2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 16, 2018, and concluded with the national championship game on Sunday, April 1. The Final Four was played at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. This is the third time that the women's Final Four was played in Ohio after previously being held in Cincinnati in 1997 and Cleveland in 2007 and the first time that the women's Final Four was played in Columbus. For only the fourth time in the tournament’s 37-year history, all four of the number one seeds made it to the Final Four (1989, 2012, 2015).

Tennessee continued its record streak of making every NCAA women's basketball tournament at 37 consecutive appearances. Connecticut also continued its record streak of 11 consecutive Final Four appearances.

Tournament procedure
Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2016 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.

2018 NCAA tournament schedule and venues
The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, were played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done in 2016 and 2017. The following are the sites selected to host the last four rounds of the 2018 tournament.

First and Second rounds (Subregionals)
 * March 16–18
 * KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
 * Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)
 * Reed Arena, College Station, Texas (Host: Texas A&M University)
 * Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
 * Edmund P. Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Indiana (Host: University of Notre Dame)
 * Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
 * Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon (Host: University of Oregon)
 * Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor University)
 * March 17–19
 * Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)
 * Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, Georgia (Host: University of Georgia)
 * St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University)
 * Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Tallahassee, Florida (Host: Florida State University)
 * Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi (Host: Mississippi State University)
 * Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)
 * Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: University of California, Los Angeles)
 * Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

National semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)
 * March 23–25
 * Kansas City regional, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 12)
 * Lexington regional, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)
 * March 24–26
 * Albany regional, Times Union Center, Albany, New York (Hosts: MAAC)
 * Spokane regional, Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington (Host: University of Idaho)
 * March 30 and April 1
 * Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University)

Subregionals tournament and automatic qualifiers
Selections for the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship were announced at 7 p.m. Eastern time, Monday, March 12 via ESPN.

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.

A total of 64 teams entered the 2018 tournament. 32 automatic bids teams were given to teams that won their conference tournament. The remaining 32 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.

The selection committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 64.

Automatic qualifiers
The following teams automatically qualified for the 2018 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.

Tournament records

 * Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan recorded 109 rebounds, setting the record for the most rebounds in a tournament.
 * Texas hit 103 of 178 field-goal attempts, hitting 57.9% of the attempts, setting a record for the highest field-goal percentage in a tournament.

Bracket
All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

* – Denotes overtime period

Albany Regional all tournament team

 * Gabby Williams, UConn (MOP)
 * Cierra Dillard, Buffalo
 * A'ja Wilson, South Carolina
 * Crystal Dangerfield, UConn
 * Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn

Kansas City Regional all tournament team

 * Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State (Co-MOP)
 * Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State (Co-MOP)
 * Kiara Leslie, NC State
 * Jordin Canada, UCLA
 * Monique Billings, UCLA

Lexington Regional all tournament team

 * Asia Durr, Louisville (MOP)
 * Myisha Hines-Allen, Louisville
 * Arica Carter, Louisville
 * Sam Fuehring, Louisville
 * Marie Gülich, Oregon State

Spokane Regional all tournament team

 * Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame (MOP)
 * Marina Mabrey, Notre Dame
 * Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M
 * Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon
 * Ruthy Hebard, Oregon

Final Four
During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the top overall top seed's region (Connecticut's Albany Region) plays against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region (Notre Dame's Spokane Region), and the champion of the second overall top seed's region (Mississippi State's Kansas City Region) plays against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region (Louisville's Lexington Region).

Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
* – Denotes overtime period

Final Four all-tournament team

 * Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame (MOP)
 * Jessica Shepard, Notre Dame
 * Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State
 * Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State
 * Napheesa Collier, Connecticut

Record by conference

 * 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, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Conference USA, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy League, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, WAC and West Coast conferences each had one representative that was eliminated in the first round.

Television
ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. During the first and second rounds, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPNews. All other games aired regionally on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN3 and were streamed online via WatchESPN. 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 game that had the closest score.

Studio host and analysts

 * Maria Taylor (Host)
 * Andy Landers (Analyst)
 * Rebecca Lobo (Analyst) (First, Second rounds, Final Four and National championship game)
 * Nell Fortner (Analyst) (Regionals, Final Four and National championship game)

Broadcast assignments
First & second rounds Friday/Sunday Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Friday/Sunday Final Four
 * Beth Mowins and Nell Fortner – Louisville, Kentucky
 * Brenda VanLengen and Carol Ross – Knoxville, Tennessee
 * Lowell Galindo and Andraya Carter – College Station, Texas
 * John Brickley and Mike Thibault – Raleigh, North Carolina
 * Roy Philpott and Brooke Weisbrod – Notre Dame, Indiana
 * Paul Sunderland and Steffi Sorensen – Columbia, South Carolina
 * Dave Pasch and LaChina Robinson – Eugene, Oregon
 * Eric Frede and Christy Thomaskutty – Waco, Texas
 * Beth Mowins, Debbie Antonelli, and Allison Williams – Lexington, Kentucky
 * Pam Ward, Gail Goestenkors, and Courtney Lyle – Kansas City, Missouri
 * Adam Amin, Kara Lawson, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – Columbus, Ohio

First & second rounds Saturday/Monday Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday Championship
 * Adam Amin and Kara Lawson – Storrs, Connecticut
 * Melissa Lee and Amanda Butler – Athens, Georgia
 * Sam Gore and Christy Winters-Scott – Columbus, Ohio
 * Clay Matvick and Katie Smith – Tallahassee, Florida
 * Courtney Lyle and Tamika Catchings – Starkville, Mississippi
 * Elise Woodward and Dan Hughes – Stanford, California
 * Tiffany Greene and Chiney Ogwumike – Los Angeles, California
 * Pam Ward and Gail Goestenkors – Austin, Texas
 * Adam Amin, Kara Lawson, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – Albany, New York
 * Dave Pasch, LaChina Robinson, and Molly McGrath – Spokane, Washington
 * Adam Amin, Kara Lawson, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – Columbus, Ohio

Radio
Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament. Teams participating in the regional finals, Final Four, and Championship were allowed to have their own local broadcasts, but they weren’t allowed to stream those broadcasts online.

Regional finals Sunday Final Four
 * Justin Kutcher and Ann Schatz – Lexington, Kentucky
 * Ted Emrich and Krista Blunk – Kansas City, Missouri
 * John Sadak, Debbie Antonelli, and Krista Blunk – Columbus, Ohio

Regional finals Monday Championship
 * John Sadak and Debbie Antonelli – Albany, New York
 * Dick Fain and Kristen Kozlowski – Spokane, Washington
 * John Sadak, Debbie Antonelli, and Krista Blunk – Columbus, Ohio