1996 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 1996 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament took place March 15–31, 1996. The Final Four consisted of
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
,
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 ...
, and
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. Tennessee defeated Georgia 83–65 in the championship game.


Tournament records

* Three-point field goal percentage –
Nykesha Sales Nykesha Simone Sales (born May 10, 1976) is an American assistant coach at the University of Georgia. She is a former professional basketball player in the WNBA, as well as playing in the Bosnian league for the ZKK Mladi Krajisnik club. Her prim ...
, Connecticut, hit four of five three-point field goal attempts(80%) in the semi-final game against Tennessee, tying a record for three-point field goal percentage in a Final Four game, held by four other players. * Three-point field goal percentage – Abby Conklin, Tennessee hit four of five three-point field goal attempts(80%) in the championship game against Georgia, tying a record for three-point field goal percentage in a Final Four game, held by four other players. * Three-point field goals – Harvard hit 16 three-point field goals in a Mideast first-round game, setting the record for most three-point field goals in an NCAA tournament game, subsequently tied by two other teams.


Qualifying teams – automatic

Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid.


Qualifying teams – at-large

Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.


Bids by conference

Thirty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In seventeen cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-three additional at-large teams were selected from fourteen of the conferences.


First and second rounds

In 1996, the field remained at 64 teams. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-16 in each region. In Round 1, seeds 1 and 16 faced each other, as well as seeds 2 and 15, seeds 3 and 14, seeds 4 and 13, seeds 5 and 12, seeds 6 and 11, seeds 7 and 10, and seeds 8 and 9. In the first two rounds, the top four seeds were given the opportunity to host the first-round game. In all cases, the higher seed accepted the opportunity. The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the sixteen first and second round locations:


Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 23 to March 25 at these sites: * East Regional
University Hall (University of Virginia) University Hall was an 8,457-seat multi-purpose arena on the University of Virginia Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia.The arena sat on the boundary between the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which enc ...
,
Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...
,
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 ...
(Host:
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
) * Midwest Regional William R. Johnson Coliseum,
Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a small city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Nacogdoches is a sister city of the smaller, similarly named Natchitoch ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
(Host:
Stephen F. Austin University } Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1923 and subsequennly renamed after one of Texas's founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part ...
) * West Regional
Hec Edmundson Pavilion Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion (formerly and still commonly referred to as Hec Edmundson Pavilion or simply Hec Ed) is an indoor arena in the northwest United States, on the campus of the University of Washington in ...
,
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
(Host:
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
) * Mideast Regional
Rosemont Horizon Allstate Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Rosemont, Illinois, United States. It is located near the intersection of Mannheim Road and Interstate 90, adjacent to the city limits of Chicago and O'Hare International Airport. The facility opened i ...
, Rosemont,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
(Host:
DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...
) Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four held March 29 and March 31 in
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
at the
Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte Coliseum was a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was operated by the Charlotte Coliseum Authority, which also oversees the operation of Bojangles' Coliseum (which was called Charlott ...
, (co-hosted by
Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan†...
and
UNC Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine colle ...
).


Bids by state

The sixty-four teams came from thirty-two states, plus Washington, D.C. Texas and Tennessee had the most teams with five bids. Eighteen states did not have any teams receiving bids.


Brackets


East Region


Mideast Region


Midwest Region


West Region


Final Four – Charlotte, North Carolina


Record by conference

Sixteen conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play: Fifteen conferences went 0-1:
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 ...
,
Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...
,
Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...
,
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
, MAAC, Mid-Continent,
MEAC The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...
, Midwestern Collegiate,
Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...
,
North Atlantic Conference The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an athletic conference, affiliated with the NCAA ’s Division III, consisting primarily of small liberal arts colleges in the Northern New England states of Maine and Vermont, as well as New York. The con ...
,
Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...
,
Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...
,
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 ...
, SWAC, and Trans America


All-Tournament team

*
Michelle M. Marciniak Michelle M. Marciniak (born October 29, 1973) is a former All-American collegiate and professional basketball player who played point guard in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). As a floor general, Marciniak competed for two nati ...
, Tennessee *
Chamique Holdsclaw Chamique Shaunta Holdsclaw (born August 9, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) most recently under a contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars. She announced her retir ...
, Tennessee *
Tiffani Johnson Tiffani Tamara Johnson (born December 27, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. She played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the Sacramento Monarchs, Houston Comets and Seattle Storm. Johnson won a ...
, Tennessee * La'Keshia Frett, Georgia *
Saudia Roundtree Saudia Roundtree (born October 4, 1974 in Anderson, South Carolina) is an American women's basketball coach, and also a former star player. Career Roundtree attended Westside high School in Anderson, South Carolina, where she was named a High ...
, Georgia


Game officials

* Art Bomegen (semifinal) * Doug Cloud (semifinal) * Wes Dean (semifinal) * John Morningstar (semifinal) * Bob Trammell (semifinal) * Scott Yarborough (semifinal) * Sally Bell (final) * Dee Kantner (final) * Violet Palmer (final) This was the first year the NCAA used three officials in tournament games, which was the standard for men's games since the 1978-79 season. Several conferences, including the SEC, assigned three officials to its regular season and conference tournament games for several seasons before the NCAA changed its rules.


See also

*
1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1996, and ended with the championsh ...
* 1996 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament *
1996 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament The 1996 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament was the 15th annual tournament hosted by the NCAA to determine the national champion of Division III women's collegiate basketball in the United States. Wisconsin–Oshkosh defeated Mou ...
* 1996 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament * 1996 NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
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 ...
Basketball in Lubbock, Texas