2013 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2013 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was played from March 23 through April 9, 2013. Tennessee continued its streak of making every NCAA women's basketball tournament at 32 consecutive appearances. Kansas made the regional semifinals for the second year in a row as a double-digit seed, UConn made it into the Final Four for the sixth consecutive year, the longest such streak, and Louisville became the first team seeded lower than fourth in a region to advance to the championship game. For the first time in tournament history, the same four teams were #1 seeds as in the previous year.

Tournament procedure
Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2019 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 32 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 Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.

2013 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
The format is similar to the Men's Tournament, except that there are 64 teams; this in turn means there is no "First Four" round. Thirty-one automatic bids for conference champions and 33 at-large bids were available.

The subregionals were played from March 23 through March 26. Sites chosen to host first- and second-round games in 2013 include:

First round and Second Rounds (Subregionals)


 * March 23 and 25
 * Coors Events Center, Boulder, Colorado, Host: University of Colorado
 * Comcast Center, College Park, Maryland, Host: University of Maryland
 * Reed Arena, College Station, Texas, Host: Texas A&M University
 * St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio, Host: Ohio State University
 * Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee, Host: University of Tennessee
 * United Spirit Arena, Lubbock, Texas, Host: Texas Tech University
 * McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Washington, Host: Gonzaga University
 * Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut, Host: University of Connecticut
 * March 24 and 26
 * Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Host: Louisiana State University
 * Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina, Host: Duke University
 * Carver–Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa, Host: The University of Iowa
 * KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky, Host: University of Louisville
 * Bob Carpenter Center, Newark, Delaware, Host: University of Delaware
 * Carnesecca Arena, Queens, New York, Host: St. John's University
 * Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California, Host: Stanford University
 * Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas, Host: Baylor University

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, held from March 30 to April 2, were at these sites:


 * March 30 and April 1
 * Spokane Regional Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington, Host: Washington State University
 * Bridgeport Regional Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Host: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Fairfield University
 * March 31 and April 2
 * Norfolk Regional Ted Constant Convocation Center, Norfolk, Virginia, Host: Old Dominion University
 * Oklahoma City Regional Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Host: Big 12 Conference

A regional had been scheduled at Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey. However, the NCAA moved the regional to Connecticut because of a recently passed state law allowing single-game betting for professional and collegiate games. NCAA rules do not allow tournament events to be held in states that allow single-game betting.

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)
 * April 7 and 9
 * Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana (Hosts: University of New Orleans, Tulane University, and Southland Conference/Sun Belt Conference)

This is the third time that New Orleans has been selected as a women's Final Four location (previously, in 1991 and 2004) and second time at the Smoothie King Center   (previously named Kiefer Lakefront UNO Arena ); the 1991 Final Four was contested at the University of New Orleans' Lakefront Arena.

Tournament records

 * Points in a Final Four game—Connecticut scored 93 points against Louisville in the Championship game, tied for the second most points scored in a Final Four game
 * Winning margin—Connecticut defeated Louisville 93–60 in the Championship game; the margin of 33 points is the largest in Final Four history
 * Three-pointers made—Connecticut hit 13 three-pointers in the Championship game, which is the most ever made in a Final Four game
 * Assists—Connecticut recorded 24 assists in the Championship game against Louisville, the most ever recorded in a Final Four game since the NCAA began recording assists in 1985. (Broken by Connecticut in 2014)
 * Blocked shots—Connecticut recorded 12 blocked shots in the Championship game against Louisville; the most ever recorded in a Final Four game
 * Three-pointer percentage—Breanna Stewart hit seven of her eight three-point attempts in the final two games; the percentage of 87.5% is the highest recorded in the two Final Four games

Automatic qualifiers
The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2013 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

Tournament seeds
''Kentucky vs. Navy, Oklahoma State vs. Duke, and Notre Dame vs. Iowa aired on ESPNU. Purdue vs. Louisville aired on ESPNEWS. All other first and second round games aired on ESPN2''

Oklahoma City Regional
Almost all first-round games were won by the higher-seeded team except for Creighton, the 10 seed who upset Syracuse 61–56. The top seed, Baylor won easily, by 42 points over Prairie View A&M. The only other game within single digit margin was 6 seed Oklahoma beating Central Michigan by five points.

In the second round, three of the four games followed expectations, with the only upset being the 5 seed Louisville over 4 seed Purdue. In the third round, 2 seed Tennessee beat 6 seed Oklahoma as expected, but Louisville upset top seeded Baylor in a result some have called one of the greatest upsets in women's basketball history. Baylor won the national championship in 2012, going undefeated during the season, and had returned every starter. While they lost one game in the current regular season, point guard Odyssey Sims was injured early in that game. The team had not lost a game in two years when playing at full strength. Louisville, the third best team in the Big East, hit sixteen of 25 three-point attempts, and held Griner to 14 points, after she had averaged 33 points in the first two games.

Bracket
* – Denotes overtime period

All-Tournament team

 * Breanna Stewart, Connecticut
 * Bria Hartley, Connecticut
 * Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Connecticut
 * Kelly Faris, Connecticut
 * Antonita Slaughter, Louisville

Game officials

 * Dennis DeMayo (semifinal)
 * Charles Gonzalez (semifinal)
 * Felicia Grinter (semifinal)
 * Dee Kantner (semifinal)
 * Tina Napier (semifinal)
 * Mark Zentz (semifinal)
 * Denise Brooks (final)
 * Lisa Mattingly (final)
 * Brenda Pantoja (final)

Record by conference
Source
 * The R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
 * The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Conference USA, Horizon, Ivy, MEAC, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American (MAC), Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, West Coast and WAC conferences each had one representative that was eliminated in the first round.

Television
ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the first and second round, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN, ESPNU, or ESPNews. All other games were aired regionally on ESPN or ESPN2 and streamed online via ESPN3. Most of the nation got whip-a-round coverage during this time, which allowed ESPN to rotate between the games and focus the nation on the one that was the closest. The regional semifinals were split between ESPN and ESPN2, and ESPN aired the regional finals, national semifinals, and championship match.

Studio host and analysts

 * Kevin Negandhi (Host)
 * Kara Lawson (Analyst)
 * Carolyn Peck (Analyst)

Commentary teams
First & Second Rounds Saturday/Monday Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday Final Four
 * Marc Kestecher and LaChina Robinson – College Park, Maryland
 * Clay Matvick and Swin Cash – Columbus, Ohio
 * Bob Wischusen and Nell Fortner – Knoxville, Tennessee
 * Dave O'Brien and Doris Burke – Storrs, Connecticut
 * Mark Jones and Fran Fraschilla – Boulder, Colorado
 * Carter Blackburn and Maria Taylor – College Station, Texas
 * Cara Capuano and Stephen Bardo – Lubbock, Texas
 * Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham – Spokane, Washington
 * Beth Mowins, Doris Burke, and Holly Rowe – Bridgeport, Connecticut
 * Dave Pasch, Debbie Antonelli, and LaChina Robinson – Spokane, Washington
 * Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – New Orleans, Louisiana

First & Second Rounds Sunday/Tuesday Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Sunday/Tuesday Championship
 * Pam Ward and Rebecca Lobo – Newark, Delaware
 * Joe Davis and Debbie Antonelli – Durham, North Carolina
 * Melissa Lee and Brooke Weisbrod – Louisville, Kentucky
 * Bob Picozzi and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude – Queens, New York
 * Tom Hart and Krista Blunk – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
 * Holly Rowe and Brenda VanLengen – Iowa City, Iowa
 * Dave Pasch and Mary Murphy – Stanford, California
 * Beth Mowins and Stephanie White – Waco, Texas
 * Dave O'Brien, Stephanie White, and Jeannine Edwards – Norfolk, Virginia
 * Pam Ward, Rebecca Lobo, and Maria Taylor – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
 * Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – New Orleans, Louisiana

Radio
Dial Global Sports had exclusive radio rights from the regional finals on through the championship.

Regional Finals Monday Final Four
 * John Sadak and Ann Schatz – Bridgeport, Connecticut
 * Roxy Bernstein and Mary Murphy – Spokane, Washington
 * Dave Ryan, Debbie Antonelli, and Krista Blunk – New Orleans, Louisiana

Regional Finals Tuesday Championship
 * Dave Ryan and Krista Blunk – Norfolk, Virginia
 * Craig Way and Ann Meyers Drysdale – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
 * Dave Ryan, Debbie Antonelli, and Krista Blunk – New Orleans, Louisiana