Tampa Women's Basketball Earns Return Trip to NCAA Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS - Following a regular season where they captured the program's sixth Sunshine State Conference championships, the University of Tampa women's basketball team has been selected to the 2020 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament.
Of the 64 teams that enter the bracket hoping to make it to Birmingham, Alabama, for the DII women's Elite Eight, 23 earned automatic access into the NCAA DII tournament by winning their respective conference tournaments. The automatic bids from the South Region were Benedict College (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference), Eckerd College (Sunshine State Conference) and Union University (Gulf South Conference).
Highlighting the at-large bids are UT, who ran away with the SSC regular-season championship with a league record 19 victories while going 19-1 in conference play. Lee University, which also received an at-large selection, is the top seed in the South Region and the host of the regional. All South Regional games will be played at Paul Dana Walker Arena in Cleveland, Tenn.
This marks the 13th time in school history that the Spartans have been in the NCAA Tournament field, with 11 coming under current head coach Tom Jessee. The Spartans advanced to the regional semifinals in 2019, and have advanced beyond the first round of the regional in three consecutive appearances.
The DII women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament in which each of the eight regions begin play on March 13. Those eight teams in each region will battle for a spot in the DII Women's Elite Eight in Birmingham, Alabama, where the final three days — quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game — will take place.
Following are the opening round matchups for the 2020 NCAA South Regional. The regional will begin on Friday. All times Eastern.
No. 1 Lee vs. No. 8 Alabama-Huntsville, 5:00 pm
No. 2 Union vs. No. 7 Florida Southern, 2:30 pm
No. 3 Tampa vs. No. 6 Benedict, 12 pm
No. 4 Delta State vs. No. 5 Eckerd, 7:30 pm
Click here for full bracket || Championship History
The essential guide to the DII women's basketball championship