Road to the Championship

National Participation
There are 351 NCAA member institutions that sponsor Division I Women’s Basketball teams, with 348 teams and approximately 5,000 women's basketball student-athletes eligible to compete for the 2020 national championship.

Selection Process
The 2020 Division I Women’s Basketball championship provides for a field of 64 teams to compete in a single elimination tournament. Of the 64 teams, 32 teams will receive automatic qualification with the remaining best 32 teams selected on an at-large basis by the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Sport Committee.

Division I Women’s Basketball Committee Top-16 Announcements:
The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee will provide two top-16 reveals during the 2019-20 season.  The first top-16 reveal will take place at halftime of the Monday, February 3 game featuring Oregon at UConn on ESPN2 that tips at 7 p.m. ET.  The second will be announced at halftime of the South Florida at UConn game to be played on Monday, March 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.  Each reveal will include the top-16 in seed order, with potential regional assignments for all 16 teams provided as if the season ended on that respective date.  The two top-16 reveals will have no bearing on the final 64-team field for the 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship that will be announced during the ESPN Selection Special on Monday, March 16 at 7 p.m. ET.

Selection Show | Monday, March 16, 2020
The 2020 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship bracket will be announced Monday, March 16 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

First & Second Rounds | March 20 - 23, 2020
First- and second-round competition for the 2020 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship will be held on 16 non-predetermined campus sites. At each campus site, four teams will compete in single-elimination first-round competition. The two winning teams will then compete against each other in single-elimination second-round competition at the same campus site. The winning team from each of the 16 second-round games will advance to the regional rounds of play.

Regionals | March 27 -  30, 2020
Regionals for the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship will be held March 27 -  30 in Dallas, Greenville, S.C., Fort Wayne, IN, and Portland. At each site, four teams will compete in regional semifinal competition. The two winning teams will then compete against each other in the regional final competition at the same site. The winning team from each of the four regionals will advance to the 2020 Women’s Final Four.

National Championship | April 3 and 5, 2020
The 2020 Women’s Final Four will be held at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. National semifinals will be held on Friday, April 3, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. ET, with the national championship game taking place on Sunday, April 5, at 6:00 p.m. ET.