have made it to the Final Four 4 times (champion in bold): The championship game has matched two #1 seeds 14 times: Three teams have beaten three #1 seeds during the course of a tournament (the largest number of such teams that can be faced) (all three teams won the national championship as beating a 3rd #1 seed in a single tournament can only happen in the finals): Prior to the expansion of the tournament to 64 teams, all four #1 seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with three exceptions. Amid scrutiny of inequality between the men's and women's tournaments that year, it has been suggested by critics that the structure of the NCAA's contract undervalues the media rights to the women's tournament. Of these teams, 32 earn automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments. In its announcement, UConn stated that going forward, number retirement would be reserved for former Huskies players inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as Lobo was in 2017. UConn defeated Tennessee 7766 in front of a sold-out crowd in a game televised on ESPN and soon afterwards was ranked No. The #5 seed is 8523 against the #12 seed (.787). Duke biggest winner in latest D1Baseball rankings, Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners. As of 2022, the tournament follows the same format and selection process as its men's counterpart, with 32 automatic bids awarded to the champions of the Division I conferences, and 36 "at-large bids" extended by the NCAA Selection Committee, which are placed into four regional divisions and seeded from 1 to 16. [65] The loss ended the streak at 111 consecutive wins, an all-time record not only for college basketball games, but also for any team sport played at college level. After beating Minnesota in the semifinals, UConn again defeated Tennessee for the national championship. The keys to Notre Dame's success were the stellar performance of sophomore Skylar Diggins and the hot shooting (over 50 percent from the field, a first against UConn in its last 262 games), while UConn had a lack of support for Moore's 36 points. Rebecca Lobo was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player. With their eleventh championship win in 2016, the UConn Huskies have tied the UCLA Bruins men's team for most college basketball championships, and became the first Division I women's basketball team to win four straight national championships. With no seniors on the roster, 2003 was supposed to be a rebuilding year for UConn, but as the year progressed it became clear that Taurasi was up to the challenge of carrying a group of young players to the championship. Maya Moore was also a brilliant college student: she graduated with a 3.7 GPA, earning the Elite 88 Award, and was named Cosida Academic All-America First-Team in 2009, 2010 and 2011, Cosida Academic All-America of the Year in 2010 and 2011 (1st player to ever repeat) and All-sports Academic All-America of the Year in 2011. [14] The season started with an 80-point win over Morgan State; two weeks later, UConn defeated powerhouse North Carolina State by 23 points on the road. Dr. Marilyn McNeil, vice president/director of athletics at Monmouth University is the current chairwoman. UConn has also been one of the leaders in women's basketball attendance; the team plays its home games at both the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and the XL Center in Hartford. She led UConn to the Final Four, but in the national semifinals against Notre Dame in St. Louis, Taurasi had a poor shooting game, and despite UConn having attained a 16-point lead at one point, the team lost. Since the women's tournament began in 1982, 19 teams have entered the tournament ranked #1 in at least 1 poll and gone on to win the tournament: Only once has the reigning champion (the previous year's winner) not made it to the tournament the next year. 2 and No. [45] Despite losing Delle Donne the Huskies were ranked No. In an early test, UConn squeaked by #2 Baylor in their second game of the season. Due to venue availability, in some cases, the lower seed hosted, or the game was played at a neutral site. Annual college basketball tournament for women, NCAA women's college basketball tournaments, NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. They dominated the Big East tournament, winning the championship game 6032. The NCAA tournament has undergone dramatic expansion since its first edition in 1982, and only one unbeaten team has failed to qualify for the tournamentCalifornia Baptist in 2021, which was 240 after winning the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. Taurasi hailed from Chino, California, and attended Don Lugo High School where she was the recipient of the 2000 Cheryl Miller Award, presented by the Los Angeles Times to the best player in southern California. This would be the team's last loss for quite some time. Connecticut's final season record was 361 and Shea Ralph was named the Final Four's MVP. UConn was a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but eventually lost to LSU in the regional final to end the season with a 324 record. "[25] Interest in Caitlin Clark's tournament run had led to record viewership of Iowa's Women's Final Four and championship games, which both set records for ESPN/ABC.[21][26]. They completed a seven-season tenure in the American Athletic Conference in 201920, and came back to the Big East Conference for the 202021 season. The Lady Vols havent been back to the Final Four since. In 2014, UConn (340) and Notre Dame (320) both entered the tournament unbeaten; UConn beat Notre Dame 7958 for the national title, ended the season 400 and is the 8th team to end the season unbeaten. Charles, who won the John R. Wooden Award and Naismith College Player of the Year awards,[49] was chosen first overall in the WNBA draft days later.[50]. Postseason invitational champion Seven UConn players received this award since its induction in 1982: Rebecca Lobo (1995), Shea Ralph (2000), Swin Cash (2002), Diana Taurasi (2003 and 2004), Tina Charles (2009), Maya Moore (2010), and Breanna Stewart for a record 4 times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016). Then, the non-FBS football playing members of the Big East (Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, DePaul, Marquette, Seton Hall, St. John's), known colloquially as the "Catholic 7", left to form their own conference, taking the conference name with them. Which coach has won the most NCAA womens basketball tournament championships? The Scope has never been the Lady Monarchs' regular home court. Connecticut's Auriemma, that's who", "Case for UConn's Geno Auriemma being best coach ever goes beyond basketball", "UConn Women's Basketball 2015-2016 Media Guide", "UConn Women's Basketball 2020-2021 Media Guide", "2021-22 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Connecticut Athletics", "UConn Women's Basketball 2022-2023 Media Guide", "Ray Allen, Rebecca Lobo to have UConn numbers retired", "UConn women's basketball retires Swin Cash's number at Gampel Pavilion: 'I'm humbled, I'm honored', "Connecticut's Fab Four Makes Pro Basketball History", "Breanna Stewart top pick in WNBA, leading 1-2-3 UConn sweep", "March Madness 2023: Stats and reactions to Ohio State-UConn upset", "UConn Huskies' NCAA-record win streak snapped at 111 games", "Despite loss, UConn women still have incredible streak going", "St. John's women stun UConn, end 99-game streak", Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UConn_Huskies_women%27s_basketball&oldid=1152671077, Articles containing potentially dated statements from April 2022, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 11 NCAA Tournament Championships (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), 27 Conference tournament Championships: 19 Big East Conference (1989, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2021, 2022) and 7 American Athletic Conference (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), 28 Conference regular season Championships: 20 Big East Conference (1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2021, 2022) and 7 American Athletic Conference (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), Most NCAA Championships, any Division, men's or women's (11), Most NCAA Division I Final Fours, men's or women's (22), Most NCAA Division I tournament #1 seeds, men's or women's (22), Most NCAA Division I undefeated seasons, men's or women's (6), Most NCAA Division I 30-win seasons, men's or women's (25), Most NCAA Division I weeks ranked No. The final, since 2023, is played the Sunday afternoon following the Men's Final Four; from 2017 to 2019, 2021 and 2022, Sunday evening. Notre Dame went on to win its first national championship. In 1986, Texas entered the tournament 300, beat USC for the national title, and ended the season 340. The remaining teams are granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. [64], After easy wins in both conference regular season and conference tournament, UConn entered the NCAA tournament unbeaten, #1 overall and once again a heavy favorite to win it all; the season came to an unexpected end when Mississippi State's Morgan William hit a buzzer-beater to give its team a 6664 overtime victory in the NCAA Final Four. Notably, Louisiana Tech's differential is prior to the expansion of 64 teams and the addition of one more round of play. note: The #9 vs. #16 game was Arkansas over Harvard in 1998. Stewart finished with 2,676 points (2nd Husky ever), 1,179 rebounds (4th Husky ever), 426 assists and 414 blocked shots (1st Husky ever), and was a #1 pick in 2016 WNBA draft. Moore was named the Tournament Most Outstanding Player, to go along with her second straight Wade Trophy award and Academic All-America of the Year award. The Lady Bears became the first team in NCAA college basketball history, for either women or men, to win 40 games in a season. 4 UConn 70 , No. [58], In 2015 UConn landed another top recruit in #1 High School prospect Katie Lou Samuelson; she quickly earned a spot in the starting five alongside sophomore Kia Nurse and seniors Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. 2023 college baseball conference tournaments: Schedules - A special selection committee appointed by the NCAA determines which 68 teams will enter the tournament, and where they will be seeded and placed in the bracket. By Charlie Creme Updated: 4/18/2023 at 9:00 a.m. UConn's current head coach is Luigi "Geno" Auriemma, who joined the team in 1985. UConn advanced to the Final Four and outscored rival Tennessee in the semifinals by 23 points. The results for all years are shown in this table below.[7]. Tennessee avenged itself in the Final Four that year in Charlotte, defeating UConn 8883 in overtime; the game is often thought to be one of the more memorable tournament games in tournament history with many back and forth swings of momentum. At the time of her injury, she was only one point shy of Kerry Bascom's school scoring record.