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American women's collegiate basketball tournament

The 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division Icollege basketball national champion for the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 40th edition of the tournament began on March 16, 2022, and concluded with the championship game on April 3 at Target Center in Minneapolis, where the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the UConn Huskies 64–49 to win their second NCAA title, and handing UConn its first loss in the championship game. This tournament marked the introduction of the "First Four" round and an expansion of the field of participants from 64 teams to 68, mirroring the men's tournament since 2011.

Big South champion Longwood, Horizon champion IUPUI and Southland champion Incarnate Word made their tournament debuts. Tennessee continued its record streak of making every edition of the tournament, while UConn extended its record streak of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances.

Tournament procedure

Further information: NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament § Current tournament format

For the first time, the women's tournament was expanded from 64 to 68 teams, adopting the format that has been used by the men's tournament since 2011; these teams consisted of the 32 conference champions, and 36 "at-large" bids that were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The last four at-large teams and the teams seeded 65 through 68 overall competed in First Four games, whose winners advanced to the 64-team first round.^[1]

The top four teams outside of the ranking (commonly known as the "first four out") were designated as standbys in the event a school was forced to withdraw before the start of the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. Once the tournament began, teams that withdrew would not be replaced, and the affected team's opponent would automatically advance to the next round by walkover.

2022 NCAA tournament schedule and venues

After the 2020 tournament was cancelled and the 2021 tournament was held in a single location due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reverted to the standard format for the first time since 2019.

The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, were played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done from 2016 to 2019.

First Four

• March 16 and 17
  • Four of the campuses seeded in the Top 16.

Subregionals (first and second rounds)

• March 18 and 20 (Fri/Sun)
  • Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
  • James Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa (Host: Iowa State University)
  • Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: University of Iowa)
  • KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
  • Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor University)
  • Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)
  • XFINITY Center, College Park, Maryland (Host: University of Maryland)
  • Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas)
• March 19 and 21 (Sat/Mon)
  • McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)
  • Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)
  • Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Host: University of Michigan)
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana State University)
  • Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
  • Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Oklahoma (Host: University of Oklahoma)
  • Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana (Host: Indiana University)
  • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 25–28^[3]
  • Bridgeport regional, Total Mortgage Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut (cohosts: University of Connecticut, Fairfield University)^[4]
  • Greensboro regional, Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Greensboro, North Carolina (host: Atlantic Coast Conference)^[5]
  • Wichita regional, Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas (host: Wichita State University)^[6]
  • Spokane regional, Spokane Arena, Spokane, Washington (host: University of Idaho)^[7]

National semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

In the wake of criticism raised in 2021 over inequities between the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments, the NCAA announced that the 2022 women's tournament will be promoted with the "March Madness" branding for the first time.^[9]

Qualification and selection teams

Further information: 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament qualifying teams

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams automatically qualified for the 2022 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.

Bids by state

Tournament seeds (list by region)

*See First Four

Tournament records

• Rebounds—South Carolina recorded 294 rebounds, the most ever recorded by a single team in an NCAA Tournament.^[10]

Tournament bracket

All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
* – Denotes overtime period

First Four

Greensboro regional – Greensboro, North Carolina

See also: Greensboro Coliseum Complex

Greensboro regional final

Greensboro regional All Tournament team

Wichita regional – Wichita, Kansas

See also: Intrust Bank Arena