1990 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
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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 U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
,
Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
, Auburn, and
Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...
, with Stanford defeating Auburn 88–81 to win its first NCAA title. Stanford's
Jennifer Azzi Jennifer Lynn Azzi ( ; born August 31, 1968), is an American business development officer and former basketball player and coach. Since 2021, she has been the chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces. Azzi played collegiate bask ...
was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.


Notable events

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 coach and former player who is the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team. A point guard, she played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers an ...
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 former basketball coach who was the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University from 1985 until her retirement in 2024. Designated the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketba ...
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, 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 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,
Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a city in Warren County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Kentucky, third-most populous city in the stat ...
(Host:
Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...
) * 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. The population was 76,143 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Auburn metropolitan area, Alabama, Aubu ...
(Host:
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
) * 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), Division I NCAA Louisiana Tech University Louis ...
,
Ruston, Louisiana Ruston is a small city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2020 population was 22,166. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex region and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Ruston is the prin ...
(Host:
Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...
) * West Regional
Maples Pavilion Maples Pavilion is a 7,233-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. Opened in 1969, Maples underwent a $30 million renovation in March 2004 and reopened ahead of schedule, in time for conference pla ...
,
Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
(Host:
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
) Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held March 30 and April 1 in
Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
at the Thompson-Boling Arena (Host:
University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...
)


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 is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...
, Colonial, Gateway, MAAC,
MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...
,
Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...
, and WAC


All-Tournament team

*
Jennifer Azzi Jennifer Lynn Azzi ( ; born August 31, 1968), is an American business development officer and former basketball player and coach. Since 2021, she has been the chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces. Azzi played collegiate bask ...
, Stanford * Katy Steding, Stanford *
Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. She began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Awa ...
, Auburn * Chantel Tremitiere, Auburn * Venus Lacy, 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 a single-elimination tournament to determine the NCAA Division I men's basketball national champion for the 1989-1990 season. It began on March 15, 1990, and e ...
* 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 concen ...
NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Div ...
NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Div ...
NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Basketball in Austin, Texas Women's sports in Tennessee