The 2011 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 19, 2011, and concluded on April 5, 2011. The Texas A&M Aggies won the championship, defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 76–70 in the final held at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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.
LSU, which reached five consecutive Final Fours from 2004 to 2008, did not qualify for the first time since 1998.
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 remaining 33 bids were "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
The tournament was split into four regional tournaments, and each region 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.
2Schedule 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, Albuquerque, New Mexico Auburn Arena, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama John Paul Jones Arena, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia Cintas Center, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio Comcast Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland St. John Arena, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Thompson-Boling Arena, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee Jon M. Huntsman Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah McCarthey Athletic Center, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington CenturyTel Center, Bossier City, Louisiana (host: Louisiana Tech University) Maples Pavilion, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut Bryce Jordan Center, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania Ferrell Center, Baylor University, Waco, Texas INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas (host: Wichita State University)
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 29, were held at these sites:
Dayton Regional, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio Spokane Regional, Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington (host: Washington State University) Dallas Regional, American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (host Big 12 Conference) Philadelphia Regional, Liacouras Center, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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, Indianapolis, Indiana (hosts: Horizon League and Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis)
This was the second time that Indianapolis hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament; the prior times were in 2005 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 continued its record of being present at every NCAA Tournament since the NCAA began sanctioning women's sports in the 1981–82 school year.
Automatic bids Record Qualifying school Conference Regular season Conference Seed Arkansas–Little Rock Sun Belt 12 Baylor Big 12 1 Bowling Green MAC 12 Big West 16 C-USA 13 Connecticut Big East 1 Duke ACC 2 Fresno State WAC 12 Gardner–Webb Big South 14 Gonzaga West Coast 11 Green Bay Horizon 5 Hampton MEAC 13 Hartford America East 16 James Madison Colonial 11 Marist MAAC 10 McNeese State Southland 15 Montana Big Sky 14 Navy Patriot 14 Northern Iowa Missouri Valley 13 Ohio State Big Ten 4 Prairie View A&M SWAC 16 Princeton Ivy 12 Saint Francis (PA) Northeast 13 Samford Southern 14 South Dakota State Summit 15 Stanford Pac-10 1 Stetson Atlantic Sun 16 Tennessee SEC 1 Tennessee–Martin Ohio Valley 15 Utah Mountain West 15 Xavier Atlantic 10 2
Qualifying teams – at-large Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.
At-large bids Record Qualifying school Conference Regular season Conference Seed Arizona State Pac-10 7 Dayton Atlantic 10 11 DePaul Big East 3 Florida State ACC 3 Georgetown Big East 5 Georgia SEC 6 Georgia Tech ACC 5 Houston C-USA 8 Iowa Big Ten 6 Iowa State Big 12 7 Kansas State Big 12 8 Kentucky SEC 4 Louisiana Tech WAC 10 Louisville Big East 7 Marquette Big East 8 Maryland ACC 4 Miami ACC 3 Michigan State Big Ten 4 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt 11 North Carolina ACC 5 Notre Dame Big East 2 Oklahoma Big 12 6 Penn State Big Ten 6 Purdue Big Ten 9 Rutgers Big East 7 St. John's Big East 9 Temple Atlantic 10 10 Texas Big 12 9 Texas A&M Big 12 2 Texas Tech Big 12 8 UCLA Pac-10 3 Vanderbilt SEC 10 West Virginia Big East 9
Tournament seeds +Philadelphia Regional +Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1ConnecticutBig East32–1Automatic2DukeACC29–3Automatic3DePaulBig East27–6At-large4MarylandACC23–7At-large5GeorgetownBig East23–8At-large6Penn StateBig Ten24–9At-large7Iowa StateBig 1222–10At-large8Kansas StateBig 1221–10At-large9PurdueBig Ten20–11At-large10MaristMAAC30–2Automatic11DaytonAtlantic 1021–11At-large12PrincetonIvy24–4Automatic13Saint Francis (PA)Northeast22–11Automatic14NavyPatriot20–11Automatic15Tennessee-MartinOhio Valley21–10Automatic16HartfordAmerica East17–15Automatic+Dayton Regional +University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OhioSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1TennesseeSEC31–2Automatic2Notre DameBig East26–7At-large3Miami (FL)ACC27–4At-large4Ohio StateBig Ten22–9Automatic5Georgia TechACC23–10At-large6OklahomaBig 1221–11At-large7Arizona StatePac-1020–10At-large8MarquetteBig East23–8At-large9TexasBig 1219–13At-large10TempleAtlantic 1023–8At-large11James MadisonCAA26–7Automatic12Bowling GreenMAC28–4Automatic13UCFConference USA22–10Automatic14Gardner-WebbBig South23–10Automatic15UtahMountain West18–16Automatic16StetsonAtlantic Sun20–12Automatic+Spokane Regional +Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, WashingtonSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1StanfordPac-1029–2Automatic2XavierAtlantic 1028–2Automatic3UCLA Pac-1027–4At-large4KentuckySEC24–8At-large5North CarolinaACC25–8At-large6IowaBig Ten22–8At-large7LouisvilleBig East20–12At-large8Texas TechBig 1222–10At-large9St. John'sBig East21–10At-large10VanderbiltSEC20–11At-large11GonzagaWest Coast28–4Automatic12Fresno StateWAC25–7Automatic13HamptonMEAC26–6Automatic14MontanaBig Sky18–14Automatic15South Dakota StateSummit19–13Automatic16UC DavisBig West24–8Automatic+Dallas Regional +American Airlines Center, Dallas, TexasSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1BaylorBig 1231–2Automatic2Texas A&MBig 1227–5At-large3Florida StateACC23–7At-large4Michigan StateBig Ten26–5At-large5Green BayHorizon32–1Automatic6GeorgiaSEC21–10At-large7RutgersBig East19–12At-large8HoustonConference USA26–5At-large9West VirginiaBig East23–9At-large10Louisiana TechWAC24–7At-large11Middle TennesseeSun Belt23–7At-large12Arkansas-Little RockSun Belt23–7Automatic13Northern IowaMissouri Valley27–5Automatic14SamfordSouthern25–7Automatic15McNeese StateSouthland26–6Automatic16Prairie View A&MSWAC21–11Automatic
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 Conference Teams 9 Big East Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Rutgers, St. John's, West Virginia 7 Big 12 Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech 6 ACC Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina 5 Big Ten Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue 4 SEC Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Vanderbilt 3 Atlantic 10 Xavier, Dayton, Temple 3 Pac-10 Stanford, Arizona State, UCLA 2 C-USA UCF, Houston 2 Sun Belt Arkansas–Little Rock, Middle Tennessee 2 WAC Fresno State, Louisiana Tech 1 America East Hartford 1 Atlantic Sun Stetson 1 Big Sky Montana 1 Big South Gardner-Webb 1 Big West UC Davis 1 Colonial James Madison 1 Horizon Green Bay 1 Ivy Princeton 1 MAAC Marist 1 MAC Bowling Green 1 MEAC Hampton 1 Missouri Valley Northern Iowa 1 Mountain West Utah 1 Northeast Saint Francis (PA) 1 Ohio Valley Tennessee–Martin 1 Patriot Navy 1 Southern Samford 1 Southland McNeese State 1 Summit South Dakota State 1 SWAC Prairie View 1 West Coast Gonzaga
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.
Bids State Teams 6
Texas
Baylor, Prairie View, Houston, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech 4
California
Fresno State, Stanford, UC Davis, UCLA 4
Florida
Stetson, UCF, Florida State, Miami 4
Ohio
Bowling Green, Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton 4
Tennessee
Tennessee, Tennessee–Martin, Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt 3
Iowa
Northern Iowa, Iowa, Iowa State 3
Pennsylvania
Penn State, Saint Francis (PA), Temple 3
North Carolina
Duke, Gardner-Webb, North Carolina 2
Connecticut
Connecticut, Hartford 2
Georgia
Georgia, Georgia Tech 2
Indiana
Notre Dame, Purdue 2
Kentucky
Kentucky, Louisville 2
Louisiana
McNeese State, Louisiana Tech 2
Maryland
Navy, Maryland 2
New Jersey
Princeton, Rutgers 2
New York
Marist, St. John's 2
Virginia
Hampton, James Madison 2
Wisconsin
Green Bay, Marquette 1
Alabama
Samford 1
Arizona
Arizona State 1
Arkansas
Arkansas–Little Rock 1
District of Columbia
Georgetown 1