2016 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2016 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was played between March and April 2016, with the Final Four played April 3 & 5. The regional locations were four neutral sites: Bridgeport, Connecticut; Dallas, Texas; Lexington, Kentucky; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Final Four was played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. UConn won their fourth consecutive national championship, defeating Syracuse 82–51.

This was the last Women's Final Four to be played on the then Sunday/Tuesday schedule. Starting in 2017, the Final Four was changed to a Friday/Sunday schedule, which it used from its inception in 1982 through 1990, then again from 1996 through 2002. Tennessee continued its record streak of making every NCAA women's basketball tournament at 35 consecutive appearances. UConn also continued its record streak of nine consecutive Final Four appearances.

As of the 2025 tournament, this is the only one where all four Final Four teams were coached by men.

Tournament procedure

Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2016 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 36 bids are "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The tournament is split into four regional tournaments, and each regional has 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 basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus.

The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.

Schedule and venues The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals were played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done in 2015.

First and Second rounds (Subregionals)

March 18 and 20 Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: South Carolina) Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon (Host: Oregon State) KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: Louisville) Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State) Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Arizona (Host: Arizona State) Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi (Host: Mississippi State) Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York (Host: Syracuse) Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor) March 19 and 21 Edmund P. Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Indiana (Host: Notre Dame) Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: UCLA) Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: Kentucky) Xfinity Center, College Park, Maryland (Host: Maryland) Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford) Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: Connecticut) Reed Arena, College Station, Texas (Host: Texas A&M) Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: Texas)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 25 and 27 Lexington Regional, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky) Sioux Falls Regional, Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Host: Summit League) March 26 and 28 Bridgeport Regional, Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut (Hosts: Fairfield University and University of Connecticut) Dallas Regional, American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (Host: Big 12 Conference)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) April 3 and 5 Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Horizon League and Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis)

This was the third time that Indianapolis hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament; the prior times were in 2005 and 2011.

Notables Princeton became the first Ivy League team to ever receive an at-large bid in either the Division I men's or women's tournament. Notably, this came in the last season in which the Ivy League did not hold a postseason tournament.

Tennessee received a #7 seed, the lowest in program history until it received a #10 seed in 2026.

Kentucky had the chance to play all of its regional games in its home city. The subregional was held on the Kentucky campus at the women's primary home of Memorial Coliseum, and the regional was held at Rupp Arena, normally home to the Kentucky men's team but also an occasional home for the women's team, in downtown Lexington.

Five teams made their first-ever tournament appearance: Buffalo, Central Arkansas, Duquesne, Iona, and Jacksonville. Only Duquesne was an at-large entry; the others all won their conference tournaments.

Upsets were the theme of the day on the first round of Sweet 16 play. In all four contests, the lower seated team knocked off the higher seeded team. Fourth-seeded Syracuse took out the number one seed in their region, South Carolina. Fourth-seeded Stanford defeated the number one seed in their region, Notre Dame. Seventh-seeded Washington played third-seeded Kentucky on their own (secondary) court and won the game — becoming the first team to win a true road game in the Sweet Sixteen round since North Carolina defeated Arizona State in 2005 — to move on to the Elite Eight. Seventh-seeded Tennessee defeated the third-seeded Ohio State. This left two four seeds and two seven seeds in the two regions playing on this day.

Subregionals tournament & automatic qualifiers

Automatic qualifiers The following teams automatically qualified for the 2016 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

ConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bidACCNotre Dame23rd2015America EastAlbany5th2015AmericanConnecticut28th2015Atlantic 10George Washington17th2015Atlantic SunJacksonville1stNeverBig 12Baylor15th2015Big EastSt. John's10th2014Big SkyIdaho4th2014Big SouthUNC Asheville2nd2007Big TenMaryland24th2015Big WestHawaii6th1998ColonialJames Madison12th2015C-USAMiddle Tennessee18th2014HorizonGreen Bay16th2015Ivy League Penn4th2014MAACIona1stNeverMACBuffalo1stNeverMEACNorth Carolina A&T3rd2009Missouri ValleyMissouri State14th2006Mountain WestColorado State6th2002NortheastRobert Morris4th2014Ohio ValleyBelmont2nd2007Pac-12Oregon State8th2015PatriotArmy3rd2014SECSouth Carolina13th2015SouthernChattanooga14th2015SouthlandCentral Arkansas1stNeverSWACAlabama State3rd2015SummitSouth Dakota State7th2015Sun BeltTroy2nd1997WACNew Mexico State4th2015West CoastSan Francisco4th1997

Tournament seeds +Bridgeport Regional +Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, ConnecticutSeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1UConnAmerican32–03Auto2TexasBig 1228–47At-Large3UCLA Pac-1224–810At-Large4Michigan StateBig Ten24–817At-Large5Mississippi StateSoutheastern26–724At-Large6South FloridaAmerican23–921At-Large7BYUWest Coast26–616At-Large8Seton HallBig East23–839At-Large9DuquesneAtlantic 1027–518At-Large10MissouriSoutheastern21–945At-Large11Colorado StateMountain West31–141Auto12ChattanoogaSouthern24–740Auto13BelmontOhio Valley24–877Auto14HawaiiBig West21–10105Auto15Alabama StateSouthwestern19–11220Auto16Robert MorrisNortheast20–12174Auto+Dallas Regional+American Airlines Center, Dallas, TexasSeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1BaylorBig 1233–12Auto2Oregon StatePac-1228–45Auto3LouisvilleAtlantic Coast25–714At-Large4Texas A&MSoutheastern21–919At-Large5Florida StateAtlantic Coast23–715At-Large6DePaulBig East25–829At-Large7Oklahoma StateBig 1221–930At-Large8St. John'sBig East23–942Auto9AuburnSoutheastern19–1257At-Large10St. BonaventureAtlantic 1023–734At-Large11James MadisonColonial27–531Auto12Middle TennesseeC-USA24–859Auto13Missouri StateMissouri Valley24–979Auto14Central ArkansasSouthland28–390Auto15TroySun Belt20–12119Auto16IdahoBig Sky24–9123Auto+Lexington Regional+Rupp Arena, Lexington, KentuckySeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1Notre DameAtlantic Coast31–11Auto2MarylandBig Ten30–38Auto3KentuckySoutheastern23–713At-Large4StanfordPac-1224–79At-Large5Miami (FL)Atlantic Coast24–825At-Large6OklahomaBig 1221–1032At-Large7WashingtonPac-1222–1033At-Large8GeorgiaSoutheastern21–935At-Large9IndianaBig Ten20–1146At-Large10PennIvy24–427Auto11PurdueBig Ten20–1166At-Large12South Dakota StateSummit26–650Auto13San FranciscoWest Coast21–1172Auto14UNC AshevilleBig South26–6120Auto15IonaMetro Atlantic23–11103Auto16North Carolina A&TMid Eastern19–11195Auto+Sioux Falls Regional+Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, South DakotaSeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1South CarolinaSoutheastern31–14Auto2Arizona StatePac-1225–66At-Large3Ohio StateBig Ten24–711At-Large4SyracuseAtlantic Coast25–712At-Large5FloridaSoutheastern22–826At-Large6West VirginiaBig 1224–922At-Large7TennesseeSoutheastern19–1328At-Large8George WashingtonAtlantic 1026–623Auto9Kansas StateBig 1218–1248At-Large10Green BayHorizon28–420Auto11PrincetonIvy23–536At - Large12AlbanyAmerica East27–444Auto13ArmyPatriot29–261Auto14BuffaloMid American20–13106Auto15New Mexico StateWestern Athletic26–493Auto16JacksonvilleAtlantic Sun22–10134Auto

Tournament records

Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell attempted 22 free throws in a second-round game against West Virginia, the most free throws ever attempted in an NCAA tournament game Texas A&M's Anriel Howard recorded 27 rebounds in a first-round game against Missouri State, the most rebounds in an NCAA tournament game UConn scored 41 points in the first period of the first-round game against Robert Morris, the most points scored in a single period of an NCAA tournament game UConn recorded 129 assists in the tournament, the most by a single team since assists were recorded starting in 1985.

Games

Bridgeport Regional, Bridgeport, CT

First round

The Huskies had a 22–0 run in the first quarter on their way to a 41–4 first-quarter lead. Samuelson scored 22 points, representing the most ever points by a Connecticut Husky in their first NCAA tournament game. Stewart recorded three blocks, the second of which moved her past Rebecca Lobo for first place on the all-time list for Connecticut. She also had eight steals and 18 points. The Colonials outscored the Huskies in the final quarter when the starters for Connecticut were on the bench, but the game outcome was not in doubt as the Huskies won 101–49. Duquesne took on Seton Hall in their first ever NCAA tournament invitation. The first quarter featured a lot of scoring as the Seton Hall Pirates scored 24 points but the Duquesne Dukes more than matched them with 33. After defensive adjustments by both teams, the second quarter progressed differently, with the Dukes scoring only 10 while holding the Pirates to 13. Duquesne had as much as a 13-point lead in the second quarter but Seton Hall cut the halftime lead to six, then cut the lead to four in the third quarter. Then the Dukes went on a 15–0 run to open up a comfortable lead. Freshman Kadri-Ann Lass scored 20 points, while Deva'Nyar Workman had a career-high 25 points. The Dukes went on to win the game 97–76. The Chattanooga Lady Mocs started out strong against Mississippi State, leading the Bulldogs 16–11 at the end of the first quarter. The fifth seed team would not normally be playing on their home court. However, the fourth-seeded Michigan State had a scheduling conflict so Mississippi State was given the hosting honors. In the second quarter Mississippi State outscored the Lady Mocs by 13 to take the lead. Although Chattanooga would pull within 3 points part way through the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs scored seven consecutive points to put the game out of reach and won the game 60–50.