STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford earned its 35th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid when the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Committee announced the field Sunday evening.
The Cardinal (28-5, 15-3) earned a No. 1 seed for the third year in a row and was placed in the Seattle region. As one of the nation's top 16 overall seeds, Stanford will host first and second-round games in Maples Pavilion, along with a First Four game between 16-seeds Sacred Heart and Southern on Wednesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. Stanford will open its 36th overall postseason against the winner of the Pioneers and Jaguars on Friday, while the No. 8 seed Ole Miss (23-8, 11-5) and No. 9 seed Gonzaga (28-4, 18-1) will face off in the day's other game. Times and TV designations are TBA.
Tickets for the first four game will go on sale on Monday, March 13 at noon, and first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will go on sale on Tuesday, March 14 at 10 AM PT at gostanford.com/tickets.
As a city, Stanford, Calif. has served as a host for 76 NCAA Tournament games, the second-most behind Knoxville, Tenn. (89). Each of those games has been played in Maples Pavilion, which has hosted more NCAA Tournament games than any other facility.
The Cardinal is 40-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament games at Maples Pavilion and has won 20 straight. This season will be the 24th in which Stanford has hosted NCAA Tournament games in Maples Pavilion since staging its first in 1989 and the 23rd in which the Cardinal has opened up its postseason at home.
The No. 1 seed is Stanford's third straight after a six tournament hiatius, coming after Stanford's third straight Pac-12 regular season championship. The Cardinal led the nation with 10 ranked wins this season and its 15 wins against the NET top-50 are seccond nationally. Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, Stanford has won three national championships (1990, 1992, 2021), reached 15 Final Fours (1990-92, 1995-97, 2008-12, 2014, 2017, 2021-22), 22 Elite Eights, 28 Sweet 16s and compiled an NCAA Tournament record of 99-32 (.750).
The upcoming tournament marks Tara VanDerveer's 37th all-time appearance in The Big Dance, the most of any coach all-time. Her 97 tournament wins are third in NCAA history, as are her 130 career NCAA Tournament games.
Stanford's 15 Final Four appearances are the third-most by any school entering this year's tournament, and its 36 overall appearances rank second behind only Tennessee (41 appearances).
Tennessee is the only school that has a longer active streak of NCAA Tournament appearances than Stanford's 35. The Lady Vols have earned a bid to all 41 NCAA Tournaments. The Cardinal's 99 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Tennessee (128) and Connecticut (130) as are its 131 tournament games. Tennessee has appeared in 160 and Connecticut 152. Its winning percentage of .756 is fourth-best in tournament history.
Stanford has gone on to reach the Final Four as a No. 1 seed nine times (1990, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2021), winning the championship in 1990, 1992 and 2021.
The Cardinal has never met Sacred Heart or Southern. Stanford has played Ole Miss once, a win in the 1990 NCAA Tournament, and is 12-2 against Gonzaga, with a win earlier this season at Maples Pavilion.