North Carolina State University Athletics
2003 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Bracket Announced
3/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
March 16, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. -
2003 NCAA Women's Basketball Bracket (Includes game times)
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The 64-team field competing for the 2003 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship was announced today by the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee.
Connecticut (31-1) tops the bracket as the overall No. 1 seed after winning its 10th straight regular-season Big East Conference title and reaching its conference tournament championship game. Duke (31-1), Tennessee (28-4) and LSU (27-3) round out the remaining No. 1 seeds.
NC State was named one of four Midwest sites and will host No. 1 seeded Duke (31-1, 16-0 ACC), No. 8 Utah (23-6, 12-2 MWC), No. 9 DePaul (22-9, 10-4 C-USA) and No. 16 Georgia State (20-10 ASC), Sunday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 25. The winner will advance to play the winner out of the Athens, Ga. site (No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 12 Charlotte and No. 4 Rutgers vs. No. 13 Western Kentucky).
Duke is set to take on Georgia State, while Utah will face DePaul. Utah and DePaul will play in the first game at 12:18 p.m. (ESPN2), while Duke and Georgia State will follow 30 minutes after the completion of the first game on ESPN.
Duke won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title and then went on to win its fourth-straight tournament title recently, capping a 16-0 run in the ACC. The Blue Devils advanced to the Final Four last season. Georgia State is coming off its third-straight Atlantic Sun Conference tournament title with a 80-63 win over Central Florida and third-straight NCAA birth. This is also the fourth 20-win campaign for the Lady Panthers. Utah lost to Brigham Young in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference recently, 70-59. The Utes closed out the season winning 15 of their last 18 games. DePaul, lost to Cincinatti in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament, 81-64. The Blue Demons had solid wins over No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 21 George Washington this season.
For tickets call 1-800-310-PACK. Individual tickets will be $15 for the package or $10 per game on game days only.
Thirty-one conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2003 championship, and the remaining 33 teams were selected at-large. The Big East Conference and the Southeastern Conference tied for placing the most teams in the championship bracket with seven, followed by the Big Ten with six and the Big 12 Conference and Conference USA each with five. First- and second- round games will be played at 16 sites March 22 and 24 and March 23 and 25. The 16 second-round winners will advance to the four regional sites. The Mideast Regional (Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee) and the Midwest Regional (University Arena, Albuquerque, New Mexico) will be March 29 and 31, while the East Regional (University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio) and the West Regional (Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California) will be March 30 and April 1. The four regional winners will meet in the NCAA Women's Final Four, April 6 and 8, at the Georgia Dome (28,210) in Atlanta. Louisiana Tech and Tennessee continued their appearance streak as both have participated in all 22 Division I Women's Basketball Championships. Conversely, four teams are making their first trip to the tournament: Alabama State, Boston U., Charlotte and Valparaiso.
In the 21-year history of the Division I Women's Basketball Championship, 11 schools have captured the national title, with Tennessee leading the way with six. Last year, in front of a record-setting crowd of 29, 619, Connecticut won its second NCAA title in three years and third overall with an 82-70 win over Oklahoma at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
SPECIAL NOTICE
The Duke vs. Georgia State game is scheduled to being 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game between Utah and DePaul. However, ESPN will not be prepared to accept the game before 2:30 p.m. should the first game end sooner that 2 p.m. Therefore the in between time may be longer than 30 minutes.
Also, if the men's basketball tournament games on Sunday are moved to ESPN should CBS transfer coverage towards the War, both games will be viewed on ESPN 2, vs. switching to ESPN for the Duke/Georgia State game.
Participating School Websites
Duke, www.goduke.com
DePaul, www.depaulbluedemons.com
Georgia State, www.georgiastate.com
Utah, www.utahutes.com
