Women's Tournament History: How the Tourney Field is Chosen
The women's basketball selection committee has played a large role in NCAA women's tournament history . The tourney committee decides who gets in, who plays who, and who plays where. The process the women's committee undertakes each year is quite interesting and is almost identical to the men's selection system. It's an elaborate system designed to get the most deserving at-large teams into the tournament and to balance the competitiveness of the four regions.
There are many rules and regulations that the NCAA women's committee must abide by in order to protect the integrity of the selection process. What I would like to do is just lay out the basic framework of the process the committee follows to select at-large teams, seed teams, and place teams into the women's championship bracket.
There are many rules and regulations that the NCAA women's committee must abide by in order to protect the integrity of the selection process. What I would like to do is just lay out the basic framework of the process the committee follows to select at-large teams, seed teams, and place teams into the women's championship bracket.
At the beginning of selection weekend each committee member must submit a ballot that includes 64 teams they believe deserve consideration for the NCAA women's tournament. Additional balloting takes place following the initial count. The goal is to fill the 33 at-large openings. Balloting takes place to both add and remove teams from the at-large nomination board. This continues until 33 teams are tentatively agreed upon.
Balloting continues during the seeding process for the women's tournament. Committee members vote for 8 teams at a time starting with the top teams. The top 4 vote getters are moved in order to the selection board. Vote getters 5 through 8 must show up on each committee member's ballot during the next round of balloting. This process continues until all 31 teams from the automatic bid board and all 33 teams from the at-large board are listed on the 64 team selection board. At this point teams are seeded 1 through 64.
Placing teams into the 64-team bracket is likely the most complicated portion of the process. There are rules governing when teams from the same conference can match up in the tournament. There are rules in place to balance each of the 4 regions in terms of competitiveness. There are rules in place to ensure teams play 1st and 2nd round games as close to home as possible without damaging the integrity of the seeding process.
The women's basketball selection committee is made up of athletic directors and conference commissioners from across the nation. There are rules in place to prevent any one committee member from giving their conference or school an advantage during the selection and seeding processes. The committee has many informational resources available to them during selection weekend. Records, home and away wins, wins over the last 10 games, RPI rankings, conference and non-conference results, polls, head-to-head results, and the ability to call anyone in the nation for input on a given team or conference. Much discussion and debate takes place among committee members during the selection and seeding processes.
NCAA women's tournament history is definitely impacted by the work of the women's selection committee. Potential matchups do matter. Teams that get left out of the tournament are left to prove their worth in the women's NIT tourney. The tourney field does not contain the top 64 teams in America. What if it did? There would likely be more upsets and the amount of intriguing matchups would increase. I love the fact that every NCAA women's team and conference gets a chance. But I believe there are many deserving, talented teams that get left out of the field of 64 each year. Expanding to 96 teams would only add one more round and would provide the top 32 teams with a first round bye.
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Check out how the NCAA men's tournament field is chosen
Balloting continues during the seeding process for the women's tournament. Committee members vote for 8 teams at a time starting with the top teams. The top 4 vote getters are moved in order to the selection board. Vote getters 5 through 8 must show up on each committee member's ballot during the next round of balloting. This process continues until all 31 teams from the automatic bid board and all 33 teams from the at-large board are listed on the 64 team selection board. At this point teams are seeded 1 through 64.
Placing teams into the 64-team bracket is likely the most complicated portion of the process. There are rules governing when teams from the same conference can match up in the tournament. There are rules in place to balance each of the 4 regions in terms of competitiveness. There are rules in place to ensure teams play 1st and 2nd round games as close to home as possible without damaging the integrity of the seeding process.
The women's basketball selection committee is made up of athletic directors and conference commissioners from across the nation. There are rules in place to prevent any one committee member from giving their conference or school an advantage during the selection and seeding processes. The committee has many informational resources available to them during selection weekend. Records, home and away wins, wins over the last 10 games, RPI rankings, conference and non-conference results, polls, head-to-head results, and the ability to call anyone in the nation for input on a given team or conference. Much discussion and debate takes place among committee members during the selection and seeding processes.
NCAA women's tournament history is definitely impacted by the work of the women's selection committee. Potential matchups do matter. Teams that get left out of the tournament are left to prove their worth in the women's NIT tourney. The tourney field does not contain the top 64 teams in America. What if it did? There would likely be more upsets and the amount of intriguing matchups would increase. I love the fact that every NCAA women's team and conference gets a chance. But I believe there are many deserving, talented teams that get left out of the field of 64 each year. Expanding to 96 teams would only add one more round and would provide the top 32 teams with a first round bye.
Back to Women's Basketball Tournament History
Back to Women's College Basketball Rankings home page
Check out how the NCAA men's tournament field is chosen
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