When is March Madness 2024? Dates, TV schedule, locations, odds & more for NCAA Women's Tournament
The 2023-24 women’s college basketball season has been a banner one for a sport that has watched its popularity skyrocket in recent years.
Over the past four months, there has been no shortage of compelling storylines that have captivated fans nationally.
MORE: Watch select 2024 NCAA Tournament games live with Sling TV
South Carolina and coach Dawn Staley wrapped up their second-consecutive undefeated regular season and, in the weeks to come, they will look to bolster their reputation as the sport’s modern-day dynasty. LSU, the Gamecocks’ budding SEC rival, will look to successfully defend its national championship and become the first repeat title-winner in nearly a decade. Then, of course, there’s Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who spent this season breaking longstanding NCAA scoring records, guiding her team to a No. 2 finish in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and serving as the star attraction of some of the highest-rated women’s basketball games in the sport’s history.
All of that action, engrossing as it was, was just a prelude. Now, it’s time for all those teams and players to compete for the prize they all set out to earn at the start of the season.
REQUIRED READING: As Dawn Staley, South Carolina pursue perfection, what Geno Auriemma might say | Toppmeyer
Next week marks the start of the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, which will kick off a three-week stretch in which the sport’s top teams and biggest stars will undoubtedly help March Madness live up to its name.
Here's what you need to know for the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, including TV schedules, results, streaming options, game locations, national championship betting odds and more:
March Madness Bracket 2024
The full field of 68 for the NCAA women's basketball tournament will be unveiled on Sunday, March 17 during a selection show that will air on ESPN beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Like its men's counterpart, the NCAA women's tournament is made up of 32 automatic qualifiers who won their respective conference tournaments and 36 at-large teams that the tournament's selection committee picks to be included.
This section will be updated when the 68-team bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday.
NCAA Tournament schedule 2024
Start date: Wednesday, March 20 (First Four)
End date: Sunday, April 7 (national championship)
The 2024 NCAA women's basketball tournament tips off on Wednesday, March 20 with the First Four, which will be held at campus sites of teams that are among the tournament's top 16 overall seeds. The first set of first-round games will begin Friday, March 22.
The Final Four will begin Friday, April 5 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. The action will culminate with the national championship game, which will be held on Sunday, April 7.
Here is the full schedule breakdown for the 2024 NCAA Tournament:
First Four: Wednesday, March 20 through Thursday, March 21
Round of 64: Friday, March 22 through Saturday, March 23
Round of 32: Sunday, March 24 through Monday, March 25
Sweet 16: Friday, March 29 through Saturday, March 30
Elite Eight: Sunday, March 31 through Monday, April 1
Final Four: Friday, April 5
National Championship: Sunday, April 7
This section will be updated.
MARCH MADNESS: 2024 NCAA Tournament brackets
When is the First Four?
For just the third year in its existence, the NCAA women's basketball tournament will feature a First Four after the field expanded from 64 teams to 68 for the 2022 tournament. Unlike the men's First Four, which is held every year at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, the women's First Four will take place at campus sites of the team hosting first-round games. Last season, for example, the First Four games were held in South Bend, Indiana (Notre Dame); Bloomington, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; and Stanford, California.
The First Four will match up the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers against each other in two separate games while the same format will hold for the four lowest-seeded at-large teams. The winner of each game advances to the Round of 64, which will begin Friday, March 22.
Date: Wednesday, March 20 through Thursday, March 21
Time: TBD
TV channel: truTV
Live stream: March Madness Live App, Sling TV
When is the Final Four?
The 2024 Final Four will take place at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, the home arena of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. The two national semifinal games will be played on Friday, April 5, followed by the national championship game on Sunday, April 7.
It's the second time the venue has hosted the women's Final Four. The previous instance came in 2007, when it was then known as Quicken Loans Arena. That year, Tennessee defeated Rutgers in the national championship game.
Date: Friday, April 5 (Final Four); Sunday, April 7 (national championship)
Time: TBD
TV channel: ESPN (Final Four), ABC (national championship)
Live stream: March Madness Live App, Sling TV
How to watch March Madness games in 2024
Every game of the 2024 NCAA women's basketball tournament will air on ESPN's family of networks. Last season, games were broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews.
You can also stream select NCAA Tournament games on Fubo (free trial for new users) and the NCAA March Madness Live app.
This section will be updated when full TV schedules are released
Where is March Madness 2024?
The NCAA women's tournament is formatted slightly differently from its male counterpart, in which every game is staged at a neutral site.
The First Four games are held at a campus site of one of the tournament's top 16 overall seeds. From there, the first- and second-round games will take place at the home arena of the highest-rated team in a given four-team pod. For example, South Carolina, as a certain No. 1 seed, will host a yet-to-be-determined No. 16 seed before, barring a seismic upset, playing against the winner of the No. 8 seed's matchup against the No. 9 seed, with all those games taking place at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
Once in the Sweet 16, neutral sites are introduced, though the women's tournament has just two regions, compared to four for the men's. This year, those Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will be held in Albany, New York and Portland, Oregon. The Final Four and national championship will be hosted at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
Here is a full breakdown of which sites and locations will be a part of the NCAA Tournament this year:
First Four:
Campus sites of TBD top 16 overall seeds
Rounds 1-2
Campus sites of TBD top 16 overall seeds.
Sweet 16-Elite Eight:
Albany Region: MVP Arena (Albany, New York)
Portland Region: Moda Center (Portland, Oregon)
Final Four
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (Cleveland)
REQUIRED READING: March Madness bracket tracker: Updated list of automatic bids to 2024 NCAA Women's Tournament
Odds to win March Madness 2024
According to odds from BetMGM, South Carolina is the favorite to win the national championship, which would be the Gamecocks' third since 2017. Last year, they carried an undefeated record into the Final Four, but once there, they lost to Clark and Iowa 77-73.
Here's a full list of odds for teams to win the national championship (as of Wednesday, March 13):
South Carolina (-120)
Iowa (+400)
LSU (+650)
Stanford (+2000)
UConn (+2500)
Ohio State (+2500)
UCLA (+3000)
Texas (+3000)
Kansas State (+3500)
N.C. State (+4000)
USC (+4000)
Virginia Tech (+5000)
Indiana (+5000)
Oregon State (+5000)
Notre Dame (+6000)
Colorado (+8000)
Utah (+10000)
Baylor (+10000)
Gonzaga (+10000)
Louisville (+10000)
To see the full list of teams and their odds, click here.
NCAA Tournament winners
Last season, LSU won its first national championship and joined a group of 15 other schools that have claimed at least one NCAA championship. For Tigers coach Kim Mulkey, it was her fourth title, with her previous three coming at Baylor.
UConn has the most NCAA women's basketball championships of any school, with 11. Tennessee, with eight, is the only other program that has won more than three.
It's worth noting that this championship count only goes back to 1982, when the NCAA assumed governing powers over women's college basketball.
Here is a full list of which schools have won titles going back to 1982, and how many each of them has won:
1. UConn: 11
2. Tennessee: 8
T-3. Baylor: 3
T-3. Stanford: 3
T-5. South Carolina: 2
T-5: Louisiana Tech: 2
T-5. Notre Dame: 2
T-5. USC: 2
T-9.North Carolina: 1
T-9. LSU: 1
T-9. Maryland: 1
T-9. Old Dominion: 1
T-9. Purdue: 1
T-9. Texas: 1
T-9. Texas A&M: 1
T-9. Texas Tech: 1
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This article originally appeared on Greenville News: March Madness 2024: Dates, TV schedule, locations for NCAA Women's Tournament
