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Terre Haute

Coverage of the women's Final Four

2003 season

2003 NCAA women's tournament basics

Tournament dates Wed., March 5: First round Sat., March 8: Second round Fri., March 14: Sweet 16 Sat., March 15: Elite Eight Fri., March 21: Final Four at Terre Haute, Ind. Sat., March 22: Championship at Terre Haute, Ind.

When are the selections announced?
Selection Sunday is March 2.

Who goes to the tournament?
Fifty teams go to the tournament — 37 conference champions, 7 runners-up from those conferences (Pool C) and 6 teams who are not in those 37 conferences (Pool B).

What conferences
receive automatic bids?
Automatic bids are awarded to the champions of:
American Southwest Conference
Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference
Capital Athletic Conference
Centennial Conference
City University of New York Athletic Conference
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin
Commonwealth Coast Conference
Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Empire 8
Great Northeast Athletic Conference
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Lake Michigan Conference
Little East Conference
Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Middle Atlantic Commonwealth
Middle Atlantic Freedom
Midwest Conference
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
New England Small College Athletic Conference
New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference
New Jersey Athletic Conference
North Coast Athletic Conference
Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference
Northwest Conference
Ohio Athletic Conference
Old Dominion Athletic Conference
Pennsylvania Athletic Conference
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Skyline Conference
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
State University of New York Athletic Conference
University Athletic Association
Upstate Collegiate Athletic Conference
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Who selects teams in Pool B and Pool C?
The selections are made by the Division III women's basketball national committee, with one member from each region. Each national committee member chairs a regional committee of 4-7 people. This committee produces the regional rankings the last five weeks of the regular season.

How many teams go from each region?
It doesn't work that way anymore. Now the Pool B and C bids are made on a national basis, meaning it is possible that nine teams could go from the Central and only three teams from the East. Once the 50 teams are selected, they will be grouped into (theoretically) geographically based brackets of six teams each. Two brackets will have seven teams, or one bracket will have eight teams, in order to reach 50.

Why 50 when the men have 48?
There are more Division III women's basketball teams than men's teams. The number of teams in the NCAA tournament in each sport is based on the number of schools that sponsor the sport — one playoff spot for every 7.5 teams.

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