2012 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
| 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament |
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Logo of the 2012 Final Four
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| Teams | 64 | ||||
| Finals site |
Pepsi Center Denver, Colorado |
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| Champions |
Baylor (2nd title, 2nd title game, 3rd Final Four) |
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| Runner-up | Notre Dame (3rd title game) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
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| Winning coach | Kim Mulkey (2nd title) | ||||
| MOP | Brittney Griner Baylor | ||||
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The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament began March 17 and concluded April 3, 2012. The Final Four was played at Pepsi Center in Denver. For only the second time in history, and the first time since 1989, all four of the number one seeds made it to the Final Four. Baylor won its second national championship, defeating Notre Dame 80-61 in the championship game. They were the only team to win 40 straight games in a season until Connecticut matched it in 2014.
The format is similar to 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 17 through March 20.
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, were held from March 24 to March 27 at these sites:
Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held April 1 and 3 in Denver at Pepsi Center, hosted by the Mountain West Conference.
BYU held a small, two-point lead at half-time, which evaporated when DePaul opened the second half with a 14–0 run. BYU chipped at the lead, and cut the lead to three points late in the game. With one second left in the game, the lead was three, and Haley Steed launched a three-point attempt that many, including BYU coach Jeff Judkins, thought it was going in. It did not, and DePaul secured the round, and hit a final foul shot to win the game, 59–55.
The last time Tennessee-Martin beat Tennessee, Pat Summitt, then Pat Head, was playing for the Tennessee-Martin team. Tennessee held Heather Butler to 14 points, almost ten points below her usual average, which made her the third leading scorer in the nation. Tennessee-Martin was held to under 30% shooting, and Tennessee won the opening round game 72–49.
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