The 2016 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was played between March and April 2016, with the Final Four played April 3 & 5. The regional locations were four neutral sites: Bridgeport, Connecticut, Dallas, Lexington, Kentucky, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Final Four was played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. UConn won their fourth consecutive national championship, defeating Syracuse 82–51. This was the last Women's Final Four to be played on the then Sunday/Tuesday schedule. Starting in 2017, the Final Four was changed to a Friday/Sunday schedule, which it used from its inception in 1982 through 1990, then again from 1996 through 2002. Tennessee continued its record streak of making every NCAA women's basketball tournament at 35 consecutive appearances. UConn also continued its record streak of nine consecutive Final Four appearances. As of the 2023 tournament, this is the only one where all four Final Four teams were coached by men.

Tournament procedure

Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2016 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 36 bids are "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The tournament is split into four regional tournaments, and each regional has teams seeded from 1 to 16, with the committee ostensibly making every region as comparable to the others as possible. The top-seeded team in each region plays the #16 team, the #2 team plays the #15, etc. (meaning where the two seeds add up to 17, that team will be assigned to play another). The basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus. The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.

2016 NCAA tournament schedule and venues

The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals were played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done in 2015. First and Second rounds (Subregionals) Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) This was the third time that Indianapolis hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament; the prior times were in 2005 and 2011.

Notables

Princeton became the first Ivy League team to ever receive an at-large bid in either the Division I men's or women's tournament. Notably, this came in the last season in which the Ivy League did not hold a postseason tournament. Tennessee received a #7 seed, the lowest in program history. Kentucky had the chance to play all of its regional games in its home city. The subregional was held on the Kentucky campus at the women's primary home of Memorial Coliseum, and the regional was held at Rupp Arena, normally home to the Kentucky men's team but also an occasional home for the women's team, in downtown Lexington. Five teams made their first-ever tournament appearance: Buffalo, Central Arkansas, Duquesne, Iona, and Jacksonville. Only Duquesne was an at-large entry; the others all won their conference tournaments. Upsets were the theme of the day on the first round of Sweet 16 play. In all four contests, the lower seated team knocked off the higher seeded team. Fourth-seeded Syracuse took out the number one seed in their region, South Carolina. Fourth-seeded Stanford defeated the number one seed in their region, Notre Dame. Seventh-seeded Washington played third-seeded Kentucky on their own (secondary) court and won the game — becoming the first team to win a true road game in the Sweet Sixteen round since North Carolina defeated Arizona State in 2005 — to move on to the Elite Eight. Seventh-seeded Tennessee defeated the third-seeded Ohio State. This left two four seeds and two seven seeds in the two regions playing on this day.

Subregionals tournament & automatic qualifiers

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams automatically qualified for the 2016 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

Tournament seeds

Tournament records

Games

Bridgeport Regional, Bridgeport, CT

First round

Second round

Sweet Sixteen

Elite 8

Bracket

Bridgeport Regional Final

Bridgeport Regional all tournament team

Dallas Regional, Dallas, TX

First round

Second round

Sweet 16

Elite 8

Bracket

Dallas Regional Final

Dallas Regional all tournament team

Lexington Regional, Lexington, KY

First-round

Second round

Sweet 16

Elite 8

Bracket

Lexington Regional Final

Lexington Regional all tournament team

Sioux Falls Regional, Sioux Falls, SD

First round

Second round

Sweet Sixteen

Elite 8

Bracket

Sioux Falls Regional Final

Sioux Falls Regional all tournament team

Final Four

During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the top overall top seed's region plays the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region plays the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region.

Bankers Life Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, IN

National semifinals

National Championship

Final Four all-tournament team

Record by conference

Source

Media coverage

Television

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the first and second round, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN, ESPNU, or ESPNews. All other games aired regionally on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN3 and were streamed online via WatchESPN. Most of the nation got whip-a-round coverage during this time, which allowed ESPN to rotate between the games and focus the nation on the game that has the closest score. The regional semifinals and national semifinals were split between ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN aired the regional finals and the national championship game.

Studio host & analysts

Broadcast Assignments

First & Second Rounds Friday/Sunday Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Friday/Sunday Final Four First & Second Rounds Saturday/Monday Sweet Sixteen & Elite Eight Saturday/Monday Championship

Radio

Westwood One has exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament. Teams participating in the Regional Finals, Final Four, and championship are allowed to have their own local broadcasts, but they aren't allowed to stream those broadcasts online. Regional Finals Sunday Final Four Regional Finals Monday Championship