2011 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament


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.
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.

Subregionals

The format is the same as the Men's Tournament, except that there are 64 teams; this in turn means there is no "First Four" round. Thirty-one automatic bids for conference champions and 33 at-large bids are available.
Subregionals were played from March 19 through March 22.
The following 16 sites were used for first and second-round games:
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:
Regional winners advanced to the Final Four held April 3 and 5 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, hosted by Butler University and the Horizon League 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

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.

Qualifying teams – at-large

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

Tournament seeds

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.
BidsConferenceTeams
9Big EastConnecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Rutgers, St. John's, West Virginia
7Big 12Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
6ACCDuke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina
5Big TenOhio State, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue
4SECTennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
3Atlantic 10Xavier, Dayton, Temple
3Pac-10Stanford, Arizona State, UCLA
2C-USAUCF, Houston
2Sun BeltArkansas–Little Rock, Middle Tennessee
2WACFresno State, Louisiana Tech
1America EastHartford
1Atlantic SunStetson
1Big SkyMontana
1Big SouthGardner-Webb
1Big WestUC Davis
1ColonialJames Madison
1HorizonGreen Bay
1IvyPrinceton
1MAACMarist
1MACBowling Green
1MEACHampton
1Missouri ValleyNorthern Iowa
1Mountain WestUtah
1NortheastSaint Francis
1Ohio ValleyTennessee–Martin
1PatriotNavy
1SouthernSamford
1SouthlandMcNeese State
1SummitSouth Dakota State
1SWACPrairie View
1West CoastGonzaga

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.
BidsStateTeams
6TexasBaylor, Prairie View, Houston, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
4CaliforniaFresno State, Stanford, UC Davis, UCLA
4FloridaStetson, UCF, Florida State, Miami
4OhioBowling Green, Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton
4TennesseeTennessee, Tennessee–Martin, Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt
3IowaNorthern Iowa, Iowa, Iowa State
3PennsylvaniaPenn State, Saint Francis, Temple
3North CarolinaDuke, Gardner-Webb, North Carolina
2ConnecticutConnecticut, Hartford
2GeorgiaGeorgia, Georgia Tech
2IndianaNotre Dame, Purdue
2KentuckyKentucky, Louisville
2LouisianaMcNeese State, Louisiana Tech
2MarylandNavy, Maryland
2New JerseyPrinceton, Rutgers
2New YorkMarist, St. John's
2VirginiaHampton, James Madison
2WisconsinGreen Bay, Marquette
1AlabamaSamford
1ArizonaArizona State
1ArkansasArkansas–Little Rock
1District of ColumbiaGeorgetown
1IllinoisDePaul
1KansasKansas State
1MichiganMichigan State
1MontanaMontana
1OklahomaOklahoma
1South DakotaSouth Dakota State
1UtahUtah
1WashingtonGonzaga
1West VirginiaWest Virginia

Brackets

* – Denotes overtime period
Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time

Philadelphia Region

Dayton Region

Spokane Region

Dallas Region

Final Four – Indianapolis, Indiana

Record by conference

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

Television

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.

Studio host & analysts

First & Second Rounds Saturday/Monday
Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday
Final Four
First & Second Rounds Sunday/Tuesday
Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Sunday/Tuesday
Championship