Photo by: Ben Powell
NCAA Reveals 2021 Women’s Basketball Championship Plans
January 20, 2021 09:26 AM | Women's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The NCAA announced Monday its plans for the 2021 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.
A traditional 64-team bracket will be announced on Monday, March 15 on ESPN and will encompass automatic qualifiers from all 31 Division I conference, according to the NCAA.
Other bids will be filled by at-large selections.
Because of COVID-19, the women's basketball committee waived the .500 rule for this year, meaning a team with a losing record could qualify for this year's tournament. Schools must play a minimum of 13 games to be eligible.
The committee is also considering a championship in one geographic area similar to the men's tournament in Indianapolis, and San Antonio, Texas is currently under consideration.
The committee will continue to use an S-curve bracket to ensure higher-seeded teams are placed in brackets against lower-seeded teams.
"The committee continues to adjust to the circumstances of the current season and feel that decisions reached in regard to the 2021 championship are in the best interest of the championship while ensuring the health and safety of all concerned," said Nina King, senior deputy athletics director at Duke and chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee.
West Virginia is currently 10-2 heading into tonight's Big 12 game against Kansas State. ESPN.com women's bracketologist Charlie Crème has WVU in the tournament as a 6-seed in his latest bracket revealed Monday.
The Mountaineers last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2017 when they reached the second round before falling to fourth-ranked Maryland in College Park, Maryland.
A traditional 64-team bracket will be announced on Monday, March 15 on ESPN and will encompass automatic qualifiers from all 31 Division I conference, according to the NCAA.
Other bids will be filled by at-large selections.
Because of COVID-19, the women's basketball committee waived the .500 rule for this year, meaning a team with a losing record could qualify for this year's tournament. Schools must play a minimum of 13 games to be eligible.
The committee is also considering a championship in one geographic area similar to the men's tournament in Indianapolis, and San Antonio, Texas is currently under consideration.
The committee will continue to use an S-curve bracket to ensure higher-seeded teams are placed in brackets against lower-seeded teams.
"The committee continues to adjust to the circumstances of the current season and feel that decisions reached in regard to the 2021 championship are in the best interest of the championship while ensuring the health and safety of all concerned," said Nina King, senior deputy athletics director at Duke and chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee.
West Virginia is currently 10-2 heading into tonight's Big 12 game against Kansas State. ESPN.com women's bracketologist Charlie Crème has WVU in the tournament as a 6-seed in his latest bracket revealed Monday.
The Mountaineers last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2017 when they reached the second round before falling to fourth-ranked Maryland in College Park, Maryland.
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