The 2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was played in March and April 2014, with the Final Four played April 6–8. The Ohio Valley Conference served as the host institution. The Final Four was played at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tennessee continued its streak of making every NCAA women's basketball tournament at 33 consecutive appearances. Connecticut (who made their seventh consecutive Final Four overall) and Notre Dame faced each other in the NCAA Final. Both were undefeated heading into the championship game, making it the first ever match up of two undefeated teams in the championship game. Connecticut prevailed, 79–58, to win their ninth national championship.
The previous day, Connecticut also won the men's tournament. It was just the second time in NCAA history the same school had won both the men's and women's tournament; UConn first accomplished that feat in 2004.
Tournament procedure
Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2014 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 36 bids are "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The tournament is split into four regional tournaments, and each regional has teams seeded from 1 to 16, with the committee ostensibly making every region as comparable to the others as possible. The top-seeded team in each region plays the #16 team, the #2 team plays the #15, etc. (meaning where the two seeds add up to 17, that team will be assigned to play another).
The basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus.
The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.
2014 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
There were 64 teams in the tournament, placed in a seeded bracket with four regions. Thirty-two teams received automatic bids – thirty-one of which were their conference tournament champions; the other was for the Ivy League regular-season champion. An additional 32 teams were given at-large bids by the selection committee on the basis of their body of work during the regular season. Unlike the Men's Tournament, there was no "First Four" round.
First and Second rounds (Subregionals)
The subregionals were played from March 22 to March 25, 2014. Sites chosen to host first- and second-round games in 2014 were:
March 22 and 24
Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa (Host: Iowa State) Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina (Host: Duke) Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: Tennessee) Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: Kentucky) Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles (Host: UCLA) Savage Arena, Toledo, Ohio (Host: Toledo) Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor) Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana (Host: Purdue) March 23 and 25 Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: LSU) Carmichael Arena, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina) Comcast Center, College Park, Maryland (Host: Maryland) Reed Arena, College Station, Texas (Host: Texas A&M) Carver–Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: Iowa) Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle (Host: Washington) Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: Connecticut) Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pennsylvania (Host: Penn State)
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, were held from March 29 to April 1 at the following sites: March 29 and 31 Lincoln Regional, Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska (Host: Nebraska) South Bend Regional, Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Indiana (Host: Notre Dame) March 30 and April 1 Louisville Regional, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: Louisville) Stanford Regional, Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and national championship)
April 6 & 8
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee (Hosts: Southeastern Conference/Ohio Valley Conference and Belmont University/Vanderbilt University)
It was the first time that Nashville had hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament.