1990 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

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, Stanford, Auburn, and Louisiana Tech, with Stanford defeating Auburn 88–81 to win its first NCAA title. Stanford's Jennifer Azzi 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 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 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.

Automatic bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Appalachian State University SoCon 11 Auburn University SEC 2 Bowling Green State University MAC 12 Big Ten 3 Louisiana Tech University American South 1 Manhattan College MAAC 12 Big Sky 8 Oklahoma State University–Stillwater Big Eight 7 Old Dominion University Sun Belt 8 Pennsylvania State University Atlantic 10 7 Providence College Big East 3 CAA 10 Southern Illinois University Carbondale Gateway 11 Metro 8 Stanford University Pac-10 1 Stephen F. Austin State University Southland 3 Tennessee Technological University Ohio Valley Conference 7 Southwest 3 Big West 4 High Country 12 ACC 2

Qualifying teams – at-large Twenty-seven additional teams were selected to complete the forty-eight invitations.

At-large Bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Southwest 7 Pacific-10 11 Clemson University ACC 5 Big East 4 DePaul University North Star 8 Florida State University Metro 10 SEC 2 Big West 9 Big West 6 SEC 9 ACC 6 Big Ten 10 (Ole Miss) SEC 5 North Carolina State University ACC 2 Northern Illinois University North Star 5 Northwestern University Big Ten 4 Ohio State University Big Ten 6 Purdue University Big Ten 4 Rutgers University Big East 11 Metro 5 Saint Joseph's University Atlantic 10 9 SEC 1 Texas Tech University Southwest 12 Pacific-10 10 Vanderbilt University SEC 6 Pacific-10 1 Western Kentucky University Sun Belt 9

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.

Bids Conference Teams 6

SEC

Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt 5

Big Ten

Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue 4

ACC

Virginia, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina State 4

Pacific-10

Stanford, California, UCLA, Washington 3

Big East

Providence, Connecticut, Rutgers 3

Metro

Southern Miss, Florida State, South Carolina 3

Southwest

Texas, Arkansas, Texas Tech 2

Atlantic 10

Penn State, Saint Joseph's 3

Big West

UNLV, Hawaii, Long Beach State 2

North Star

DePaul, Northern Illinois 2

Sun Belt

Old Dominion, Western Kentucky 1

American South

Louisiana Tech 1

Big Eight

Oklahoma State 1

Big Sky

Montana 1

CAA

Richmond 1 Gateway Southern Illinois 1 High Country Utah 1

MAAC

Manhattan 1

Mid-American

Bowling Green 1

Ohio Valley

Tennessee Tech 1

Southern

Appalachian State 1

Southland

Stephen F. Austin

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: Region RndHostVenue City State East

1

Clemson University

Littlejohn Coliseum

Clemson

South Carolina East

1

Florida State University

Tully Gymnasium

Tallahassee

Florida East

1

Old Dominion University

Old Dominion University Fieldhouse

Norfolk

Virginia East

1

University of Maryland

Cole Field House

College Park

Maryland East

2

Providence College

Alumni Hall (Providence)

Providence

Rhode Island East

2

University of Connecticut

Harry A. Gampel Pavilion

Storrs

Connecticut East

2

University of Tennessee

Thompson-Boling Arena

Knoxville

Tennessee East

2

University of Virginia

University Hall (University of Virginia)

Charlottesville

Virginia Mideast

1

DePaul University

Alumni Hall (DePaul University)

Chicago

Illinois Mideast

1

University of South Carolina

Carolina Coliseum

Columbia

South Carolina Mideast

1

Tennessee Tech

Eblen Center

Cookeville

Tennessee Mideast

1

Vanderbilt University

Memorial Gymnasium (Vanderbilt University)

Nashville

Tennessee Mideast

2

Auburn University

Memorial Coliseum (Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum)

Auburn

Alabama Mideast

2

Northwestern University

Welsh-Ryan Arena

Evanston

Illinois Mideast

2

University of Iowa

Carver–Hawkeye Arena

Iowa City

Iowa Mideast

2

University of Washington

Hec Edmundson Pavilion

Seattle

Washington Midwest

1

Northern Illinois University

Chick Evans Field House

DeKalb

Illinois Midwest

1

Ohio State University

St. John Arena

Columbus

Ohio Midwest

1

University of Southern Mississippi

Reed Green Coliseum

Hattiesburg

Mississippi Midwest

1

Oklahoma State University

Gallagher-Iba Arena

Stillwater

Oklahoma Midwest

2

Louisiana Tech University

Thomas Assembly Center

Ruston

Louisiana Midwest

2

North Carolina State University

Reynolds Coliseum

Raleigh

North Carolina Midwest

2

University of Texas

Frank Erwin Center

Austin

Texas Midwest

2

Purdue University

Mackey Arena

West Lafayette

Indiana West

1

Long Beach State

University Gym (Gold Mine)

Long Beach

California West

1

University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)

Tad Smith Coliseum

Oxford

Mississippi West

1

University of Montana

Dahlberg Arena

Missoula

Montana West

1

University of Arkansas

Barnhill Arena

Fayetteville

Arkansas West

2

University of Georgia

Georgia Coliseum (Stegeman Coliseum)

Athens

Georgia West

2

Stanford University

Maples Pavilion

Stanford

California West

2

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

South Gym

Paradise

Nevada West

2

Stephen F. Austin University

William R. Johnson Coliseum

Nacogdoches

Texas

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 (Host: Western Kentucky University) Mideast Regional Memorial Coliseum (Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum), Auburn, Alabama (Host: Auburn University) Midwest Regional Thomas Assembly Center, Ruston, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana Tech University) West Regional Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held March 30 and April 1 in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Thompson-Boling Arena (Host: University of Tennessee)

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.

Bids State Teams 4

California

Stanford, California, Long Beach St., UCLA 4

Illinois

Southern Ill., DePaul, Northern Ill., Northwestern 3

Tennessee

Tennessee Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt 3

Texas

Stephen F. Austin, Texas, Texas Tech 3

Virginia

Old Dominion, Richmond, Virginia 2

Louisiana

Louisiana Tech, LSU 2

Mississippi

Ole Miss, Southern Miss. 2

North Carolina

Appalachian St., North Carolina St. 2

Ohio

Bowling Green, Ohio St. 2

Pennsylvania

Penn St., St. Joseph's 2

South Carolina

Clemson, South Carolina 1

Alabama

Auburn 1

Arkansas

Arkansas 1

Connecticut

Connecticut 1

Florida

Florida St. 1

Georgia

Georgia 1

Hawaii

Hawaii 1

Indiana

Purdue 1

Iowa

Iowa 1

Kentucky

Western Ky. 1

Maryland

Maryland 1

Michigan

Michigan 1

Montana

Montana 1

Nevada

UNLV 1

New Jersey

Rutgers 1

New York

Manhattan 1

Oklahoma