NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
Current season, competition or edition: 2016 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
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| Sport | Women's Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 |
| No. of teams | 64 |
| Country | NCAA Division I (USA) |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Connecticut (11th) |
| Most titles | Connecticut (11) |
| TV partner(s) | ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, WatchESPN |
| Official website | NCAA.com |
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women's Division I Basketball Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season. The NCAA tournament was preceded by the AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, which was held annually from 1972 to 1982. Basketball was one of 12 women's sports added to the NCAA championship program for the 1981-82 school year, as the NCAA engaged in battle with the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women for sole governance of women's collegiate sports. The AIAW continued to conduct its established championship program in the same 12 (and other) sports; however, after a year of dual women's championships, the NCAA prevailed, while the AIAW disbanded.
Attendance and interest in the Women's Division I Championship have grown over the years, especially from 2003 to 2016, when the final championship game was moved to the Tuesday following the Monday men's championship game. The women's championship game will be the penultimate overall game of the college basketball season starting 2017. From 1982 to 1990, 1996 to 2002, and from 2017 the Women's Final Four was usually played on the Friday before the Men's Final Four or the hours before the men played on the final Saturday of the tournament. The final was usually played the Sunday afternoon following the Men's Final Four; starting 2017, Sunday evening.
The tournament bracket is made up of champions from each Division I conference, which receive automatic bids. The remaining slots are at-large bids, with teams chosen by an NCAA selection committee. The selection process and tournament seedings are based on several factors, including team rankings, win-loss records and Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) data.
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