NCAA women’s tournament expanding to 68 teams
The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is expanding to 68 teams beginning with the current season, giving it an equal number of participants as the men’s tournament as part of a concerted effort at gender parity.
The men’s tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011 with four first-round games traditionally played in Dayton, Ohio. The first four for the women’s tournament will take place on the campuses of teams seeded in the top 16 this season, but they will move to a to-be-determined neutral site beginning with the 2023 tournament.
“This immediate expansion of the women’s basketball championship reinforces the fact that leaders within Division I are committed to strengthening aspects of the women’s basketball championship that directly impact student-athletes,” said West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons,
the chairman of the Division I Council.
“We look forward to the positive change this will have for the student experience at the championship,” Lyons said, “especially as it relates to equal team opportunities to compete in the tournament.”
The expansion of the women’s tournament was among the recommendations put forth in August after a comprehensive external gender equity review conducted by the law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink. It was commissioned after backlash driven by social media of disparities in the men’s and women’s tournaments, including weight rooms and other facilities.
ESPN will broadcast the first four games along with the rest of the women’s tournament.
Other recommendations include exploring a joint Final Four with the semifinals and title games held in the same city on the same weekend, though that would not happen until at least 2027
with sites already locked in until that point.
The NCAA already had approved the women’s tournament using the phrase March Madness in its branding.
TEXAS TECH’S SHANNON CLEARED >> Texas Tech has cleared junior Terrence Shannon Jr. to return to play for the Red Raiders after the standout forward was held out of their first
three games during a review of eligibility rules.
The school said that all questions related to Shannon going through the NBA draft process last summer had been resolved.
Shannon, a preseason All-Big 12 pick by the league coaches, will be available to play when the Red Raiders (3-0) have their next game Saturday against Incarnate Word.
School officials said before the season opener last week that Shannon, who did not hire an agent as he explored his NBA options, was being withheld from competition “out of an abundance of caution” to ensure all NCAA rules were followed.
The 6-foot-6 Shannon averaged 12.9 points and 4.0 rebounds last season. He was Tech’s top returning scorer.
GEORGE MASON 71, NO. 20 MARYLAND 66 >> D’Shawn Schwartz scored a careerhigh 24 points, DeVon Cooper added 16 and the Patriots withstood a frantic comeback bid by the Terrapins to pull off the road upset Wednesday night.
George Mason (4-0) let a 10-point lead dwindle to 59-56 before Cooper made a layup and Schwartz made a 3-pointer for an eightpoint cushion with 3:06 to go. That was just enough to provide the Patriots with their first win over a ranked foe since 2007 and their first-ever victory over
Maryland (3-1), which won the previous nine games against its Virginia-based opponent.
The Terrapins used a pair of 3-pointers by Eric Ayala to get to 67-66 in the final minute before Josh Oduro scored inside for the Patriots. Ayala then missed a potential gametying 3, dooming Maryland to a humbling defeat.
Donta Scott had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Ayala tallied 17 points for the Terrapins, who were seeking to start 4-0 for the eighth consecutive year.
NO. 9 BAYLOR 92, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 47 >> LJ Cryer scored 20 points, freshman Kendall Brown had 19 and the defending national champion Bears tied a school record with 21 steals while extending their home winning streak to 16 in a row.
James Akinjo, the senior transfer from Arizona, had his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 assists for Baylor (3-0). Freshman forward Jeremy Sochan grabbed 13 rebounds.