1984 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament


The 1984 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament began on March 16 and ended on April 1. It featured 32 teams, four fewer than the previous year. Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Cheyney, and Southern California were the Final Four, with Southern California defeating Tennessee, 72-61, for its second straight title. USC's Cheryl Miller was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. The semi-finals and finals were held in Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California.

Notable events

Three of the four team earning a bid to the Final Four did so winning the Regional game on their own floor. The exception, the East Regional was held at a neutral site, the Norfolk Scope, but that was the home town of Old Dominion, who had won 45 consecutive home games, before meeting Cheyney State in the East Regional Final. Cheyney State won by a score of 80–71. The win matched them up against the three seed Tennessee, who upset Georgia to win the Mideast Regional. The score of the semi-final was also 80–71, but this time the Lady Vols were the victor.
In 1983, USC and Louisiana Tech met in the National Championship game, with USC prevailing. The two teams next played in the regular season in January 1984, with Louisiana Tech beating USC 75–66 in at the home court of La Tech.. In the 1984 Tournament, USC advanced to the Final Four by beating Long Beach State 90–74, in the West Region, while Louisiana Tech beat Texas 85–60, to win the Midwest Regional. This set up a rematch, in the national semifinal. The game was close, and tied at 57 points apiece with under three minutes to go, when Cheryl Miller scored the last five points of the game to help USC advance to the championship game 62—57.
The score of the championship game was reasonably close, 72–61, but according to Sports Illustrated, "USC outscored, out-passed, outdanced and just plain outflashed Tennessee". Led by Cheryl Miller and the McGee twins, Pamela and Paula, USC won its second consecutive National Championship. Helped by the school's proximity to the media outlets, Women's basketball received considerable media coverage, with the three stars of the team participating in many print interviews and almost 75 television appearances.

Records

Mary Ostrowski hit nine of nine attempted free throws, the second most for an individual player in a Final Four game, the National Semi-final.
Over the two games of the Final four, she hit 15 of 15, the only player to hit every free throw in Final Four games.
Tennessee, as a team, hit nine of nine attempted free throws, the second most for team in a Final Four game, in the National Championship game.
Long Beach State scored 22 points in an overtime period, in the West Regional semi-final, the most ever scored in an NCAA Tournament overtime period.

Qualifying teams - automatic

Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in the 1984 NCAA Tournament. Seventeen conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 1984 NCAA tournament.

Qualifying teams - at-large

Fifteen additional teams were selected to complete the thirty-two invitations.

Bids by conference

Seventeen conferences earned an automatic bid. In eleven cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Twelve at-large teams were selected from six of the conferences. In addition, three independent teams earned at-large bids.
BidsConferenceTeams
5SECAlabama, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee
4ACCMaryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia
3Western CollegiateLong Beach State, San Diego State, USC
3IndependentCheyney, Louisiana Tech, UNLV
2Big 8Kansas State, Missouri
2Northern PacificOregon, Oregon State
2SouthwestTexas, Texas Tech
1Atlantic 10Penn State
1Big EastSt. John's
1Big TenOhio State
1GatewayDrake
1High CountryBYU
1MACCentral Michigan
1MetroLouisville
1Mountain West AthleticMontana
1Ohio ValleyMiddle Tennessee State
1SouthlandNortheast Louisiana
1Sun BeltOld Dominion

First round

In 1984, the field returned to 32 teams, in the same format as in 1982. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-8 in each region. In Round 1, the higher seed was given the opportunity to host the first-round game. In most cases, the higher seed accepted the opportunity. The exceptions:
The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the 15 first round locations.
RegionHostVenueCityState
EastCheyney University of PennsylvaniaCope HallCheyneyPennsylvania
EastOld Dominion UniversityOld Dominion University FieldhouseNorfolkVirginia
EastNorth Carolina State UniversityReynolds ColiseumRaleighNorth Carolina
EastUniversity of North CarolinaCarmichael AuditoriumChapel HillNorth Carolina
MideastUniversity of TennesseeStokely Athletic CenterKnoxvilleTennessee
MideastUniversity of GeorgiaGeorgia Coliseum AthensGeorgia
MideastOhio State UniversitySt. John ArenaColumbusOhio
MideastCentral Michigan UniversityDaniel P. Rose Arena Mount PleasantMichigan
MidwestLouisiana Tech UniversityThomas Assembly CenterRustonLouisiana
MidwestLouisiana State UniversityLSU Assembly Center Baton RougeLouisiana
MidwestNortheast Louisiana UniversityEwing ColiseumMonroeLouisiana
MidwestUniversity of Texas at AustinFrank Erwin CenterAustinTexas
WestUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaLos AngelesCalifornia
WestSan Diego State UniversityPeterson GymSan DiegoCalifornia
WestUniversity of Montana–MissoulaDahlberg ArenaMissoulaMontana

Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 22 to March 25 at these sites:
Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held March 30 and April 1 in Los Angeles, California at Pauley Pavilion.

Bids by state

The thirty-two teams came from twenty-two states.
California and Louisiana had the most teams with three each. Twenty-eight states did not have any teams receiving bids.
BidsStateTeams
3CaliforniaUSC, Long Beach State, San Diego State
3LouisianaNortheast Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, LSU
2North CarolinaNorth Carolina, North Carolina State
2OregonOregon, Oregon State
2PennsylvaniaPenn State, Cheyney
2TennesseeMiddle Tennessee State, Tennessee
2TexasTexas, Texas Tech
2VirginiaOld Dominion, Virginia
1AlabamaAlabama
1GeorgiaGeorgia
1IowaDrake
1KansasKansas State
1KentuckyLouisville
1MarylandMaryland
1MichiganCentral Michigan
1MississippiOle Miss
1MissouriMissouri
1MontanaMontana
1NevadaUNLV
1New YorkSt. John's
1OhioOhio State
1UtahBYU

Brackets

Mideast Regional - University of Tennessee - Knoxville, TN ([Stokely Athletic Center])

Midwest Regional - Louisiana Tech - Ruston, LA ([Thomas Assembly Center])

East Regional - Old Dominion - Norfolk, VA ([Norfolk Scope])

West Regional - Los Angeles, CA ([Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena])

Final Four - University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA ([Pauley Pavilion])

Record by conference

Ten conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play:
Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Round
of 32
Sweet
Sixteen
Elite
Eight
Final
Four
Championship
Game
Southeastern5.64355211
Atlantic Coast4.33322
Western Collegiate3.80033211
Independent3.6672222
Southwest2.500111
Big Eight2
Northern Pacific2
Sun Belt1.667111
Mountain West Athletic1.50011
Southland1.50011

Eight conferences went 0-1: Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Ten, High Country, Metro, MAC, Missouri Valley Conference, and Ohio Valley Conference

All-Tournament Team