Albany, Greensboro, Oklahoma City and Spokane Host Cities

The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Presented by Capital One continues across ESPN, ESPN2 and WatchESPN with the top four seeds advancing to Regional rounds. Coverage tips with No. 1 seed South Carolina facing No. 4 seed North Carolina on Friday, March 27, from the Greensboro (N.C.) Regional at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Action from Greensboro, continues at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2 with No. 2 Florida State against No. 3 Arizona State.

Also on Friday, from the Oklahoma City Regional, is No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 3 Iowa at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2, followed by No. 1 Notre Dame against No. 4 Stanford at 10 p.m. on ESPN.

Top-seeded Connecticut takes to the court against No. 5 Texas on Saturday, March 28, at noon from the Albany (N.Y.) Regional, prior to No. 3 Louisville against No. 7 Dayton, both on ESPN. The Spokane (Wash.) Regional tips at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday when No. 1 Maryland faces No. 4 Duke and No. 2 Tennessee plays No. 11 Gonzaga, at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m., respectively, on ESPN.

The Regional Finals will air on Sunday, March 29 and Monday, March 30, on ESPN. Play culminates with the NCAA Women’s National Championship game on Tuesday, April 7, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and WatchESPN from Tampa Bay, Fla.

All games can be seen on WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.

Additional NCAA Championship content will be available across multiple platforms, including espnW.com, SportsCenter, ESPNEWS and ESPN International.
Coverage Highlights

• Continuing to elevate the tops stars during game telecasts with ESPN’s “Need to Know” highlighting top players throughout the Tournament
• Vignettes and segments from feature shoots at UConn, Maryland, Notre Dame and South Carolina.
• Creative elements featuring the song “Fire and Gold” by Disney recording artist Bea Miller.
• espnW’s Tourney Snapshots (photos from game sites) featured throughout the telecasts.
• Interact on twitter via @espnW, @ESPN_WomenHoop and #NCAAW for the first, second and regional rounds and #NCAAWFF for the final weekend. Also interact on Facebook at facebook.com/espnW.
  

Commentator Highlights

• Anchor Kevin Negandhi, with analysts Kara Lawson and Rebecca Lobo, will be part of ESPN’s studio coverage for the early rounds and then on-site at Amalie Arena at the Final Four in Tampa Bay.
• Play-by-play announcer Dave O’Brien and veteran analyst Doris Burke will call the Albany Regional and Final Four.
• Big Monday duo of Beth Mowins and Stephanie White are paired for the Oklahoma City Regional, Pam Ward and Carolyn Peck will call the Greensboro Regional, and Dave Pasch and Debbie Antonelli will be at the Spokane Regional.
• Reporters at each Regional site will include LaChina Robinson, Maria Taylor, Allison Williams and Holly Rowe, who will also work the Final Four with O’Brien and Burke.

espnW.com

News, analysis and commentary will be provided throughout the women’s tournament leading into the Women’s Final Four in Tampa Bay. Highlights:

• Stats, analysis and stories on additional players to watch.
• Columnists will provide live coverage of each round of games from coast-to-coast, with video highlights of the matchups, plus Lobo will also contribute.
• Coverage of the top stars in the women’s game through ESPN’s “3 to See” initiative – Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Breanna Stewart (UConn) and Jewell Loyd (Notre Dame), in addition to the “Need to Know” series – Nina Davis (Baylor); Brittany Boyd (Cal); Moriah Jefferson (UConn); Elizabeth Williams (Duke); Lexie Brown (Maryland); Rachel Banham (Minnesota); Tiffany Mitchell (South Carolina); Aleighsa Welch (South Carolina); A’ja Wilson (South Carolina) and Amanda Zahui B. (Minnesota).
• Tourney Snapshots, which includes team- and fan-submitted social media photos and video with behind-the-scenes access to teams, players and coaches, will return for the third consecutive season.
• espnW.com staff and a handful of WNBA players face off in an Women’s Tournament Challenge group.
• UConn’s dominance came to be (by Kate Fagan) and Harvard’s 16-over-1 upset of Stanford in 1998 (by Michelle Smith).
• W @ NCAA Final Four is an exclusive espnW franchise devoted to capturing the excitement surrounding the Final Four & Championship games in Tampa Bay. The content will consist of all-access from the behind-the-scenes lens with the use of video interviews, social media activation and television integration.

FiveThirtyEight

For the first time, FiveThirtyEight will cover the probabilistic projections for the NCAA Women’s Championship. On Tuesday, March 17, the website will debut an interactive bracket that calculates each team’s chance of advancing through the rounds. In addition to updating the data in the bracket throughout the week, FiveThirtyEight’s sportswriters will deliver a variety of data-driven stories tied to the tournament.

2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Presented By Capital One Regional Schedule (subject to change)

Date	Time (ET)	Game/Commentators	Networks
Fri, Mar 27	7 p.m.	Regional Semifinal: No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 1 South Carolina (Greensboro, N.C.) Pam Ward, Carolyn Peck, LaChina Robinson	ESPN / WatchESPN
	7:30 p.m.	Regional Semifinal: No. 3 Iowa vs. No. 2 Baylor (Oklahoma City, Okla.) Beth Mowins, Stephanie White, Maria Taylor	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
	9 p.m.	Regional Semifinal: No. 3 Arizona State vs. No. 2 Florida State (Greensboro, N.C.)	ESPN / WatchESPN
	9:30 p.m.	Regional Semifinal: No. 4 Stanford vs. No. 1 Notre Dame (Oklahoma City, Okla.)	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
Sat, Mar 28	Noon	Regional Semifinal: No. 5 Texas vs. No. 1 UConn (Albany, N.Y.) Dave O’Brien, Doris Burke, Holly Rowe	ESPN / WatchESPN
	2 p.m.	Regional Semifinal: No. 7 Dayton vs. No. 3 Louisville (Albany, N.Y.)	ESPN / WatchESPN
	4:30 p.m.	Regional Semifinal: No. 4 Duke vs. No. 1 Maryland (Spokane, Wash.) Dave Pasch, Debbie Antonelli, Allison Williams	ESPN / WatchESPN
	6:30 p.m.	Regional Semifinal: No. 11 Gonzaga vs. No. 2 Tennessee (Spokane, Wash.)	ESPN / WatchESPN
Sun, Mar 29	Noon	Regional Final (Greensboro, N.C.)	ESPN / WatchESPN
	8:30 p.m.	Regional Final (Oklahoma City, Okla.)	ESPN / WatchESPN
Mon, Mar 30	7 p.m.	Regional Final (Albany, N.Y.)	ESPN / WatchESPN
	9 p.m.	Regional Final (Spokane, Wash.)	ESPN / WatchESPN

2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Presented By Capital One Final Four Schedule (subject to change)

Sun, Apr 5	6 p.m.	NCAA Women’s Final Four Special Presented by Capital One (Tampa Bay, Fla.) Kevin Negandhi, Kara Lawson, Rebecca Lobo	ESPN / WatchESPN
	6:30 p.m.	National Semifinal Game 1 (Tampa Bay, Fla.) Dave O’Brien, Doris Burke, Holly Rowe	ESPN / WatchESPN
	9 p.m.	National Semifinal Game 2 (Tampa Bay, Fla.)	ESPN / WatchESPN
Tue, Apr 7	5:30 p.m.	College Basketball Live: NCAA Women’s Championship Special Matt Schick, Brooke Weisbrod & Steffi Sorensen	ESPNU / WatchESPN
	7:30 p.m.	NCAA Women’s Championship Special Presented by Capital One (Tampa Bay, Fla.) Kevin Negandhi, Kara Lawson, Rebecca Lobo	ESPN / WatchESPN
	8:30 p.m.	National Final (Tampa Bay, Fla.) Dave O’Brien, Doris Burke, Holly Rowe	ESPN / WatchESPN

 

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ESPN’s extensive multiplatform coverage of Selection Sunday, March 15, included instant and in-depth analysis across studio shows on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Rece Davis hosted live coverage of up-to-the-minute tournament selection updates on ESPN’s 6 p.m. ET SportsCenter with analysts Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams. Dan Dakich and Jim Calhoun was also in-studio to provide analysis. Following SportsCenter, ESPN aired a two-hour Bracketology Presented by Staples at 7 p.m. with Davis, Bilas, Greenberg, Vitale and Williams. The coverage included analysis, discussion on the field, upset predictions, final four picks and more.

Jay Bilas on the job by the selection committee:

• “The end of the line, I didn’t think there was a whole lot to complain about. The ones left out – Temple, Miami can complain about UCLA and Boise State. Outside of that I think the committee got everything right.”
  

On two-seed Gonzaga:

• Bilas: “I think Gonzaga will end up playing [three-seed] Iowa State and we very well could see Gonzaga in the Final Four.”
• Dick Vitale: “Gonzaga has all the parts. I really love that basketball team. I think this is the year that Mark Few’s club – they’re going to be my pick – to go to the Final Four.”
  

Seth Greenberg on Michigan State:

• “Michigan State finds a way to advance in March, and I have them as an Elite Eight team.”
  

Jay Williams on Virginia being a two-seed:

• “I would’ve had UVA on the first line. Even though they weren’t playing that great without Justin Anderson, I felt their wins were better than the wins Villanova had.”
  

Williams on NC State and LSU against Villanova:

• “I think both of those teams have the personnel that they could beat Villanova. I would pick Villanova, right now, as my first one-seed to go out.”
  

Bilas on Virginia’s prospects of advancing:

• “I still favor Virginia to get to the Regional Final and play Villanova. If Justin Anderson can get toward healthy, to where he gets that brace off his hand and he can actually handle the ball with his left hand, I think Virginia goes to the Final Four.”
  

Dan Dakich observation of the Midwest Region:

• “Doesn’t matter, Kentucky’s going to win the Regional. They could’ve put anybody in there.”
  

Vitale on Kentucky:

• “They have all the components, they can block shots, they can defend, they have depth, they have fresh legs at the end of the game… they got into foul trouble, and they just bring in another guy. They have all the parts.”
  

On UCLA in the field, but not Miami and Temple:

• Bilas: “I think Miami might be looking at UCLA in the field and saying, ‘what, excuse me?’”
• Greenberg: “I’m shocked about UCLA. I know they have a Utah win and an Oregon win, but I’m shocked about UCLA. If I’m Temple, and I understand I lost in my conference tournament, but you have a quality win against Kansas. More importantly, your record with Jesse Morgan who got eligible mid-year, is a NCAA tournament type of record.”
  

If Bilas is surprised Texas and Indiana is in the field:

• “I’m not because of the quality of wins that they had. They suffered some losses – and significant amount of losses – but both of them played good schedules. The one thing with Indiana, they had a couple of what you would call bad losses, but they had more quality wins than some of the other teams at the end of the line.”
  

Dakich on Notre Dame:

• “To me, Notre Dame is a real possibility to beat Kentucky. I don’t think there are many teams.”
  

On No. 5 Utah vs. No. 12 Stephen F. Austin:

• Greenberg: “I like Utah, but Stephen F. Austin – they flat, get after you. Last year, they beat VCU.”
• Bilas: “I don’t think Utah scores as efficiently against really good defensive teams. I don’t think Stephen F. Austin is a great defensive team, but I think they got an edge to them. [Stephen F. Austin coach] Brad Underwood coached with Frank Martin at Kansas State. They are a tough group. Thomas Walkup is a good player. They are undersized but they fight. They’re going to fight Utah and I think they can beat them.”

Rece Davis on Georgia making the field:

• “Have you ever heard of politics, sometimes the candidate who gets elected is the least objectionable. That’s what Georgia’s resume is.”

Bilas on Ohio State:

• “Marc Loving would have to play at highest level and Amir Williams has to be completely engaged. I think Ohio State is a good bet to get into the second round past VCU because they have guards that can handle pressure.”

Bracketology included interviews with Kentucky coach John Calipari and NCAA Championship Chairman Scott Barnes:

Calipari on the opponents in the field: 

• “They have to play the way they play and then play really well and then see if that is enough to beat us.”

Barnes on UCLA:

• “We saw earlier in the year, and then later in the year, it really became the eye test. Their strength of schedule certainly helped us make final decision.”

Barnes on eye test:

• “The eye test really comes into play when looking at small margins. We have always used the eye test in some regards, more times than others, depending on circumstances.”

Barnes on Indiana: 

• “They had four top 50 wins and played in strong conference. I keep going back to the eye test, but they were good enough, again not top of list, good enough given body of work throughout the year and top 50 wins.”
  

Bracketology Picks

• Jay Bilas: Kentucky Wildcats (Champion)
  

• Rece Davis: Kentucky Wildcats (Champion)
  

• Seth Greenberg: Kentucky Wildcats (Champion)

• Dick Vitale: Kentucky Wildcats (Champions)
  

• Jay Williams: Arizona Wildcats (Champion)

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