The 1990 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 11 and ended on April 1. The tournament featured 48 teams. The Final Four consisted of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
,
Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
,
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
, and
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...
, with Stanford defeating Auburn 76-60 to win its first NCAA title. Stanford's
Jennifer Azzi
Jennifer Lynn Azzi (born August 31, 1968) is a former basketball coach, most recently the head coach of the women's team at the University of San Francisco. Azzi is also a former collegiate and professional basketball player, as well as an Olympic ...
was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.
Notable events
![Team040490 01JG](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Team040490_01JG.jpg)
Forty-eight teams started the tournament on the eleventh of March. Thirteen days later, there were four team left, Virginia, Auburn, Louisiana Tech and Stanford, headed to Knoxville, Tennessee for the Final Four.
Stanford, after playing in the initial 1982 tournament, did not qualify between 1983 and 1987, but had reached the Sweet Sixteen in 1988, and the Elite Eight in 1989. Virginia was competing in their seventh consecutive NCAA tournament, finishing as high as the Elite Eight in 1988. However, they had been knocked out of the tournament by Tennessee in each of the last three tournaments.
Auburn, coached by Joe Ciampi, had been to all but one of the NCAA tournaments, and reached the last two Final Fours, but finished in the Runner-up position in each year. Louisiana Tech had not just played in every NCAA tournament, but had reached at least the Elite Eight every year, and had two national championships.
For the fourth consecutive year, Virginia faced Tennessee in the tournament. The previous three match ups were all won by Tennessee, including an 80–37 win in the 1989 tournament. This time, led by
Dawn Staley
Dawn Michelle Staley (born May 4, 1970) is an American basketball Hall of Fame player and coach, who is currently the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Staley won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA as a player and later was head co ...
who would win the MVP for her performance in the East Regional, the Cavaliers took the Volunteers to overtime, and won 79–75. Virginia next faced Stanford, who had only lost one game all season, and reached the final four by beating Arkansas 114–87 in the West Regional. Stanford wouldn't lose this game, and prevailed over Virginia 75–66.
In the other semi-final game, Auburn faced Louisiana Tech. Auburn came into the tournament as the prior year's runner-up, but was a two seed in the bracket with Washington, the only team to beat Stanford during the regular season. Auburn won easily, beating the Huskies 76–50. The Tech team, only two years removed from their last national championship, were a 1 seed and beat Texas to advance to the Final Four. Auburn was too strong for the Lady Techsters, and advanced to the championship game with an 81–69 victory.
Over twenty thousand people bought tickets for the championship game in Knoxville, the largest crowd ever (at the time) to watch a women's basketball game.
In 1985, Stanford head coach
Tara VanDerveer
Tara Ann VanDerveer (born June 26, 1953) is an American basketball coach who has been the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University since 1985. Designated the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball, VanDerveer led the Stanf ...
had traveled to Knoxville to meet with the family of Jennifer Azzi, to try to persuade Azzi to come to Stanford. Despite finishing 9–19 the year before, VanDerveer talked about competing for a national championship, Azzi came to Stanford, and four years later, was twenty miles from her Oak Ridge hometown, playing for the national championship. Auburn, led by
Caroline Jones
Caroline Jones (born June 30, 1990) is an American country music singer, songwriter and radio host. Jones has released a number of albums, the most successful one being ''Bare Feet''. Her most recent album, ''Antipodes'', was released on Novemb ...
, pulled out to a nine-point lead in the first half. Then Azzi, who had not been able to even take a shot in the first eleven minutes, took over. She brought the team to a tie at halftime, and helped lead a 9–2 run early in the second half to take over the game. Azzi would win the tournament award for the most outstanding player, and her teammate Katy Steding set three point shooting records to help Stanford win their first national championship 88–81, while Auburn would finish as runner-up for the third consecutive year.
[
]
Records
Katy Steding
Kathryn Suzanne Steding (born December 11, 1967) is a former collegiate and professional basketball player. She is currently an assistant coach for the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team.
College career
Steding was born in Portland, Oreg ...
set the Final Four record for both three points field goal attempts (15) and three point field goals made (6), in the championship game against Auburn.
Stanford set the NCAA Women's Tournament record for assist in a single games, with 37 assists in their regional final game against Arkansas.
Qualifying teams – automatic
Forty-eight teams were selected to participate in the 1990 NCAA Tournament. Twenty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 1990 NCAA tournament.
Qualifying teams – at-large
Twenty-seven additional teams were selected to complete the forty-eight invitations.
Bids by conference
Twenty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In eleven cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Two conferences (North Star, Big West) sent two representatives as an at-large team. Twenty-four additional at-large teams were selected from ten of the conferences.
First and second rounds
In 1990, the field remained at 48 teams. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-12 in each region. In Round 1, seeds 8 and 9 faced each other for the opportunity to face the 1 seed in the second round, seeds 7 and 10 played for the opportunity to face the 2 seed, seeds 5 and 12 played for the opportunity to face the 4 seed, and seeds 6 and 11 played for the opportunity to face the 3 seed. In the first two rounds, the higher seed was given the opportunity to host the first-round game. In most cases, the higher seed accepted the opportunity. The exception:
* Seventh seeded Penn State played tenth seeded Florida State at Florida State
The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the thirty-two first and second round locations:
Regionals and Final Four
The regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 22 to March 24 at these sites:
* East Regional E.A. Diddle Arena
E. A. Diddle Arena is a 7,326-seat multi-purpose arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. The arena, built in 1963, is home to the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers men's basketball team and Lady Toppers basketball and volleyball t ...
, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the 2 ...
(Host: Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...
)
* Mideast Regional Memorial Coliseum (Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum), Auburn, Alabama
Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama, with a 2020 population of 76,143. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. The Auburn-Opelika, AL MSA with a population o ...
(Host: Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
)
* Midwest Regional Thomas Assembly Center
The Samuel M. Thomas Assembly Center is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Ruston, Louisiana. The arena, named for its benefactor and businessman Samuel M. Thomas, is home to the Division I NCAA Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs (men) and La ...
, Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a small city and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is the largest city in the Eastern Ark-La-Tex region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 21,859, reflecting an increase of 6.4 percent ...
(Host: Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activ ...
)
* West Regional Maples Pavilion
Maples Pavilion is a 7,392-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. Opened in 1969, Maples underwent a United States dollar, $30 million renovation in March 2004 and reopened ahead of schedule, in tim ...
, Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
, California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
(Host: Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
)
Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held March 30 and April 1 in Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...
at the Thompson-Boling Arena (Host: University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
)
Bids by state
The forty-eight teams came from thirty states.
California and Illinois had the most teams with four each. Twenty states did not have any teams receiving bids.
Brackets
First- and second-round games played at higher seed except where noted.
East regional – Norfolk, VA
West regional – Stanford, CA
Mideast regional – Iowa City, IA
Midwest regional – Austin, Texas
Final Four – Knoxville, TN
Record by conference
Fifteen conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play:
Eight conferences went 0-1: Big Eight, Big Sky Conference
The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...
, Colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
, Gateway, MAAC, MAC, Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...
, and WAC
All-Tournament team
* Jennifer Azzi
Jennifer Lynn Azzi (born August 31, 1968) is a former basketball coach, most recently the head coach of the women's team at the University of San Francisco. Azzi is also a former collegiate and professional basketball player, as well as an Olympic ...
, Stanford
* Katy Steding
Kathryn Suzanne Steding (born December 11, 1967) is a former collegiate and professional basketball player. She is currently an assistant coach for the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team.
College career
Steding was born in Portland, Oreg ...
, Stanford
* Carolyn Jones
Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy ...
, Auburn
* Chantel Tremitiere, Auburn
* Venus Lacy
Venus Lacy (some sources give her name as Venus Lacey, born February 9, 1967) is an American former star basketball player, at the high school, college, Olympic and professional levels. A wide-bodied, muscular center, at her best Lacy was an int ...
, Louisiana Tech
Game officials
* Patty Broderick (semifinal)
* June Courteau (semifinal)
* Sue Kennedy (semifinal)
* Bob Trammel (semifinal)
* Sally Bell (final)
* Art Bomengen (final)
See also
* 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I men's college basketball. It began on March 15, 1990, and ended with the championsh ...
* 1990 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
* 1990 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
* 1990 NAIA women's basketball tournament
References
{{1990 Stanford Cardinal women's basketball navbox
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 Women's sports, women's college basketball teams from the NCAA Division I, Division I level of t ...
NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 Women's sports, women's college basketball teams from the NCAA Division I, Division I level of t ...
NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
Basketball in Austin, Texas