For the first time, the 2023 women’s NCAA tournament won’t have four “roads to the Final Four.” Instead, in a change that is sure to be examined and critiqued, two regionals — which this year are in Greenville, South Carolina, and Seattle — will each send two teams to Dallas.
The NCAA made the change from four to two regionals in August 2019, nearly two years before the 2021 NCAA tournament in the COVID-19 pandemic bubble in San Antonio exposed inequities in the women’s and men’s tournaments. So this two-regional decision pre-dates the scrutiny that subsequent moves regarding the women’s tournament have faced. Now, it’s going to get that scrutiny in real time.
The bicoastal regional setup leaves a big chunk of the nation far from Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. How will it impact attendance? And with no regional in the Central time zone, the NCAA likely has guaranteed more teams than ever will have to travel two or maybe three time zones to play in the regional. These are all things to watch; the NCAA has already picked sites under this system through 2026.
But the basketball should be fantastic. Defending champion South Carolina and forward Aliyah Boston are trying to complete a perfect season, and they will stay in their home state all the way to the…
