The 2014–15 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November and ended with the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, April 5–7. Practices officially began on October 3.
This was the final season in which NCAA women's basketball games were played in 20-minute halves. Beginning with the 2015–16 season, the women's game switched to 10-minute quarters, the standard for FIBA and WNBA play.
Season headlines May 14 – The NCAA announced its Academic Progress Rate (APR) sanctions for the 2014–15 school year. A total of 36 programs in 11 sports were declared ineligible for postseason play due to failure to meet the required APR benchmark. While no women's basketball teams were forbidden from postseason play due to APR sanctions, three Division I women's basketball teams faced level 1 or 2 sanctions: New Orleans (Level 2) Savannah State (Level 1) Towson (Level 1) Southern was declared ineligible for postseason play in all sports for failing to supply usable academic data to the NCAA.
Milestones and records February 3 – Connecticut's Geno Auriemma earned his 900th career win in the Huskies' 96–36 blowout of Cincinnati. Auriemma, coaching in his 1,034th game, broke the previous record that was held by Pat Summitt for the fewest games to reach 900 wins. He also became the first man to reach the 900-win mark in NCAA women's basketball; the previous six coaches to do so are all women.
Conference membership changes
The 2014–15 season saw the final wave of membership changes resulting from a major realignment of NCAA Division I conferences. The cycle began in 2010 with the Big Ten and the then-Pac-10 publicly announcing their intentions to expand. The fallout from these conferences' moves later affected a majority of D-I conferences.
SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Appalachian State Mountaineers Southern Sun Belt Davidson Wildcats Southern Atlantic 10 East Carolina Pirates C-USA East Tennessee State Buccaneers Atlantic Sun Southern Elon Phoenix Southern CAA Georgia Southern Eagles Southern Sun Belt Idaho Vandals WAC Big Sky Louisville Cardinals ACC Maryland Terrapins ACC Big Ten Mercer Bears Atlantic Sun Southern Oral Roberts Golden Eagles Southland Rutgers Scarlet Knights Big Ten Tulane Green Wave C-USA Tulsa Golden Hurricane C-USA Western Kentucky Lady Toppers Sun Belt C-USA
Season outlook
Pre-season polls
The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls. Associated PressRankingTeam1Connecticut (35)2South Carolina 3Notre Dame 4Tennessee5Texas A&M6Stanford7Duke8Baylor9Texas10Maryland11Kentucky12Louisville13North Carolina14Michigan State15Cal16Nebraska17West Virginia18DePaul19Iowa20Oregon State21Oklahoma State22Dayton23UCLA24Rutgers25Syracuse USA Today CoachesRankingTeam1Connecticut (32)2South Carolina 3Notre Dame 4Tennessee5Texas A&M6Stanford7Duke8Maryland9Baylor10Kentucky11Louisville12Texas13North Carolina14Cal15Michigan State16Nebraska17West Virginia18DePaul19Iowa20Oklahoma State21Oregon State22Dayton23UCLA24LSU25Syracuse
Regular season
Early season tournaments Although these tournaments include more teams, only the number listed play for the championship.
Conference winners and tournaments Thirty-one athletic conferences each end their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament. The teams in each conference that win their regular season title are given the number one seed in each tournament. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the 2015 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. The Ivy League does not have a conference tournament, instead giving their automatic invitation to their regular season champion.
ConferenceRegular season winnerConference player of the yearConference Coach of the YearConference tournamentTournament venue (city)Tournament winner America East Conference Albany & Maine Shereesha Richards, Albany Richard Barron, Maine 2015 America East women's basketball tournament Binghamton University Events Center (Binghamton, New York) Albany American Athletic Conference Connecticut Breanna Stewart, Connecticut Geno Auriemma, Connecticut 2015 American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament Mohegan Sun Arena(Uncasville, Connecticut) Connecticut Atlantic 10 Conference George Washington Jonquel Jones, George Washington Jonathan Tsipis, George Washington 2015 Atlantic 10 women's basketball tournament Richmond Coliseum(Richmond, Virginia) George Washington Atlantic Coast Conference Notre Dame Jewell Loyd, Notre Dame Sue Semrau, Florida State 2015 ACC women's basketball tournament Greensboro Coliseum(Greensboro, North Carolina) Notre Dame Atlantic Sun Conference Florida Gulf Coast Whitney Knight, Florida Gulf Coast Karl Smesko, Florida Gulf Coast 2015 Atlantic Sun women's basketball tournament Campus sitesFlorida Gulf Coast Big 12 Conference Baylor Nina Davis, Baylor Kim Mulkey, Baylor 2015 Big 12 women's basketball tournament American Airlines Center(Dallas)Baylor Big East Conference DePaul & Seton Hall Brittany Hrynko, DePaul Tony Bozzella, Seton Hall 2015 Big East women's basketball tournament Allstate Arena(Rosemont, Illinois) DePaul Big Sky Conference Montana Kellie Rubel, MontanaD'shara Strange, Northern Colorado Robin Selvig, Montana 2015 Big Sky Conference women's basketball tournament Dahlberg Arena (Missoula, Montana)Montana Big South Conference Liberty Stacia Robertson, High Point Mike McGuire, Radford 2015 Big South Conference women's basketball tournament HTC Center(Conway, South Carolina) Liberty Big Ten Conference Maryland Amanda Zahui B., Minnesota (media)Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State (coaches) Brenda Frese, Maryland 2015 Big Ten Conference women's basketball tournament Sears Centre(Hoffman Estates, Illinois) Maryland Big West Conference Hawaii Brittany Crain, UC Riverside Laura Beeman, Hawaii 2015 Big West Conference women's basketball tournament Honda Center(Anaheim, California) Cal State Northridge Colonial Athletic Association James Madison Precious Hall, James Madison Kenny Brooks, James Madison 2015 CAA women's basketball tournament Show Place Arena(Upper Marlboro, Maryland) James Madison Conference USA WKU Chastity Gooch, WKU Michelle Clark-Heard, WKU 2015 Conference USA women's basketball tournament Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex(Birmingham, Alabama) WKU Horizon League Green Bay Tay'ler Mingo, Wright State Mike Bradbury, Wright State 2015 Horizon League women's basketball tournament 1st & Quarters: Campus sitesSemifinals & Finals @ highest remaining seed Green Bay Ivy League Princeton Blake Dietrick, Princeton Courtney Banghart, Princeton No tournament Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Quinnipiac Damika Martinez, Iona Tricia Fabbri, Quinnipiac 2015 MAAC women's basketball tournament Times Union Center(Albany, New York) Quinnipiac Mid-American Conference Ohio (East) Ball State (West) Sina King, Akron Bob Boldon, Ohio 2015 Mid-American Conference women's basketball tournament First round at campus sites Remainder at Quicken Loans Arena(Cleveland, Ohio)Ohio Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hampton Malia Tate-DeFreitas, Hampton Cedric Baker, Savannah State 2015 MEAC women's basketball tournament Norfolk Scope(Norfolk, Virginia) Savannah State Missouri Valley Conference Wichita State Alex Harden, Wichita State Jody Adams, Wichita State 2015 Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournament Family Arena(St. Charles, Missouri) Wichita State Mountain West Conference Colorado State Gritt Ryder, Colorado StateAlex Sheedy, Fresno State Yvonne Sanchez, New Mexico 2015 Mountain West Conference women's basketball tournament Thomas & Mack Center(Paradise, Nevada) Boise State Northeast Conference Bryant & Central Connecticut Breanna Rucker, Bryant Beryl Piper, Central Connecticut 2015 Northeast Conference women's basketball tournament Campus sites St. Francis Brooklyn Ohio Valley Conference Tennessee–Martin (East) Tennessee State (West) Ashia Jones, Tennessee–Martin Kevin McMillan, Tennessee–Martin 2015 Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament Nashville Municipal Auditorium(Nashville, Tennessee) Tennessee State Pac-12 Conference Oregon State Reshanda Gray, California (coaches)Ruth Hamblin, Oregon State (media) Scott Rueck, Oregon State 2015 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball tournament KeyArena(Seattle) Stanford Patriot League American Jen Dumiak, American Megan Gebbia, American 2015 Patriot League women's basketball tournament Campus sites American Southeastern Conference South Carolina & Tennessee Tiffany Mitchell, South Carolina Vic Schaefer, Mississippi State (AP and coaches)Dawn Staley, South Carolina (coaches) 2015 SEC women's basketball tournament Verizon Arena(North Little Rock, Arkansas) South Carolina Southern Conference Chattanooga Precious Bridges, Mercer Jim Foster, Chattanooga 2015 Southern Conference women's basketball tournament U.S. Cellular Center(Asheville, North Carolina) Chattanooga Southland Conference Stephen F. Austin Porsha Roberts, Stephen F. Austin Brandon Schneider, Stephen F. AustinDoBee Plaisance, Nicholls State 2015 Southland Conference women's basketball tournament Leonard E. Merrell Center(Katy, Texas) Northwestern State Southwestern Athletic Conference Texas Southern Jeanette Jackson, Prairie View A&M Johnetta Hayes-Perry, Texas Southern 2015 SWAC women's basketball tournament Toyota Center(Houston, Texas) Alabama State The Summit League South Dakota Ashley Luke, Western Illinois Amy Williams, South Dakota 2015 Summit League women's basketball tournament Sioux Falls Arena(Sioux Falls, South Dakota) South Dakota State Sun Belt Conference Arkansas-Little Rock Aundrea Gamble, Arkansas State Joe Foley, Arkansas–Little Rock 2015 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament Lakefront Arena (New Orleans)Arkansas-Little Rock West Coast Conference Gonzaga Morgan Bailey, BYU Lisa Fortier, GonzagaLynne Roberts, PacificPaul Thomas, Saint Mary's 2015 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament Orleans Arena(Paradise, Nevada) BYU Western Athletic Conference New Mexico State Brianna Freeman, New Mexico State Mark Trakh, New Mexico State 2015 WAC women's basketball tournament Orleans Arena(Paradise, Nevada) New Mexico State
Statistical leaders Points per game Rebounds per game Assists per game Steals per game Player School PPG Player School RPG Player School APG Player School SPG Kelsey Mitchell Ohio State 24.9 Vicky McIntyre Oral Roberts 15.8 Niya Johnson Baylor 8.9 Regina Okoye Weber State 3.69 Jasmine Nwaje Wagner 24.8 Jillian Alleyne Oregon 15.2 Almesha Jones Morehead State 8.2 Tiasha Gray Austin Peay 3.67 Damika Martinez Iona 23.8 Ruvanna Campbell UIC 14.1 Samantha Logic Iowa 8.1 Dominique Brothers Jackson State 3.57 Ashia Jones UT Martin 23.4 Amanda Zahui B. Minnesota 12.9 Angela Mickens James Madison 7.6 Syessence Davis Rutgers 3.28 Alexa Hayward Saint Francis (PA) 23.2 Joy Adams Iona 12.6 Shayne Mullaney Minnesota 7.5 Lia Galdeira Washington State 3.28 Blocked shots per game Field goal percentage Three-point field goal percentage Free throw percentage Player School BPG Player School FG% Player School 3FG% Player School FT% Sophia Ederaine San Diego 4.75 Brianna Turner Notre Dame 65.2 Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis Connecticut 48.8 Nici Gilday Santa Clara 94.5 Vicky McIntyre Oral Roberts 4.71 Porsha Roberts Stephen F. Austin 63.2 Nicole Bauman Wisconsin 48.8 Arlesia Morse Marquette 92.5 Kailyn Williams Bethune–Cookman 4.30 Alexa Hart Ohio State 62.7 Kelsey Harris UC Davis 48.3 Jen Dumiak American 92.2 Amanda Zahui B. Minnesota 4.09 Kaylon Williams Oklahoma 59.6 Andrea Hoover Dayton 45.6 Sophie Bikofsky Brown 92.1 Jasmine Joyner Chattanooga 4.00 Morgan Tuck Connecticut 59.6 Madeline Blais Marist 45.1 Haley Seibert IPFW 91/4
Postseason tournaments
NCAA tournament
Final Four – Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Tournament upsets For this list, a "major upset" is defined as a win by a team seeded seven or more spots below its defeated opponent.