The NCAA women’s tournament selection committee will release the seeding list for the entire field beginning in 2025.
The NCAA announced Friday that it would reveal how the selection committee split all entrants, as the men’s selection committee does, after its list of entrants is announced on Selection Sunday. Selection committee chair and Arkansas deputy athletic director Derita Dawkins said the move was made for “additional transparency.”
“The committee felt that the time was right for women’s basketball and our championship to reveal the full list of championship seeds,” Dawkins said in a statement. “Providing the full seeding list on Selection Sunday will bring greater transparency to the seeding processes. The shift to quadrant-based team sheets will be beneficial to the committee when sorting team data in relation to the selection and seeding processes.”
The quadrant-based process is designed to give the committee a better idea of team strength when ranking entrants. The men’s selection committee uses a quadrant-based process that divides wins and losses into four categories based on opponent strength and where the match was played.
The women’s tournament will also be based on a team’s overall record in qualifying for the tournament rather than splitting its win-loss record into conference and non-conference records.
Additionally, the NCAA is keeping the current process in place for hosting the women’s tournament. The first and second rounds have been played on the home courts of the top 16 seeded teams. Those teams will continue to host the first two rounds after the NCAA looked at the feasibility of moving all tournament games to neutral sites like the men’s tournament.
“The women’s basketball championship has enjoyed tremendous success in recent years, with record attendance and television ratings during March Madness,” Dawkins said. “The current preliminary round format provides a superior championship experience for student-athletes and fans. We feel good about the growth of the championship and where we stand. The format review will include feedback from members and stakeholders, with the goal of ensuring we consider all additional format options for future analysis.”