STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford earned its 36th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid when the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Committee announced the field Sunday evening.
The Cardinal (28-5), seeded second, was placed in Portland Regional 4. As one of the nation's top 16 overall seeds, Stanford will host first and second-round games in Maples Pavilion on Friday, March 22 and Sunday, March 24. The Cardinal will open its 37th overall NCAA postseason with No. 15 Norfolk State (27-5) at 7 p.m. PT on Friday in a game televised on ESPN2. No. 7 Iowa State (20-11) and No. 10 Maryland (19-13) will play in the other first-round matchup at 4:30 p.m. PT, with the winners meeting in Sunday's second-round contest at a time to be determined.
Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, March 19 at 10 a.m. PT at tickets.gostanford.com.
As a city, Stanford, Calif. has served as a host for 80 NCAA Tournament games, the second-most behind Knoxville, Tenn. (92). Each of those games has been played in Maples Pavilion, which has hosted more NCAA Tournament games than any other facility.
The Cardinal is 41-5 all-time in NCAA Tournament games at Maples Pavilion. This season will be the 25th in which Stanford has hosted NCAA Tournament games in Maples Pavilion since staging its first in 1989 and the 24th in which the Cardinal has opened up its postseason at home.
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 100-33 (.752).
The upcoming tournament marks Tara VanDerveer's 38th all-time appearance in The Big Dance, the most of any coach all-time. Her 98 tournament wins are third in NCAA history, as are her 132 career NCAA Tournament games.
Stanford's 15 Final Four appearances are the third-most by any school entering this year's tournament, and its 37 overall appearances rank second behind only Tennessee (42 appearances).
Tennessee is the only school that has a longer active streak of NCAA Tournament appearances than Stanford's 36. The Lady Vols have earned a bid to all 42 NCAA Tournaments. The Cardinal's 100 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time, as are its 133 tournament games. Its winning percentage of .752 is fourth-best in tournament history.
The Cardinal is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time and first since 2019. Stanford has gone on to reach the Final Four as a No. 2 seed six times (1991, 1995, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2017), defeating the No. 1 seed in the regional final in 1991 (Georgia), 2008 (Maryland) and 2017 (Notre Dame).