Preseason AP #1 Connecticut NCAA Champions Connecticut | NCAA Tournament 2015 | |
![]() | ||
Tournament dates March 20 – April 7, 2015 Similar 1985–86 Football League, 1989–90 Football League, 1993–94 FA Premier League, 2014–15 Premier League, 1991–92 Football League |
The 2014–15 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November and ended with the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, April 5–7. Practices officially began on October 3.
Contents
- Season headlines
- Milestones and records
- Conference membership changes
- Pre season polls
- Early season tournaments
- Conference winners and tournaments
- Tournament upsets
- Womens National Invitation tournament
- WNIT Semifinals and Final
- Womens Invitational Tournament
- WBI Semifinals and Final
- All America teams
- Major player of the year awards
- Major freshman of the year awards
- Major coach of the year awards
- Other major awards
- Coaching changes
- References
This was the final season in which NCAA women's basketball games were played in 20-minute halves. Beginning with the 2015–16 season, the women's game switched to 10-minute quarters, the standard for FIBA and WNBA play.
Season headlines
Milestones and records
Conference membership changes
The 2014–15 season saw the final wave of membership changes resulting from a major realignment of NCAA Division I conferences. The cycle began in 2010 with the Big Ten and the then-Pac-10 publicly announcing their intentions to expand. The fallout from these conferences' moves later affected a majority of D-I conferences.
Pre-season polls
The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls.
Early season tournaments
*Although these tournaments include more teams, only the number listed play for the championship.
Conference winners and tournaments
Thirty-one athletic conferences each end their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament. The teams in each conference that win their regular season title are given the number one seed in each tournament. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the 2015 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. The Ivy League does not have a conference tournament, instead giving their automatic invitation to their regular season champion.
Tournament upsets
For this list, a "major upset" is defined as a win by a team seeded 7 or more spots below its defeated opponent.
Women's National Invitation tournament
After the NCAA Tournament field is announced, 64 teams were invited to participate in the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The tournament began on March 20, 2013, and ended with the final on April 6. Unlike the men's National Invitation Tournament, whose semifinals and finals are held at Madison Square Garden, the WNIT holds all of its games at campus sites.
WNIT Semifinals and Final
Played at campus sites
Women's Invitational Tournament
The sixth Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) Tournament began in March 2015 and will end with a best-of-three final scheduled for March 31, April 2, and April 5; the final went the full three games. This tournament featured 16 teams who were left out of the NCAA Tournament and NIT.
WBI Semifinals and Final
Played at campus sites
All-America teams
The NCAA has never recognized a consensus All-America team in women's basketball. This differs from the practice in men's basketball, in which the NCAA uses a combination of selections by the Associated Press (AP), the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the Sporting News, and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) to determine a consensus All-America team. The selection of a consensus team is possible because all four organizations select at least a first and second team, with only the USBWA not selecting a third team.
However, of the major selectors in women's basketball, only the AP divides its selections into separate teams. The women's counterpart to the NABC, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), selects a single 10-member (plus ties) team, as does the USBWA. The NCAA does not recognize Sporting News as an All-America selector in women's basketball.
With that in mind, the following players were named to at least two of the three major teams:
Major player of the year awards
Major freshman of the year awards
Major coach of the year awards
Other major awards
Coaching changes
A number of teams changed coaches during and after the season.