The 2011

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 ...

began on March 19, 2011, and concluded on April 5, 2011. The

Texas A&M Aggies The Texas A&M Aggies are the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "wikt:aggie#Etymology 2, Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also simply referr ...

won the championship, defeating the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

76–70 in the final held at Conseco Fieldhouse in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. The tournament was also notable for a historic run by Gonzaga that ultimately ended in the final of the Spokane Region. With the help of two games on their home court and a regional held less than two miles away, the #11-seeded Bulldogs became the lowest seed ever to make a regional final in the history of the women's tournament. Coincidentally, #11 seed VCU reached the men's Final Four, the third #11 to advance that far since the men's tournament expanded to 64 teams in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, which reached five consecutive Final Fours from 2004–08, did not qualify for the first time since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Tournament procedure

Sixty-four teams entered the 2011 tournament. Thirty automatic bids were extended to the champions of conference tournaments, with a 31st going to the regular season champion of the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

. The remaining 33 bids were "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The tournament was split into four regional tournaments, and each regiona had teams seeded from 1 to 16, with the committee ostensibly making every region as comparable to the others as possible. The top-seeded team in each region plays the #16 team, the #2 team plays the #15, etc. (meaning where the two seeds add up to 17, that team will be assigned to play another). The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 64.

2011 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

There were 64 teams in the tournament, placed in a seeded bracket with four regions. Thirty-two teams received automatic bids – thirty-one of which were their conference tournament champions; the other was for the Ivy League regular-season champion. An additional 32 teams were given at-large bids by the selection committee on the basis of their body of work during the regular season. Unlike the Men's Tournament, there was no "First Four" round. First and Second rounds (Subregionals) Subregionals were played from March 19 through March 22. The following 16 sites were used for first and second-round games: * The Pit,

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

* Auburn Arena,

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 ...

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 ...

* John Paul Jones Arena,

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

* Cintas Center,

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Comcast Center Comcast Center, also known as the Comcast Tower, is a skyscraper at 1701 John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia. The 58-story, tower is the List of tallest buildings in Philadelphia, second-tallest bui ...

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located approximately from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. Its population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the home of the University of Mary ...

* St. John Arena,

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

Cameron Indoor Stadium Cameron Indoor Stadium is an indoor arena located on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The 9,314-seat facility is the primary indoor athletic venue for the Duke Blue Devils and serves as the home court for Duke Duke Blue ...

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

* Thompson-Boling Arena,

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 ...

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 ...

* Jon M. Huntsman Center,

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

* McCarthey Athletic Center,

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

* CenturyTel Center,

Bossier City, Louisiana Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state, state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area ...

(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 ...

) *

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 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 ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

* Harry A. Gampel Pavilion,

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Storrs, Connecticut Storrs ( ) is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the New England town, town of Mansfield, Connecticut, Mansfield in eastern Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The village is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, ...

* Bryce Jordan Center,

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, University Park, Pennsylvania * Ferrell Center,

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

* INTRUST Bank Arena,

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

(Host:

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

) Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, which were held from March 26 to March 29, were at these sites: *Dayton Regional,

University of Dayton Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility hoste ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

*Spokane Regional, Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena,

(Host:

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

) *Dallas Regional,

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose List of indoor arenas, indoor arena located in the Victory Park, Dallas, Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Stars of the National ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

(Host Big 12 Conference) *Philadelphia Regional, Liacouras Center,

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

:''NOTES: 1. Unless noted, all sites are on campus.
2. This marked the first time since the NCAA started pre-determining subregional sites that one city hosted both a sub-regional and regional final as Spokane served as a host city twice in the same tournament.'' National semifinals and championship (Final Four and national championship) *April 3 and 5 **

Bankers Life Fieldhouse Gainbridge Fieldhouse is an indoor arena located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It opened in November 1999 to replace Market Square Arena. The arena is the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

(Hosts:

Horizon League The Horizon League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in ...

and

Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis Indiana ( ) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the south and southeast, and the Wabash Riv ...

) This was the second time that Indianapolis hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament; the prior times were in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

as per the NCAA's policy of hosting one of each of the men's and women's Final Four every five years in the home city of the NCAA offices.

Tournament records

* Field goals—Maya Moore attempted 30 field goals in the semifinal against Notre Dame, the most ever attempted in a Final Four game. * Free throws—Texas A&M completed ten out of ten free throw attempts, tied for the highest percentage free throw shooting by a team in an NCAA Tournament game (minimum-nine attempts). * Free throws—Marquette completed zero free throws in a game against Texas, tied for the fewest free throws completed in an NCAA Tournament game. * Field goals—Nicole Griffin, Oklahoma, hit 15 of 19 Field goal attempts, the highest field goal completion percentage for an individual in an NCAA Tournament.

Qualifying teams – automatic

Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA tournament. Tennessee continues its record of being present at every NCAA Tournament since the NCAA began sanctioning women's sports in the 1981–82 school year.

Qualifying teams – at-large

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

Tournament seeds

Bids by conference

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

Bids by state

The sixty-four teams came from thirty states, plus Washington, D.C. Texas had the most teams with six bids. Twenty states did not have any teams receiving bids.

Brackets

* – Denotes overtime period ''Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern ''Daylight'' Time ( UTC-04)''

Philadelphia Region

Dayton Region

Spokane Region

Dallas Region

Final Four – Indianapolis, Indiana

Record by conference

Eighteen conferences went 0–1: the America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial,

, MEAC,

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 ...

, Missouri Valley, Mountain West,

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

Ohio Valley The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its mouth on the Mississippi River in Cairo, ...

, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC and the

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

All-Tournament team

* Danielle Adams, Texas A&M * Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame *

Maya Moore Maya April Moore (born June 11, 1989) is an American social justice advocate and former professional basketball player. Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, ''Sports Illustrated'' called Moore the "greatest winner in the hist ...

, Connecticut * Tyra White, Texas A&M * Devereaux Peters, Notre Dame

Game officials

* Lisa Jones (semifinal) * Felicia Grinter (semifinal) * Denise Brooks (semifinal) * Lisa Mattingly (semifinal) * Cameron Inouye (semifinal) * Susan Blauch (semifinal) * Dee Kantner (final) * Tina Napier (final) * Michael Price (final)

Media coverage

Television

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the first and second round, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN or

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

. All other games were aired regionally on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

and streamed online via

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...

. Most of the nation got whip-a-round coverage during this time, which allowed ESPN to rotate between the games and focus the nation on the one that was the closest. The regional semifinals were split between ESPN and ESPN2, and ESPN aired the regional finals, national semifinals, and championship match.

Studio host & analysts

Trey Wingo Hal Chapman "Trey" Wingo III (; born September 19, 1963) is an American former co-host of ESPN '' Golic and Wingo'', '' SportsCenter'', and '' NFL Live''. He has previously served as host of the Women's NCAA basketball tournament. Early life W ...

(Host) *

Kara Lawson Kara Marie Lawson (born February 14, 1981) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team. She played professionally in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a ...

(Analyst) * Carolyn Peck (Analyst)

Commentary teams

''First & Second Rounds Saturday/Monday'' *

Jon Sciambi Jon "Boog" Sciambi () (born April 11, 1970) is an American sportscaster for ESPN and the Marquee Sports Network, and has been the everyday play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs TV broadcasts on Marquee since 2021. He has worked extensive ...

and Stephen Bardo – Columbus, OH * Dave Flemming and Kayte Christensen – Durham, NC * Dave O'Brien and Debbie Antonelli – Knoxville, TN * Justin Kutcher and Brenda VanLengen – University Park, PA * Clay Matvick and Tamika Raymond – Albuquerque, NM * Holly Rowe and Sean Farnham – Salt Lake City, UT *

Marc Kestecher Marc David Kestecher (born March 22, 1968) is an American Sports commentator, play-by-play announcer radio Sportscaster, sports and News presenter, news anchor. Early life and education He was raised in Guilderland, New York and graduated from S ...

and

Krista Blunk Krista Lee Blunk acts as a play-by-play broadcaster or an analyst for Pac-12 Network, Westwood One, and ESPN covering women's soccer, volleyball, softball, and basketball, and, as of November 2024, men's college basketball. In addition to the net ...

– Spokane, WA * Dave Pasch and Mary Murphy – Stanford, CA ''Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday'' *Dave Flemming, Rebecca Lobo, and Todd Harris – Dayton, OH *Dave Pasch, Debbie Antonelli, and Heather Cox – Spokane, WA ''Final Four'' *Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – Indianapolis, IN ''First & Second Rounds Sunday/Tuesday'' * Beth Mowins and

Rosalyn Gold-Onwude Rosalyn Fatima Gold-Onwude (; born April 28, 1987) is an American-Nigerian sports broadcaster. A native of New York City, Gold-Onwude played college basketball at Stanford and played on the Nigeria national team. Gold-Onwude covers NBA basketb ...

– Charlottesville, VA * Bob Wischusen and Brooke Weisbrod – Cincinnati, OH * Bob Picozzi and

Rebecca Lobo Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin (born October 6, 1973) is an American television basketball analyst and former professional women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the cent ...

– College Park, MD * Mark Jones and

Doris Burke Doris Burke ( Sable) is an American sports announcer and analyst for ''NBA on ESPN'', ''NBA on ABC'', '' College Basketball on ESPN'', and '' College Basketball on ABC'' games. She formerly worked as an analyst for WNBA games on MSG and has wo ...

– Storrs, CT * Cara Capuano and LaChina Robinson – Auburn, AL * Carter Blackburn and Fran Fraschilla – Shreveport, LA * Pam Ward and Stephanie White – Waco, TX * Dan McLaughlin and Abby Waner – Wichita, KS ''Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Sunday/Tuesday'' *Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, and Holly Rowe – Philadelphia, PA *Pam Ward, Stephanie White, and Beth Mowins – Dallas, TX ''Championship'' *Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – Indianapolis, IN

References

External links

NCAA Division I Women's Basketball
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

College basketball tournaments in Indiana 2010s in Indianapolis Women's sports in Indianapolis 2011 in sports in Indiana

Tournament procedure

2011 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

Tournament records

Qualifying teams – automatic

Qualifying teams – at-large

Tournament seeds

Bids by conference

Bids by state

Brackets

Philadelphia Region

Dayton Region

Spokane Region

Dallas Region

Final Four – Indianapolis, Indiana

Record by conference

All-Tournament team

Game officials

Media coverage

Television

Studio host & analysts

Commentary teams

See also

References

External links