Top part of field emerges ‘tightly packed’
Stanford, leads way as teams prepare to scatter around San Antonio region
SAN ANTONIO — With a bracket set and protocols in place, teams will begin arriving in San Antonio on Tuesday in advance of an unprecedented NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
For the first time, 64 teams gather in one geographic area to compete for a national championship, playing 63 games across six sites in the San Antonio region between Sunday and April 4.
The Final Four will be contested beginning April 2 at the Alamodome, and the NCAA selection committee on Monday tabbed Stanford, Connecticut, North Carolina State and South Carolina the favorites to advance to that stage, awarding them No. 1 seeds. Stanford was the overall top seed.
NCAA women’s basketball committee chair Nina King said the teams at the top of the S-curve were “pretty tightly packed,” with Baylor, Texas A&M, Louisville and Maryland bumped to No. 2 seeds.
“We had to have a lot of conversation around that to make sure we are comfortable, and that’s where we felt those eight teams on the one and two lines deserved to be,” King said. “So, it really was a lot of conversation early on in the deliberation process.”
Connecticut faces some uncertainty as coach Geno Auriemma tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday, will remain in isolation for 10 days and can rejoin the team on March 24. He will miss the Huskies’ first game against High Point and their second-round matchup against Syracuse or South Dakota State.
King said the committee weighed the effect COVID-19 protocols had on each team, as well as the varying scheduling models implemented by each conference. While some programs in the field have played 28 games, others have played as few as 15.
“Teams across the board, all over the country were impacted by COVID in some form or fashion,” King said. “We certainly took into account COVID pauses, how teams were playing postpause, if players were missing due to COVID. It was one of the discussion points.”
The opening games are set for 11 a.m. Sunday in the River Walk Region, with No. 5 Iowa facing No. 12 Central Michigan in the Alamodome and No. 7 Virginia Tech meeting No. 10 Marquette in San Marcos. Thirty-two first-round games will be staggered through the day Sunday and Monday.
Houston, DePaul, Notre Dame and Oklahoma were designated as replacement teams. If any team in the field is deemed unable to compete due to COVID-19 protocols, that spot may be filled prior to 5 p.m. Tuesday.
“Houston, obviously first four out, was right there,” King said. “Just not enough compared to some of the teams that were in the tournament to get them in. But what Houston has done this year is also impressive.”
A single-bid conference can replace its automatic qualifier, but any other team dropping out of the tournament would be supplanted by one of the four designated teams.
Once the tournament is underway, no further replacements will be considered, and the bracket will not be reseeded. If a team is forced to drop out of competition due to COVID-19 protocols, its opponent advances to the next round.
Opening-round games Sunday and Monday will be split between five venues: the Alamodome, the Bill Greehey Arena at St. Mary’s University, the Erwin Center in Austin, Texas State’s Events Center in San Marcos and UTSA’s Convocation Center.
The second round March 23-24 will be held at the three San Antonio locations before teams converge at the Alamodome for the Sweet 16 on March 27-28, the Elite Eight on March 29-30, and the Final Four from April 2-4.
Attendance for the opening two rounds of the tournament will be limited only to team guests, with each member of a team’s travel party allowed up to six tickets for an anticipated cap of about 400 spectators.
Fans will be allowed in the Alamodome at up to 17 percent capacity, or roughly 11,000 fans, for the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight and Final Four, matching the system used at the venue for the Alamo Bowl and UTSA football games through the fall.
All members of a team’s travel party, which is capped at 34 people, are required to test negative for COVID-19 on seven consecutive days before departure to San Antonio. They will also be tested daily during their stay and will wear devices to assist in contact tracing should any positive tests arise.
The NCAA has instituted strict masking and distancing guidelines, with players eating boxed meals either in their hotel rooms or in a distanced team room with assigned seating.
Practices will be held on nine courts in the Convention Center or two courts at the Alamodome.
The San Antonio local organizing committee released a study projecting an economic impact of $27.2 million, anticipating 35,000 hotel room nights and more than 15,000 visitors for the event.
San Antonio earned the bid to host the women’s Final Four in 2018, marking the third time the event will be held in the Alamodome. The city also hosted the women’s Final Four in 2002 and 2010.
In December, the NCAA women’s basketball committee announced the decision to play the entire tournament in one location to limit risk amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and San Antonio was the only site being explored.