DePaul, Marquette Earn NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Bids
Sixth-seeded Blue Demons to face 11th-seeded Missouri State in Ames, Iowa; fifth-seeded Golden Eagles paired with No. 12 seed Rice in College Station, Texas; both BIG EAST teams selected to the NCAA’s Chicago Region.
2019 NCAA Tournament Bracket
NEW YORK – Back-to-back BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Tournament champion and No. 6 seed DePaul was joined by BIG EAST regular-season champion and No. 5 seed Marquette in the 2019 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament field, announced on Monday evening. The Blue Demons are making their 17
th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, fourth in the last six years as the automatic qualifier out of the BIG EAST, while the Golden Eagles are making their third consecutive NCAA Tourney trip and second straight as an at-large pick.
Sixth-seeded DePaul (26-7) heads to Ames, Iowa, where it will face 11
th-seeded Missouri State, the Missouri Valley’s automatic qualifier, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The winner earns a date with either host and No. 3 seed Iowa State or No. 14 seed New Mexico State on Monday in the Round of 32. The Blue Demons were ranked No. 24 in Monday’s Associated Press Poll and have won 11 games in a row. DePaul is one of only five teams in the country to appear in the last 17 NCAA Tournaments, joining an elite group that includes Connecticut, Notre Dame, Stanford and Tennessee. It marks the Blue Demons’ 24
th NCAA berth overall.
Riding its second consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title and first in outright fashion, fifth-seeded Marquette (26-7) travels to College Station, Texas, where it will face No. 12 seed Rice. The Owls won the C-USA Championship for the first time to claim the automatic bid. Marquette and Rice tip off on Friday at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s game against either the host and fourth-seeded Texas A&M Aggies or No. 13 seed Wright State. The Golden Eagles, ranked 18
th in this week’s AP Poll, have earned three straight berths to the NCAA tournament for the first time since making four straight appearances from 1997-2000. They are making their 12th appearance in program history overall.
DePaul and Marquette were placed in the Chicago Region. The Chicago Region Semifinals and Final will be played March 30 and April 1 at Wintrust Arena – the three-year home of the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Blue Demons have won the first two league championships held at Wintrust Arena, including this season’s thrilling one-point win over the top-seeded Golden Eagles. DePaul and Marquette have squared off in the last three BIG EAST title games.
The BIGEAST earned multiple NCAA bids for the 28
th consecutive year. Conference teams went 4-0 in NCAA Tournament First Round games in 2018, with DePaul, Marquette, Creighton and Villanova all advancing to the Second Round.
Five additional BIG EAST teams learned their seasons would continue in the WNIT shortly after the NCAA announcement, with Butler earning the Conference’s automatic selection. The Bulldogs, who finished third in BIG EAST play, are joined in the WNIT field by Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall and Villanova.
The five WNIT bids are the most for the BIG EAST since the 2013-14 season which also saw five selections, while it matched C-USA for the most selections by any league in the 2019 tourney. The official WNIT bracket, which will include matchups and dates, will be announced later tonight. Game times will be announced by officials on Tuesday, March 19.
With seven total teams dancin’ in March, the BIG EAST sees more than half of its teams earn national postseason berths for the fourth straight season.