The 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began on November 10, 2017 and ended with the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

title game at

Nationwide Arena Nationwide Arena is a multi-purpose arena in the Arena District of Columbus, Ohio, United States. Since completion in 2000, the arena has served as the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is one of two faci ...

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 ...

on April 1, 2018. Practices officially began in September 29, 2017.

Season headlines

Milestones and records

* November 13 and 16 – Chastadie Barrs of Lamar recorded

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

s in consecutive games, making her the eighth Division I women's player to do so. First, she recorded 14 points, 10 assists and 10 steals in a 93–62 win over Division III

Louisiana College Louisiana Christian University (LC) is a private Baptist university in Pineville, Louisiana. It enrolls 1,100 to 1,200 students. It is affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). Louisiana Christian Univer ...

. Barrs fell one rebound short of a

quadruple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: point (basketball), points, rebound (basketball), rebounds, assist (basketball), assist ...

in this game. She then recorded 24 points, 10 rebounds and 11 steals in the Cardinals' 92–49 blowout of NAIA school Southwestern Assemblies of God. * November 13 and 17 – On the night after Barrs recorded her second straight triple-double, Sabrina Ionescu of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

matched the feat, becoming the ninth Division I women's player to do so. In the preseason WNIT, Ionescu recorded 29 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in Oregon's quarterfinal against

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

, followed by 16 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

in the semifinals. This gave the sophomore six triple-doubles in her career, one shy of what was then the Division I women's record of seven. * November 25 – Kelsey Mitchell of

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public 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 of the largest universities by enrollme ...

became the all-time Division I women's leader in made

three-pointer A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two p ...

s. Mitchell's seven three-pointers in the Buckeyes' 104–62 romp over Florida Gulf Coast gave her 402 for her career, surpassing the previous record of 398 by

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis. * December 17 – Ionescu recorded her seventh career triple-double, tying the NCAA women's all-divisions record then held by

Suzie McConnell-Serio Suzie McConnell-Serio (born July 29, 1966) is an American former women's basketball coach and player. She was the head coach for the women's basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh from 2013 to 2018. In 2004, she was named WNBA Coach of t ...

(

Penn State #Redirect 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 ca ...

) and Louella Tomlinson ( Saint Mary's). She had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists in the Ducks' 90–46 blowout of

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

. * December 19 – Two coaches recorded their 1,000th career wins. First,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Sylvia Hatchell Sylvia Rhyne Hatchell (born February 28, 1952) is a former American women's basketball coach, who last coached for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and was the fifth with the most career wins in NCAA women's basketball histo ...

reached the milestone when the Tar Heels defeated Grambling State 79–63. Later in the evening,

Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. He holds the NCAA basketball records for wins and winning percentage with a mi ...

reached the milestone when

UConn 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, ...

defeated

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

88–64. Auriemma became the fastest coach in either men's or women's Division I history to reach 1,000 wins, doing so in his 33rd season and 1,135th game. * December 31 – Ionescu took sole possession of the record for career triple-doubles with 24 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in the Ducks' 94–83 win over

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. This game was also the 500th career win for Ducks head coach Kelly Graves. * January 3 – Grambling State's Shakyla Hill became the first player in Division I basketball to record a quadruple-double since Lester Hudson in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, and the first to do so in D-I women's play since 1993. She had 15 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in the Lady Tigers' 93–71 win over Alabama State. * January 7 – Mercer's KeKe Calloway hit 12 three-pointers in the Bears' 86–64 win at Furman, tying a Division I women's single-game record. * January 13 – Mitchell became the 13th Division I women's player with 3,000 career points, reaching the milestone with her first two points in the Buckeyes' 77–62 win at

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 ...

. * January 27 – Mitchell became the all-time scoring leader in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

, surpassing Rachel Banham of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

during the Buckeyes' 78–62 win over

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

. * February 1 –

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

's Jim Foster became the eighth NCAA women's coach and the seventh in Division I with 900 career wins, reaching the mark with a 58–41 win over Western Carolina. * February 3 – In a more ignominious milestone, Chicago State set a new Division I women's record with its 59th consecutive loss, reaching the mark with a 59–43 home loss to Grand Canyon. * February 17 – Oregon's Ruthy Hebard set a new Division I women's record for consecutive field goals made, going 12-for-12 in the Ducks' 80–74 double-overtime win over

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

to finish the game with an ongoing streak of 30. The previous record of 28 was set in 1998 by Southern Utah's Myndee Kay Larsen. * February 19 – Hebard made her first three basket attempts in Oregon's 101–94 overtime win over

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, ending with a streak of 33 consecutive field goals, the NCAA Division I record for a player of either sex. She had entered the game even with

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

's Brandon Sherrod, who had a streak of 30 in 2016. * March 16 – Ionescu recorded her sixth triple-double of the season in Oregon's 88–45 first-round NCAA tournament win over

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. This matched the single-season Division I triple-double record, previously accomplished by Danielle Carson of Youngstown State in 1985–86, and also in men's play by BYU's Kyle Collinsworth in both 2014–15 and 2015–16. It was also the 16th triple-double in Division I women's tournament history, and the first since

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

's Samantha Logic in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. * March 17 – UConn crushed Saint Francis (PA) 140–52 in the first round of the NCAA tournament, setting a new scoring record for a Division I women's tournament game. The only team to score more points in a Division I tournament game was the Loyola Marymount men, who scored 149 in a

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

game against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Conference membership changes

Three schools joined new conferences for the 2017–18 season. In addition to the schools changing conferences, the 2017–18 season was the last for four schools in their then-current conferences: *

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

left the

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 ...

for the Summit League. * Hampton and USC Upstate, respectively, left the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

and

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

(ASUN) to become members of the

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), ...

. *

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

left the Big South to join the ASUN.

Arenas

New arenas

* DePaul played its first season at

Wintrust Arena Wintrust Arena at McCormick Square, previously referred to as DePaul Arena or McCormick Place Events Center, is a 10,387-seat sports venue in the Near South Side, Chicago, Near South Side Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago t ...

, which replaced McGrath–Phillips Arena (though the DePaul women's volleyball team continues to use the older venue). *

NJIT New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a Public university, public research university in Newark, New Jersey, United States, with a graduate-degree-granting satellite campus in Jersey City. Founded in 1881 with the support of local indust ...

played its first season at the Wellness and Events Center, replacing Fleisher Center. * UMBC began the season at the Retriever Activities Center, the team's home since 1973, but the school opened the new UMBC Event Center in February 2018. The new facility opened on February 3 with the UMBC men hosting Vermont; the women's first game there was on February 8 against Binghamton. * Wofford played its first season at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, replacing Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Arenas closing

* Elon played its final season at Alumni Gym, which opened in 1950 for the Elon men's team and had housed the women's team since its first season of 1971–72. The school opened the new Schar Center, with more than three times the capacity of Alumni Gym, for the 2018 women's volleyball season (which precedes the basketball season).

Temporary arenas

Four Division I women's teams played the 2017–18 season in temporary homes due to renovation of their current venues. A fifth played in a temporary home following the demolition of its previous venue to accommodate a new arena. *

Cincinnati 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 ...

, which normally plays at the on-campus Fifth Third Arena, played most of its home games at the gymnasium of nearby Catholic girls' school St. Ursula Academy, also taking some games to the nearby campus of local community college Cincinnati State College. *

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

renovated Hofheinz Pavilion, which was renamed Fertitta Center upon its reopening. The renovated venue was expected to open by the start of the 2018–19 season, but construction delays pushed back the reopening to December 2018. The Cougars played at Texas Southern's Health and Physical Education Arena, and continued to play there until Fertitta Center reopened. * Northwestern played at Beardsley Gym on the campus of

Evanston Township High School Evanston Township High School (ETHS) (District 202) is a public high school in Evanston, Illinois. The campus is located in a northern suburb of Chicago along the Lake Michigan shore. ETHS was established in 1883 and serves the city of Evanston a ...

while

Welsh–Ryan Arena Welsh–Ryan Arena is a 7,039-seat multi-purpose arena in Evanston, Illinois, United States, near the campus of Northwestern University. It is home to four Northwestern Wildcats athletic teams: Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball, men's basket ...

was being renovated. * Robert Morris closed the Charles L. Sewall Center, home to the Colonials since 1985, in June 2017. The UPMC Events Center, under construction at the Sewall Center site, was scheduled to open in the middle of the 2018–19 basketball season. Until that time, the Colonials played home games at the Student Recreation and Fitness Center, which opened in September 2017 at the university's North Athletic Complex as part of the UPMC Events Center project. (Later construction delays pushed back the opening of the UPMC Events Center to the 2019–20 season.) * Villanova played at its former on-campus home of Jake Nevin Field House during renovations to its normal home of The Pavilion, which was renamed Finneran Pavilion when it reopened for 2018–19.

Preseason polls

The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches polls

Regular season

Early preseason tournament

Tournament upsets

For this list, an "upset" is defined as a win by a team seeded 7 or more spots below its defeated opponent.

Conference winners and tournaments

Each of the 32 Division I

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

s ends its

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

with a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

. The team with the best regular-season record in each conference is given the number one seed in each tournament, with tiebreakers used as needed in the case of ties for the top seeding. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the 2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

Award winners

All-America teams

The NCAA has never recognized a consensus All-America team in women's basketball. This differs from the practice in men's basketball, in which the NCAA uses a combination of selections by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

(AP), the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...

(NABC), the ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'' and the

United States Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

(USBWA) to determine a consensus All-America team. The selection of a consensus team is possible because all four organizations select at least a first and second team, with only the USBWA not selecting a third team. Of the major selectors in women's basketball, the AP and USBWA divide their selections into separate teams, but the 2017–18 season was the first in which the USBWA did so. The women's counterpart to the NABC, the

Women's Basketball Coaches Association The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels. The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches. The mission of the WBC ...

(WBCA), continues the USBWA's former practice of selecting a single 10-member (plus ties) team. The NCAA does not recognize ''Sporting News'' as an All-America selector in women's basketball.

Major player of the year awards

* Wooden Award:

A'ja Wilson A'ja Riyadh Wilson ( ; born August 8, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson played for the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball, South Car ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

* Naismith Award: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina * Associated Press Player of the Year: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina *

Wade Trophy The Wade Trophy is an award presented annually to the best upperclass women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I competition. It is named after three–time national champion Delta State ...

: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina * Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's Player of the Year (

USBWA The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

): A'ja Wilson, South Carolina *espnW National Player of the Year: A'ja Wilson, South Carolina

Major freshman of the year awards

USBWA National Freshman of the Year The USBWA National Freshman of the Year, with the men's and women's versions respectively named the Wayman Tisdale Award and Tamika Catchings Award, is an annual basketball award given to college basketball's most outstanding freshman male player ...

: Chennedy Carter,

* WBCA Freshman of the Year: Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M * espnW Freshman of the Year: Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M

Major coach of the year awards

* Associated Press Coach of the Year:

Muffet McGraw Muffet McGraw (; born December 5, 1955) is an American former college basketball coach and analyst, who served as the head women's basketball coach at Notre Dame from 1987 to 2020, compiling a 848–252 (.771) record over 33 seasons. Career McG ...

, Notre Dame *

Naismith College Coach of the Year The Naismith College Coach of the Year Award (officially known for sponsorship reasons as the Werner Ladder Naismith College Coach of the Year) is an award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to one men's and one women's NCAA Division I collegiate c ...

: Vic Schaefer,

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

* WBCA National Coach of the Year: Vic Schaefer, Mississippi State * espnW Coach of the Year: Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame

Other major awards

Nancy Lieberman Award The Nancy Lieberman Award, named for Basketball Hall of Fame legend Nancy Lieberman is given to the nation's top collegiate point guard in women's Division I basketball. Sue Bird won the inaugural award in 2000, making her the first of only thre ...

(top point guard): Sabrina Ionescu,

* Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (top shooting guard; inaugural award): Victoria Vivians,

* Cheryl Miller Award (top small forward; inaugural award): Gabby Williams,

* Katrina McClain Award (top power forward; inaugural award): Ruthy Hebard, Oregon * Lisa Leslie Award (top center; inaugural award):

* WBCA Defensive Player of the Year: Kia Nurse, Connecticut * Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year (inaugural award): Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State * Senior CLASS Award: Gabby Williams, Connecticut * Maggie Dixon Award (top rookie head coach): Bart Brooks, Belmont * Academic All-American of the Year (top scholar-athlete): Cherise Beynon,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

* Elite 90 Award (top GPA among upperclass players at Final Four): Jordan Danberry, Mississippi State * Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award: Avery Marz, Saint Joseph's player