July 13, 2024
Division I Women’s Basketball Committee announces changes ahead of 2024-25 season
The news covers NCAA Tournament sites, selection, a seed list and more
This week, during its summer meeting in Austin, Texas, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee made some decisions that will take effect in the 2024-25 season and beyond. Here’s a rundown of the NCAA’s latest changes.
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NCAA Tournament selection criteria
The committee voted to remove conference and nonconference records from the criteria for NCAA Tournament selection. It will continue to consider teams’ overall records.
The committee will also use a quadrant system to evaluate teams’ wins. The quadrants will be based on opponents’ NET ranking and the location of the game.
The quadrants for the 2024-25 season were determined based on expected winning percentage against a given NET ranking with game location in mind, using data since 2010. The breakdown looks like:
- Quadrant 1: playing at home vs. NET Nos. 1-25; on a neutral court vs. NET Nos. 1-35; or away vs. NET Nos. 1-45
- Quadrant 2: home vs. NET 26-55; neutral vs. 36-65; away vs. 46-80
- Quadrant 3: home vs. NET 56-90; neutral vs. 66-105; away vs. 81-130
- Quadrant 4: home vs. NET 91 and up; neutral vs. 106 and up; away vs. 131 and up
The NCAA Tournament will continue to feature an automatic qualifier from each conference in addition to the 37 at-large teams that the committee chooses.
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NCAA Tournament seed list
When the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced on Selection Sunday, the committee will publicly provide the entire list of teams in order of seed for the first time.
“The committee felt that it was the right time for women’s basketball and our championship to reveal the entire championship field seed list. Providing the full seed list on Selection Sunday will provide additional transparency to the bracketing processes,” Derita Dawkins, the chair of the committee and Arkansas’ assistant vice chancellor and deputy director of athletics, said in the NCAA’s press release.
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NCAA regional format
The 2024 championship saw record attendance in the preliminary rounds, and because of this, the committee assured that the current First Four, first- and second-round, and regional championship format is still supported.
In 2025, the top 16 seeds will host the First Four, first round and second round on March 19 to 24. Regional play will be split between two host sites in Birmingham, Alabama, and Spokane, Washington, with eight teams playing at each from March 28 to 31.
“The women’s basketball championship has enjoyed tremendous success over the last couple of years, with record-breaking attendance and television ratings during March Madness,” Dawkins said. “The current preliminary-round format is providing an elevated student-athlete and fan championship experience. We feel good about the growth of the championship and where we are positioned. The format review will include membership and stakeholder feedback, with the goal of making sure we consider all additional format options for a future analysis.”
Final Four sites
The committee approved Indianapolis as the 2028 host site for the joint women’s basketball championship — including the championship games for each division — from March 31 to April 2. This will be the third time that the site of the Women’s Final Four will host the joint championships. In 2016, Indianapolis was the first to do it, and in 2023, Dallas was the second.
“There has been overwhelming membership and fan support for bringing back the joint championships, and we are proud to announce the next one taking place in 2028,” Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president of women’s basketball, said in the press release. “Indianapolis has proven to be a great site for hosting the joint championships format in the past. We know that it will again be a tremendous celebration of women’s basketball across all three divisions.”
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Coverage plans and tournament operations for 2024-25 season
Representatives from ESPN and TNT Sports shared updates on their coverage plans for the 2024-25 season, including the championship. Tournament operations including ticket pricing, future site selections and officiating were also discussed.
The committee also received an update from the Tampa Bay Local Organizing Committee, which is planning the 2025 Women’s Final Four.
NCAA committee members
In 2024-25, the 12-member committee will be chaired by Dawkins. Amanda Braun, Milwaukee’s director of athletics, was elected to serve as committee vice chair for the next year and will move to the chair position in 2025-26.
“It continues to be an honor to serve on the committee, and I am glad to accept the responsibility of serving as vice chair and then chair,” Braun said in the press release. “The growth of the game has been tremendous over the last several years, and I look forward to what the future will bring.”
The other committee members for 2024-25 are:
- Deneé Barracato, deputy director of athletics at Northwestern
- Jill Bodensteiner, vice president and director of athletics at Saint Joseph’s
- Jenny Bramer, executive associate athletics director at San Diego State
- Vicky Chun, director of athletics at Yale
- Liz Darger, senior associate director at BYU
- Amy Folan, associate vice president and director of athletics at Central Michigan
- Alex Gary, director of athletics at Western Carolina
- Lizzie Gomez, deputy commissioner of the Southland Conference
- Josh Heird, director of athletics at Louisville
- Lynn Tighe, senior associate athletics director at Villanova
