STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford earned its 33rd consecutive NCAA Tournament bid when the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Committee announced the field Monday.
The Cardinal (25-2, 19-2), earned the No. 1 overall seed and was placed in the Alamo Region. Stanford will open its 34th overall NCAA postseason against No. 16 Utah Valley (13-6, 10-4) on Sunday, March 21 at 7 p.m. PT in a game televised on ESPN.
The No. 1 seed is Stanford's first since 2013, as the Cardinal earned the Pac-12's automatic berth into the field after winning its 14th conference tournament championship. Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, Stanford has won two national championships (1990, 1992), reached 13 Final Fours (1990-92, 1995-97, 2008-12, 2014, 2017), 20 Elite Eights, 26 Sweet 16s and compiled an NCAA Tournament record of 89-31 (.742).
The upcoming tournament marks Tara VanDerveer's 35th all-time appearance in The Big Dance, the most of any coach all-time. Her 87 tournament wins are third in NCAA history, as are her 119 career NCAA Tournament games.
Stanford's 13 Final Four appearances are the third-most by any school entering this year's tournament, and its 34 overall appearances rank second behind only Tennessee (39 appearances).
Tennessee is the only school that has a longer active streak of NCAA Tournament appearances than Stanford's 33. The Lady Vols have earned a bid to all 39 NCAA Tournaments. The Cardinal's 89 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Tennessee (125) and Connecticut (121) as are its 120 tournament games. Tennessee has appeared in 155 and Connecticut 141. Its winning percentage of .742 is fourth-best in tournament history.
The number one overall seed for the first time since 1996, Stanford has gone on to reach the Final Four as a No. 1 seed seven times (1990, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2010, 2011, 2012), winning the championship in both 1990 and 1992.
