1996 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
The 1996 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament took place from March 15–31, 1996. The Final Four consisted of Connecticut, Georgia, Stanford, and Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Georgia 83–65 in the championship game.
Tournament records
- Three-point field goal percentage—Nykesha Sales, Connecticut, hit four of five three-point field goal attempts in the semi-final game against Tennessee, tying a record for three-point field goal percentage in a Final Four game, held by four other players.
- Three-point field goal percentage—Abby Conklin, Tennessee hit four of five three-point field goal attempts in the championship game against Georgia, tying a record for three-point field goal percentage in a Final Four game, held by four other players.
- Three-point field goals—Harvard hit 16 three-point field goals in a Mideast first-round game, setting the record for most three-point field goals in an NCAA tournament game, subsequently tied by two other teams.
Qualifying teams - automatic
Qualifying teams - at-large
Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.Bids by conference
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 |
| 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 |
First and second rounds
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:
| Region | Rnd | Host | Venue | City | State |
| East | 1&2 | Old Dominion University | Old Dominion University Fieldhouse | Norfolk | Virginia |
| East | 1&2 | University of Virginia | University Hall | Charlottesville | Virginia |
| East | 1&2 | University of Tennessee | Thompson-Boling Arena | Knoxville | Tennessee |
| East | 1&2 | University of Kansas | Allen Field House | Lawrence | Kansas |
| Mideast | 1&2 | University of Iowa | Carver–Hawkeye Arena | Iowa City | Iowa |
| Mideast | 1&2 | University of Connecticut | Harry A. Gampel Pavilion | Storrs | Connecticut |
| Mideast | 1&2 | Vanderbilt University | Memorial Gymnasium | Nashville | Tennessee |
| Mideast | 1&2 | Duke University | Cameron Indoor Stadium | Durham | North Carolina |
| Midwest | 1&2 | University of Georgia | Georgia Coliseum | Athens | Georgia |
| Midwest | 1&2 | Louisiana Tech University | Thomas Assembly Center | Ruston | Louisiana |
| Midwest | 1&2 | Clemson University | Littlejohn Coliseum | Clemson | South Carolina |
| Midwest | 1&2 | Texas Tech University | Lubbock Municipal Coliseum | Lubbock | Texas |
| West | 1&2 | Pennsylvania State University | Recreation Building | University Park | Pennsylvania |
| West | 1&2 | University of Colorado | CU Events Center | Boulder | Colorado |
| West | 1&2 | Stanford University | Maples Pavilion | Stanford | California |
| West | 1&2 | University of Alabama | Coleman Coliseum | Tuscaloosa | Alabama |
Regionals and Final Four
The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 23 to March 25 at these sites:- East Regional University Hall, Charlottesville, Virginia
- Midwest Regional William R. Johnson Coliseum, Nacogdoches, Texas
- West Regional Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle, Washington
- Mideast Regional Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois
Bids by state
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 |
Brackets
East Region
Mideast Region
Midwest Region
West Region
Final Four - Charlotte, North Carolina
Record by conference
Sixteen conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play:| Conference | # of Bids | 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 | – | – | – |
Fifteen conferences went 0-1: Big Sky Conference, Big South Conference, Big West Conference, Ivy League, MAAC, Mid-Continent, MEAC, Midwestern Collegiate, Missouri Valley Conference, North Atlantic Conference, Northeast Conference, Patriot League, Southern Conference, SWAC, and Trans America
All-Tournament Team
- Michelle Marciniak, Tennessee
- Chamique Holdsclaw, Tennessee
- Tiffani Johnson, Tennessee
- La'Keshia Frett, Georgia
- Saudia Roundtree, Georgia
Game Officials
- Art Bomegen
- Doug Cloud
- Wes Dean
- John Morningstar
- Bob Trammell
- Scott Yarborough
- Sally Bell
- Dee Kantner
- Violet Palmer