2019 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament


The 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 64 teams to determine the national champion for the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 38th annual edition of the tournament began on March 22, and concluded with the championship game on April 7 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, with the University of South Florida serving as host. The tournament field was announced on March 18.
Three schools, Colonial champion Towson, MEAC champion Bethune–Cookman and Southland champion Abilene Christian, made their first appearance in the tournament. Meanwhile, Tennessee continued its record streak of making every NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at 38 consecutive appearances. UConn also continued its record streak of 12 consecutive Final Four appearances.

2019 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, were played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done since 2015. However, the subregional that would otherwise have been hosted by South Carolina was moved to Charlotte, North Carolina due to the Gamecocks' home, Colonial Life Arena, being used for the men's tournament.
Subregionals
Regional Semifinals and Finals
National Semifinals and Championship
This is the third time that the women's Final Four was played in Tampa.

Subregionals Tournament and automatic qualifiers procedures

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams automatically qualified for the 2019 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.
ConferenceTeamRecordAppearanceLast bid
ACCNotre Dame30–326th2018
America EastMaine25–79th2018
AmericanUConn31–231st2018
Atlantic 10Fordham25–83rd2014
Atlantic SunFlorida Gulf Coast27–46th2018
Big 12Baylor31–118th2018
Big EastDePaul25–724th2018
Big SkyPortland State25–72nd2010
Big SouthRadford25–64th1996
Big TenIowa26–626th2018
Big WestUC Davis25–62nd2011
ColonialTowson20–121stNever
C-USARice28–33rd2005
HorizonWright State27–62nd2014
Ivy LeaguePrinceton22–98th2018
MAACQuinnipiac26–65th2018
MACBuffalo23–93rd2018
MEACBethune–Cookman21–101stNever
Missouri ValleyMissouri State23–915th2016
Mountain WestBoise State28–46th2018
NortheastRobert Morris22–106th2017
Ohio ValleyBelmont26–65th2018
Pac-12Stanford28–433rd2018
PatriotBucknell28–54th2017
SECMississippi State30–211th2018
SouthernMercer25–72nd2018
SouthlandAbilene Christian23–91stNever
SWACSouthern20–125th2010
Summit LeagueSouth Dakota State26–69th2018
Sun BeltLittle Rock21–106th2018
West CoastBYU25–613th2016
WACNew Mexico State26-66th2017

Tournament seeds

Bracket

All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time
* – Denotes overtime period

Albany Regional – Albany, New York">Times Union Center">Albany, New York

* – Denotes overtime period

Albany Regional Final

Albany Regional all tournament team

* – Denotes overtime period

Chicago Regional Final

Chicago Regional all tournament team

* – Denotes overtime period

Greensboro Regional Final

Greensboro Regional all tournament team

Portland Regional Final

Portland Regional all tournament team

During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the top overall top seed's region plays against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region plays against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region.

[Amalie Arena] – Tampa, Florida

National Semifinals

National Championship

Final Four all-tournament team

Television

The tournament was covered by ESPN's networks. During the first and second rounds, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPNews. All other games aired regionally on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN3 and were streamed online via WatchESPN. 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 game that had the closest score. Over the course of rebroadcasting a studio program discussing the men's tournament, ESPNU accidentally displayed on-screen graphics prematurely revealing the tournament bracket prior to its formal unveiling that evening. The NCAA officially released the brackets two hours earlier than scheduled. Some watch parties for schools scheduled with the bracket reveal were cancelled, and ESPN apologized for the error.

Studio host and analysts

First & Second Rounds Friday/Sunday
Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Friday/Sunday
Final Four
First & Second Rounds Saturday/Monday
Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday
Championship
had exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament. Teams participating in the Regional Finals, Final Four, and Championship were allowed to have their own local broadcasts, but they weren’t allowed to stream those broadcasts online.
Regional Finals Sunday
Final Four
Regional Finals Monday
Championship