2001 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament


The 2001 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament began on March 16 and ended on April 1. The tournament featured 64 teams. The Final Four, held at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, consisted of Connecticut, Notre Dame, Purdue, and Southwest Missouri State, with Notre Dame defeating Purdue 68–66 to win its first NCAA title. Notre Dame's Ruth Riley was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

Notable events

With the Final Four held in the Missouri for the first time in NCAA history, 10th seeded University of Missouri rose to the occasion and upset 7th seeded Wisconsin in the first round. They then went on to play the 2nd seeded team from Georgia and won that game as well, advancing to the regional, where their bid to play in their home state ended in a loss to Louisiana Tech. Missouri State also did well. They were seeded 5th, so expected to win their first-round game, but they went on to upset 4th seed Rutgers to set up a game against the Regional's top seed, Duke. Missouri State upset Duke 81—71 to head to the regional final against Washington, who had upset both Florida and Oklahoma. The upsets came to an end as 5th seeded Missouri State beat 6th seeded Washington 104–87 to advance to the Final Four, and a chance to play in front of home state fans.
In the Mideast Regional, the top four seeds all advanced to the regional semifinal, then both higher seeds were upset. 4th seed Xavier knocked off the number one seed in the regional, Tennessee, by a score of 80–65. Third seeded Purdue played second seeded Texas Tech in a game that came down to the wire. Purdue won 74–72, then went on to defeat Xavier for the spot in the Final Four against Missouri State. The upset run by Missouri State came to an end in the semifinal, as Purdue beat them 71–64. The career of Jackie Stiles, who had scored 1,064 points during the season, the only player in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to score 1000 points in a season, came to an end.
In the Midwest and East regionals, both number one seeds advanced to the Final Four. Both Notre Dame and Connecticut were from the Big East and met in the other semifinal. The two teams had met twice before in the season, with Notre Dame winning at their home and UConn beating Notre Dame in the Big East Championship. Early in the game, the prior year National Champion Connecticut looked to be on their way to another championship game. The Huskies led at one point by 16 points in the first half. In the second half, Notre Dame came back, and with just over twelve minutes left, took their first lead of the game. Connecticut went into a scoring drought, going more than five minutes without a point. Notre Dame went on to win 90–75, to head to their first national championship game.
The championship game featured two teams from Indiana. Notre Dame began the game with a repeat of their performance against Connecticut, falling behind by double digits in the first half. The Irish were the best three-point shooting team in the country, but ended up hitting just one of ten attempts. Purdue's Katie Douglas scored 18 points for Purdue, with her final points being a three-pointer to put the Boilermakers in front 66–64 with a little over one minute left in the game. Notre Dame's Ruth Riley scored to tie the game, then rebounded a miss by Purdue. She then took a shot, missed, but was fouled with 5.8 seconds left in the game. Riley sank both free throws to give the Irish a two-point lead and their first national championship.

Tournament records

Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 2001 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 2001 NCAA tournament.

Qualifying teams - at-large

Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.

Bids by conference

Thirty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In nineteen cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-three additional at-large teams were selected from twelve of the conferences.
BidsConferenceTeams
7Big 12Iowa State, Baylor, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech
6Atlantic CoastDuke, Clemson, Florida State, Maryland, NC State, Virginia
6SoutheasternGeorgia, Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
5Big EastConnecticut, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Villanova, Virginia Tech
5Big TenIowa, Michigan, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
4Pacific-10Arizona State, Oregon, Stanford, Washington
2Atlantic 10Xavier, George Washington
2Conference USATulane, Louisville
2Metro AtlanticSiena, Fairfield
2Missouri ValleySW Missouri State, Drake
2Mountain WestColorado State, Utah
2Sun BeltLouisiana Tech, Denver
1America EastDelaware.
1Big SkyIdaho State
1Big SouthLiberty
1Big WestUC Santa Barbara
1CAAOld Dominion
1HorizonMilwaukee
1IvyPenn
1Mid-AmericanToledo
1Mid-ContinentOral Roberts
1MEACHoward
1NortheastLong Island
1Ohio ValleyAustin Peay
1PatriotHoly Cross
1SouthernChattanooga
1SouthlandStephen F. Austin
1SouthwesternAlcorn State
1Trans AmericaGeorgia State
1West CoastSt. Mary's Cal.
1WACTCU

First and second rounds

In 2001, 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. In the first two rounds, the top four seeds were given the opportunity to host the first-round game. In most cases, the higher seed accepted the opportunity. The exception:
The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the sixteen first and second round locations:
RegionRndHostVenueCityState
East1&2University of GeorgiaGeorgia Coliseum AthensGeorgia
East1&2North Carolina State UniversityReynolds ColiseumRaleighNorth Carolina
East1&2University of ConnecticutHarry A. Gampel PavilionStorrsConnecticut
East1&2Louisiana Tech UniversityThomas Assembly CenterRustonLouisiana
Mideast1&2University of TennesseeThompson-Boling ArenaKnoxvilleTennessee
Mideast1&2Purdue UniversityMackey ArenaWest LafayetteIndiana
Mideast1&2Texas Tech UniversityUnited Spirit ArenaLubbockTexas
Mideast1&2Xavier UniversityCintas CenterCincinnatiOhio
Midwest1&2University of Notre DameEdmund P. Joyce CenterNotre DameIndiana
Midwest1&2Vanderbilt UniversityMemorial GymnasiumNashvilleTennessee
Midwest1&2Iowa State UniversityHilton ColiseumAmesIowa
Midwest1&2University of UtahJon M. Huntsman CenterSalt Lake CityUtah
West1&2University of OklahomaLloyd Noble CenterNormanOklahoma
West1&2Rutgers UniversityLouis Brown Athletic CenterPiscatawayNew Jersey
West1&2University of FloridaO'Connell CenterGainesvilleFlorida
West1&2Duke UniversityCameron Indoor StadiumDurhamNorth Carolina

Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 24 to March 26 at these sites:
Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four held March 30 and April 1 in St. Louis, Missouri at the Savvis Center

Bids by state

The sixty-four teams came from thirty-two states, plus Washington, D.C. Texas had the most teams with five bids. Eighteen states did not have any teams receiving bids.
BidsStateTeams
5TexasStephen F. Austin, TCU, Baylor, Texas, Texas Tech
4TennesseeAustin Peay, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
4VirginiaLiberty, Old Dominion, Virginia, Virginia Tech
3CaliforniaSaint Mary's, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara
3ColoradoColorado State, Colorado, Denver
3IowaIowa, Iowa State, Drake
3LouisianaLouisiana Tech, Tulane, LSU
3PennsylvaniaPenn, Penn State, Villanova
2ConnecticutConnecticut, Fairfield
2District of ColumbiaHoward, George Washington
2FloridaFlorida, Florida State
2GeorgiaGeorgia, Georgia State
2IndianaNotre Dame, Purdue
2MissouriSW Missouri State, Missouri
2New YorkLong Island, Siena
2North CarolinaDuke, NC State
2OhioToledo, Xavier
2OklahomaOral Roberts, Oklahoma
2WisconsinMilwaukee, Wisconsin
1ArizonaArizona State
1ArkansasArkansas
1DelawareDelaware
1IdahoIdaho State
1KentuckyLouisville
1MarylandMaryland
1MassachusettsHoly Cross
1MichiganMichigan
1MississippiAlcorn State
1New JerseyRutgers
1OregonOregon
1South CarolinaClemson
1UtahUtah
1WashingtonWashington

Brackets

Data source

Mideast Regional - Birmingham, AL

West Regional - Spokane, Washington

Midwest Regional - Denver, Colorado

East Regional - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Final Four - St. Louis, Missouri

Record by conference

Fourteen 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
Big 1279–7.56354000
Southeastern69–6.60062100
Atlantic Coast66–6.50042000
Big East513–4.76552221
Big Ten57–5.58331111
Pacific-1044–4.50021100
Missouri Valley24–2.66711110
Atlantic 1023–2.60011100
Mountain West23–2.60021000
Sun Belt23–2.60011100
Conference USA20–2.00000000
Metro Atlantic20–2.00000000
West Coast11–1.50010000
Western Athletic11–1.50010000

Seventeen conferences went 0-1: America East, Big Sky Conference, Big South Conference, Big West Conference, Colonial, Horizon League, Ivy League, MAC, Mid-Continent, MEAC, Northeast Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Patriot League, Southern Conference, Southland, SWAC, and Trans America

All-Tournament Team