1992 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 1992 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 18 and ended on April 5. The tournament featured 48 teams. The Final Four consisted of Virginia Cavaliers, Stanford Cardinal, Southwest Missouri State Lady Bears (now known as Missouri State), and Western Kentucky Lady Toppers, with Stanford defeating Western Kentucky 78–62 to win its second NCAA title. Stanford's Molly Goodenbour was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

Notable events

Missouri State (then Southwest Missouri State), was not a regular participant in the Tournament. They had not earned a bid until 1991, when they won their first game and lost their second game. In 1992, they were assigned an eight seed. Their first game was against Kansas, which they won 75–59. That win matched them up against the number one seed in the Midwest region, Iowa. The Hawkeyes were 25–3, winner of the Big Ten conference in their ninth year under Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer. Despite the odds, the Southwest Missouri State team took Iowa to overtime, and won 61–60 in the overtime period. That matched up the Lady Bears against fifth-seeded UCLA, but Southwest Missouri State won easily, 83–57. Their next game was against SEC regular season champion Ole Miss, one of a small number of teams who had played in every NCAA tournament since the first one in 1982. Ole Miss was the number two seed in the region, but Southwest Missouri State again achieved an upset, winning the game 94–71. That win placed the Lady Bears in the Final Four. Prior to this win, the lowest seed to make it to the Final Four was a four seed. Only one team, Arkansas in 1998, with a nine seed, has made it to the Final four with a weaker seed.

Southwest Missouri State's opponent in the semi-final game was Western Kentucky, who has also achieved some upsets. After beating Alabama, the Lady Toppers faced Tennessee, the number one seed in the Mideast region, and the defending national champions. Western Kentucky won the game 75–70, and went on to beat the number 2 seed in the region, Maryland, by the identical score.

The other semi-final included two of the powerhouses of the sport at the time. Both Virginia and Stanford were number one seeds. Stanford had won the National championship two years before, while Virginia was competing in their third consecutive final four, and were the runner-up in the prior year's tournament.

In the game between Western Kentucky and Southwest Missouri State, the Lady Toppers dashed the upset hopes of the Lady Bears, and won the game 84–72. The game between Stanford and Virginia was much closer, with Virginia leading late but Stanford pulled to a small lead. Virginia's Dawn Staley scored to cut the lead to one with eleven seconds left. Stanford now controlled the ball, and in bounded it, but with time running out, the ball was loose on the floor. Staley dived after the loose ball, recovered it and flung it to teammate Melanee Wagener while Staley called for a timeout. The referee did not hear her call for the timeout, then heard the horn announcing the end of the game, so the refs and the teams headed off the court. Staley chased after Doug Cloud, the referee, insisting she had called a time out. A different referee, Bob Trammell, had heard her call for the timeout, so the teams were called back, and a fraction of a second were placed back on the clock. Virginia in bounded the ball and got it to Staley, but she was unable to get a final shot off. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer would call it, "the longest seven-tenths of a second in my life". The Cardinal won a one-point game 66–65. Van Derveer would later recount the story when preparing to train the USA National team, including Staley, for the 1996 Olympics.

After losing three starters from the prior year's team, including All-American Sonia Henning, some observers, including assistant coach Amy Tucker, were not expecting a stellar season. Their point guard, Molly Goodenbour, had not seen a lot of playing time in prior years playing behind Henning and Jennifer Azzi, but she would go on to hit 18 three-pointers in the tournament, at the time an NCAA record, and win the MVP award for the tournament. Teammates Rachel Hemmer and Val Whiting also earned spots on the All-Tournament team as the team won a 78–62 victory over Western Kentucky to claim their second national championship in three years.

Records Free throws – Tonya Baucom (Southwest Missouri State) hit nine of nine free throws attempts, tied with several others for free throw accuracy at 100%, and second only behind Sheryl Swoopes for free throws made in a Final Four without a miss. This occurred in the National Semi-final against Western Kentucky.

Qualifying teams – automatic Forty-eight teams were selected to participate in the 1992 NCAA Tournament. Twenty-two conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 1992 NCAA tournament.

Automatic bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regular Season Conference Seed University of Tennessee at Chattanooga SoCon 12 University of Colorado at Boulder Big Eight 7 Creighton University WAC 7 George Washington University Atlantic 10 8 University of Iowa Big Ten 1 University of Miami Big East 2 University of Montana Big Sky 11 Northern Illinois University North Star 11 Old Dominion University CAA 10 Saint Peter's College MAAC 11 Santa Clara University West Coast 12 University of Southern Mississippi Metro 9 Southwest Missouri State University Gateway 8 Stanford University Pac-10 1 Stephen F. Austin State University Southland 2 University of Tennessee SEC 1 Tennessee Technological University OVC 12 Texas Tech University Southwest 4 University of Toledo MAC 10 University of California, Santa Barbara Big West 9 University of Virginia ACC 1 Western Kentucky University Sun Belt 4 University of Notre Dame Midwestern Collegiate 12

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

At-large Bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regular Season Conference Seed University of Alabama SEC 5 Arizona State University Pacific-10 6 University of California, Berkeley Pacific-10 5 Clemson University ACC 5 University of Connecticut Big East 6 DePaul University Great Midwest 11 University of Houston Southwest 8 University of Kansas Big Eight 9 California State University, Long Beach Big West 10 Louisiana Tech University Sun Belt 6 University of Maryland, College Park ACC 2 University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) SEC 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ACC 7 Pennsylvania State University Independent 3 Providence College Big East 7 Purdue University Big Ten 3 Rutgers University Atlantic 10 8 University of Southern California Pacific-10 3 Southern Illinois University Carbondale Gateway 10 University of Texas at Austin Southwest 4 University of California, Los Angeles Pacific-10 5 Vanderbilt University SEC 3 University of Vermont North Atlantic 9 West Virginia University Atlantic 10 4 University of Wisconsin–Madison Big Ten 6

Bids by conference Twenty-two conferences earned an automatic bid. In eleven cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Three conferences, the Great Midwest, the Midwestern Collegiate, and the North Atlantic conferences sent a single representative as an at-large team. One independent school was selected. Twenty-five additional at-large teams were selected from ten of the conferences.

Bids Conference Teams 5

Pacific-10

Stanford, Arizona State, California, USC, UCLA 4

ACC

Virginia, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina 4

SEC

Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt 3

Atlantic 10

George Washington, Rutgers, West Virginia 3

Big East

Miami (FL), Connecticut, Providence 3

Big Ten

Iowa, Purdue, Wisconsin 3

Southwest

Texas Tech, Houston, Texas 2

Big Eight

Colorado, Kansas 2

Big West

UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State 2

Gateway

SW Missouri State, Southern Illinois 2

Sun Belt

Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech 1

Big Sky

Montana 1

CAA

Old Dominion 1

Great Midwest

DePaul 1

Independent

Penn State 1

Metro

Southern Miss 1

Metro Atlantic

St. Peter's 1

Mid-American

Toledo 1

Midwestern Collegiate

Notre Dame 1

North Atlantic

Vermont 1

North Star

Northern Illinois 1

OVC

Tennessee Tech 1

Southern

Chattanooga 1

Southland

Stephen F. Austin 1

West Coast

Santa Clara 1

WAC

Creighton

First and second rounds

In 1992, 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 exceptions:

Sixth seeded Arizona State played eleventh seeded DePaul at DePaul Ninth seeded UC Santa Barbara played eighth seeded Houston at UC Santa Barbara

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

University of Connecticut

Harry A. Gampel Pavilion

Storrs

Connecticut East

1

George Washington University

Charles E. Smith Athletic Center

Washington

District of Columbia East

1

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Carmichael Auditorium

Chapel Hill

North Carolina East

2

Vanderbilt University

Memorial Gymnasium

Nashville

Tennessee East

2

University of Virginia

University Hall

Charlottesville

Virginia East

2

West Virginia University

WVU Coliseum

Morgantown

West Virginia East

2

University of Miami

Knight Sports Complex

Coral Gables

Florida Mideast

1

Providence College

Alumni Hall

Providence

Rhode Island Mideast

1

University of Alabama

Coleman Coliseum

Tuscaloosa

Alabama Mideast

1

Rutgers University

Louis Brown Athletic Center

Piscataway

New Jersey Mideast

1

Louisiana Tech University

Thomas Assembly Center

Ruston

Louisiana Mideast

2

Purdue University

Mackey Arena

West Lafayette

Indiana Mideast

2

University of Maryland, College Park

Cole Field House

College Park

Maryland Mideast

2

Western Kentucky University

E.A. Diddle Arena

Bowling Green

Kentucky Mideast

2

University of Tennessee

Thompson–Boling Arena

Knoxville

Tennessee Midwest

1

University of Colorado at Boulder

CU Events Center (Coors Events Center)

Boulder

Colorado Midwest

1

DePaul University

Chick Evans Field House

DeKalb

Illinois Midwest

1

Southwest Missouri State University

Hammons Student Center

Springfield

Missouri Midwest

1

University of California, Los Angeles

Pauley Pavilion

Los Angeles

California Midwest

2

University of Iowa

Carver–Hawkeye Arena

Iowa City

Indiana Midwest

2

University of Texas at Austin

Frank Erwin Center

Austin

Texas Midwest

2

University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)

Tad Smith Coliseum

Oxford

Mississippi Midwest

2

Pennsylvania State University

Recreation Building (Rec Hall)

University Park

Pennsylvania West

1

University of California, Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara Events Center

Santa Barbara

California West

1

University of California, Berkeley

Harmon Gym

Berkeley

California West

1

Creighton University

Omaha Civic Auditorium

Omaha

Nebraska West

1

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Wisconsin Field House

Madison

Wisconsin West

2

University of Southern California

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

Los Angeles

California West

2