2004 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2004 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 20 and concluded on April 6 when Connecticut won a third consecutive national championship, becoming only the second school in history to accomplish such a feat. The Final Four was held at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 4–6 and was hosted by Tulane University. UConn, coached by Geno Auriemma, defeated archrivals Tennessee, coached by Pat Summitt, 81–67 in the championship game. UConn's Diana Taurasi was named Most Outstanding Player for the second consecutive year.

Tournament records Final Four appearances – Connecticut appeared in their fifth consecutive Final Four, tied for the longest such streak, with LSU (2004–08) Rebounds – Janel McCarville, Minnesota recorded 75 rebounds, the most ever recorded in an NCAA tournament. This record would be broken in 2018 when Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan recorded 109 rebounds. Assists – Temeka Johnson, LSU, recorded 50 assists, the most ever recorded in an NCAA tournament

Qualifying teams – automatic Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA tournament.

Automatic bids     Record   Qualifying school Conference Regular season Conference Seed Austin Peay State University Ohio Valley Conference 13 Boston College Big East 3 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Southern Conference 10 Colgate University Patriot League 16 Duke University ACC 1 Eastern Michigan University MAC 14 University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Horizon League 14 Hampton University MEAC 16 University of Houston Conference USA 3 Liberty University Big South Conference 14 Lipscomb University Atlantic Sun Conference 15 Louisiana Tech University WAC 5 Loyola Marymount University West Coast Conference 13 University of Maine America East 13 Marist College MAAC 14 Middle Tennessee State University Sun Belt Conference 13 Missouri State University Missouri Valley Conference 12 University of Montana Big Sky Conference 12 University of New Mexico Mountain West 12 Northwestern State University Southland 16 University of Oklahoma Big 12 3 Old Dominion University Colonial 8 University of Pennsylvania Ivy League 15 Purdue University Big Ten 2 Southern University SWAC 16 St. Francis (PA) Northeast Conference 15 Stanford University Pac-10 6 Temple University Atlantic 10 11 University of California, Santa Barbara Big West Conference 11 Valparaiso University Mid-Continent 15 Vanderbilt University SEC 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 University of Arizona Pacific-10 9 Auburn University Southeastern 7 Baylor University Big 12 4 University of Colorado at Boulder Big 12 6 University of Connecticut Big East 2 DePaul University Conference USA 9 University of Florida Southeastern 5 The George Washington University Atlantic 10 8 University of Georgia Southeastern 3 University of Iowa Big Ten 9 Kansas State University Big 12 2 Louisiana State University Southeastern 4 Marquette University Conference USA 9University of Maryland Atlantic Coast 12 University of Miami Big East 5 Michigan State University Big Ten 8 University of Minnesota Big Ten 7 University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Southeastern 10 University of Missouri Big 12 11 University of North Carolina Atlantic Coast 4 North Carolina State University Atlantic Coast 10 University of Notre Dame Big East 5 Ohio State University Big Ten 6 Pennsylvania State University Big Ten 1 Rutgers University Big East 7 Texas Christian University Conference USA 6 University of Tennessee Southeastern 1 University of Texas at Austin Big 12 1 Texas Tech University Big 12 4 University of California, Los Angeles Pacific-10 10 Villanova University Big East 7 Virginia Tech Big East 8 West Virginia University Big East 11

Bids by conference Thirty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In twenty-three cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-three additional at-large teams were selected from eight of the conferences.

Bids Conference Teams 8

Big East

Boston College, Connecticut, Miami FL, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Villanova, Virginia Tech, West Virginia 7

Big 12

Oklahoma, Baylor, Colorado, Kansas St., Missouri, Texas, Texas Tech 7

Southeastern

Vanderbilt, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee 6

Big Ten

Purdue, Iowa, Michigan St., Minnesota, Ohio St., Penn St. 4

Atlantic Coast

Duke, Maryland., North Carolina, North Carolina St. 4

Conference USA

Houston, DePaul, Marquette, TCU 3

Pacific-10

Stanford, Arizona, UCLA 2

Atlantic 10

Temple, George Washington 1

America East

Maine 1

Atlantic Sun

Lipscomb 1

Big Sky

Montana 1

Big South

Liberty 1

Big West

UC Santa Barb. 1

Colonial

Old Dominion 1

Horizon

Green Bay 1

Ivy

Penn 1

Metro Atlantic

Marist 1

Mid-American

Eastern Mich. 1

Mid-Continent

Valparaiso 1

Mid-Eastern

Hampton 1

Missouri Valley

Missouri St. 1

Mountain West

New Mexico 1

Northeast

St. Francis Pa. 1

Ohio Valley

Austin Peay 1

Patriot

Colgate 1

Southern

Chattanooga 1

Southland

Northwestern St. 1

Southwestern

Southern U. 1

Sun Belt

Middle Tenn. 1

West Coast

Loyola Marymount 1

Western Athletic

Louisiana Tech

First and second rounds

In 2004, the field remained at 64 teams. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-16 in each region. In Round 1, seeds 1 and 16 faced each other, as well as seeds 2 and 15, seeds 3 and 14, seeds 4 and 13, seeds 5 and 12, seeds 6 and 11, seeds 7 and 10, and seeds 8 and 9. Sixteen sites for the first two rounds were determined approximately a year before the team selections and seedings were completed, following a practice established in 2003.

The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the sixteen first and second round locations:

Region RndHostVenue City State East

1&2

University of Notre Dame

Edmund P. Joyce Center

Notre Dame

Indiana East

1&2

University of California, Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara Events Center

Santa Barbara

California East

1&2

Virginia Tech

Cassell Coliseum

Blacksburg

Virginia East

1&2

Fairfield University

Bridgeport Arena at Harbor Yard

Bridgeport

Connecticut Mideast

1&2

University of Montana

Dahlberg Arena

Missoula

Montana Mideast

1&2

Ohio State University

St. John Arena

Columbus

Ohio Mideast

1&2

Duke University

Cameron Indoor Stadium

Durham

North Carolina Mideast

1&2

University of Minnesota

Williams Arena

Minneapolis

Minnesota Midwest

1&2

University of New Mexico

The Pit (arena)

Albuquerque

New Mexico Midwest

1&2

Arizona State University

Wells Fargo Arena

Tempe

Arizona Midwest

1&2

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

McKenzie Arena

Chattanooga

Tennessee Midwest

1&2

Florida State University

Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center

Tallahassee

Florida West

1&2

University of Texas

Frank Erwin Center

Austin

Texas West

1&2

Louisiana State University

LSU Assembly Center (Pete Maravich Assembly Center)

Baton Rouge

Louisiana West

1&2

Iowa State University

Hilton Coliseum

Ames

Iowa West

1&2

Temple University

Liacouras Center

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 27 to March 30 at these sites: Midwest Regional Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Oklahoma (Host: University of Oklahoma) West Regional Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle (Host: University of Washington) East Regional Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut (Host: Big East Conference) Mideast Regional Ted Constant Convocation Center, Norfolk, Virginia (Host: Old Dominion University)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four held April 4 and April 6 in New Orleans at the New Orleans Arena (Host: Tulane University)

Bids by state The sixty-four teams came from thirty-two states, plus Washington, D.C. Tennessee had the most teams with six bids. Eighteen states did not have any teams receiving bids.

Bids State Teams 6

Tennessee

Austin Peay, Chattanooga, Lipscomb, Middle Tenn., Vanderbilt, Tennessee 5

Texas

Houston, Baylor, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech 4

California

Loyola Marymount, Stanford, UC Santa Barb., UCLA 4

Louisiana

Louisiana Tech, Northwestern St., Southern U., LSU 4

Pennsylvania

Penn, Temple, Penn St., Villanova St. Francis Pa. 4

Virginia

Hampton, Liberty, Old Dominion, Virginia Tech 3

Indiana

Purdue, Valparaiso, Notre Dame 3

New York

Colgate, Marist, 3

North Carolina

Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina St. 2

Florida

Florida, Miami FL 2

Michigan

Eastern Mich., Michigan St. 2

Missouri

Missouri St., Missouri 2

Wisconsin

Green Bay, Marquette 1

Alabama

Auburn 1

Arizona

Arizona 1

Colorado

Colorado 1

Connecticut

Connecticut 1

District of Columbia

George Washington 1

Georgia

Georgia 1

Illinois

DePaul 1

Iowa

Iowa 1

Kansas

Kansas St. 1

Maine

Maine 1

Maryland

Maryland. 1

Massachusetts

Boston College 1

Minnesota

Minnesota 1

Mississippi

Ole Miss 1

Montana

Montana 1

New Jersey

Rutgers 1

New Mexico

New Mexico 1

Ohio

Ohio St. 1

Oklahoma

Oklahoma 1

West Virginia

West Virginia

Brackets Data Source

East Region – Hartford, Connecticut

Mideast Region – Norfolk, Virginia

Midwest Region – Norman, Oklahoma

West Region – Seattle

Final Four – New Orleans

E-East; ME-Mideast; MW-Midwest; W-West.

Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Sweet SixteenElite EightFinal FourChampionship Game Big East 8 12-7 63.2% 3 1 1 1 SEC 7 16-7 69.6% 4 3 2 1 Big 12 7 7-7 50.0% 2 0 0 0 Big Ten 6 11-6 64.7% 3 2 1 0 ACC 4 4-4 50.0% 1 1 0 0 Conference USA 4 4-4 50.0% 0 0 0 0 Pac-10 3 3-3 50.0% 1 1 0 0 Atlantic 10 2 0-2 0.0% 0 0 0 0 Big West Conference 1 2-1 66.7% 1 0 0 0 WAC 1 2-1 66.7% 1 0 0 0 Southern Conference 1 1-1 50.0% 0 0 0 0 Sun Belt Conference 1 1-1 50.0% 0 0 0 0

Nineteen conferences went 0-1: America East, Atlantic Sun Conference, Big Sky Conference, Big South Conference Colonial, Horizon League, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, Summit League, MEAC, Missouri Valley Conference, Mountain West, Northeast Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Patriot League, Southland, SWAC, and West Coast Conference

All-Tournament team Diana Taurasi, Connecticut Jessica Moore, Connecticut Ann Strother, Connecticut Janel McCarville, Minnesota Shanna Zolman Tennessee

Game officials Scott Yarbrough (semifinal) Sally Bell (semifinal) Tina Napier (semifinal) Melissa Barlow (semifinal) Greg Small (semifinal) Bill Titus (semifinal) Dee Kantner (final) Melissa Barlow (final) Bryan Enterline (final)

See also NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship 2004 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 2004 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament

Notes