2007 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2007 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 17, 2007, and concluded on April 3 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The Final Four consisted of Tennessee, LSU, Rutgers, and North Carolina, with Tennessee defeating Rutgers 59–46 for their seventh National Title. Tennessee's Candace Parker was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

Notable events The Dallas Regional largely followed the seeding, with the top two seeds meeting in the regional final, and the top seed, North Carolina, winning 84–72 to move on to the Final Four, the second consecutive trip to the Final Four for the Tarheels. In the Dayton Regional, seventh-seeded Mississippi upset second-seeded Maryland, and followed that with an upset of third-seeded Oklahoma, but in the regional final faced top-seeded Tennessee, who went on to beat Mississippi by 36 points, and move on to the Final Four. This is last time Mississippi upset a top seed a feat not repeated until 2023 when 8 seeded Ole Miss upset number 1 seeded Stanford in the second round but losing to Louisville in the third round.

In the Fresno Regional, the second-seeded Stanford Cardinal fell to Florida State, who then lost to third-seeded LSU. This is last time Stanford got eliminated in the second round until 2023. The wins by Florida State over ODU and Stanford were vacated by the NCAA. In the regional final, LSU easily beat Connecticut, 73–50. This was the last Final Four to not feature Connecticut until 2023. In the Greensboro Regional, neither of the top two seeds made it to the regional final. The top seed, Duke, lost a one-point game to Rutgers, while the second seed, Vanderbilt, was ousted in the second round by Bowling Green. Fourth-seeded Rutgers beat the third seed, Arizona State, by 19 points in the regional final.

The semifinal game between Tennessee and North Carolina was expected to be a high-scoring game, but it turned out to be more disorder than scoring, In a game the New York Times would describe as an "artless grind", the Tarheels held a 48–36 lead with just over eight minutes to play. They would not score another basket. The Lady Vols, who ended up hitting only 27% of the field goal attempts, went on a 20–2 run, and ended up with the win, 56–50.

In the other semifinal, Rutgers faced LSU. Rutgers's appearance in a Final Four game seemed improbable earlier in the season, when the Scarlet Knights lost four of their first six games, and played so poorly that their coach C. Vivian Stringer revoked their access to their locker room. However, their play, particularly their defense, improved, and they were now a game away from a possible appearance in a national championship game, if they could defeat LSU, who had Sylvia Fowles as a dominant center. Fowles, who would go on to be the second overall WNBA draft pick the following year, had just completed a double-double against Connecticut, scoring 23 points, snaring 15 rebounds and blocking 6 shots. Rutgers held her to five points while missing eight of her ten field goal attempts. Rutgers pulled out to a 37–19 lead at halftime, and went on to win, holding LSU to 35 points, an NCAA record low in a Final Four game.

In the championship game, Tennessee was too much for Rutgers. The Lady Vols had an eleven-point lead at halftime, which Rutgers cut to seven, but that was as close as they would get. Candace Parker scored 17 points, but Pat Summitt noted the contribution of their 5-foot 2-inch point guard Shannon Bobbitt, who hit two key three-pointers en route to scoring 13 points of her own. Tennessee won 59–46, bringing the seventh national championship to the school, and increasing the win total of Summitt to 947, which is 33 more than Bob Knight, the most victorious coach on the men's side.

Subregionals

Once again, the system was the same as the Division I men's basketball tournament, with the exception that only 64 teams go and there is no play-in game. Automatic bids are secured by 31 conference champions and 33 at-large bids.

The subregionals, which once again used the "pod system", keeping most teams at or close to the home cities, were held from March 17 to 20 at these locations: March 17 and 19: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin) Williams Arena, Minneapolis (Host: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University) Galen Center, Los Angeles (Host: University of Southern California)

March 18 and 20: Breslin Student Events Center, East Lansing, Michigan (Host: Michigan State University) Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut) Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: University of Pittsburgh) RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)

Regionals

The regionals were held from March 24 to 27 in the following regions. The regionals, as they were in the previous two tournaments, were named after the city they were played in.

March 24 and 26: Fresno Regional, Save Mart Center, Fresno, California (Host: Fresno State University) Greensboro Regional, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)

March 25 and 27: Dallas Regional, Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas (Hosts: Conference USA and Southern Methodist University) Dayton Regional, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

The regional winners advanced to the Final Four, held on April 1 and 3, 2007, at Quicken Loans Arena, in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted by both Cleveland State University and the Mid-American Conference.

Tournament records Three pointers—Matee Ajavon, Rutgers hit four of five three point field goals. The 80% completion ratio is tied for the best in a Final Four game. Points—LSU scored 35 points in the semifinal game, the fewest points scored in a Final Four game. Three pointers—Nadia Begay, Boise State, hit eight three point field goals in a first-round game against George Washington, tied for the most scored in a first or second-round game.

Qualifying teams - automatic Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA tournament.

Automatic bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Belmont University Atlantic Sun Conference 14 Boise State University WAC 12 Bowling Green State University MAC 7 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Southern Conference 12 Delaware State University MEAC 15 Drake University Missouri Valley Conference 16 East Carolina University Conference USA 13 Gonzaga University West Coast Conference 12 University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Horizon League 9 Harvard University Ivy League 15 College of the Holy Cross Patriot League 16 Idaho State University Big Sky Conference 15 Marist College MAAC 13 Middle Tennessee State University Sun Belt Conference 5 University of New Mexico Mountain West 8 University of North Carolina ACC 1 University of Oklahoma Big 12 3 Old Dominion University Colonial 7 Oral Roberts University Mid-Continent 15 Prairie View A&M University SWAC 16 Purdue University Big Ten 2 Robert Morris University Northeast Conference 13 Rutgers University Big East 4 Southeast Missouri State University Ohio Valley Conference 14 Stanford University Pac-10 2 University of Texas at Arlington Southland 13 University of California, Riverside Big West Conference 14 University of Maryland, Baltimore County America East 16 University of North Carolina at Asheville Big South Conference 14 Vanderbilt University SEC 2 Xavier University Atlantic 10 6

Qualifying teams - at-large Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.

At-large Bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Arizona State University Pacific-10 3 Baylor University Big 12 5 Brigham Young University Mountain West 11 University of California, Berkeley Pacific-10 8 University of Connecticut Big East 1 University of Delaware Colonial 12 DePaul University Big East 10 Duke University Atlantic Coast 1 Florida State University Atlantic Coast 10 The George Washington University Atlantic 10 5 University of Georgia Southeastern 3 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlantic Coast 7 Iowa State University Big 12 6 James Madison University Colonial 9 University of Louisiana at Lafayette Sun Belt 11 University of Louisville Big East 6 Louisiana State University Southeastern 3 Marquette University Big East 6 University of Maryland, College Park Atlantic Coast 2 Michigan State University Big Ten 5 University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Southeastern 7 University of Nebraska–Lincoln Big 12 9 North Carolina State University Atlantic Coast 4 University of Notre Dame Big East 9 Ohio State University Big Ten 4 Oklahoma State University–Stillwater Big 12 10 University of Pittsburgh Big East 8 Texas Christian University Mountain West 10 Temple University Atlantic 10 8 University of Tennessee Southeastern 1 Texas A&M University Big 12 4 University of Washington Pacific-10 11 West Virginia University Big East 11

Tournament seeds +Dallas Regional +Reunion Arena, Dallas, TexasSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1North CarolinaACC30-3Automatic2PurdueBig Ten28-5Automatic3GeorgiaSEC25-6At-large4Texas A&MBig 1224-6At-large5George WashingtonAtlantic 1026-3At-large6Iowa StateBig 1225-8At-large7Georgia TechACC20-11At-large8CaliforniaPac-1023-8At-large9Notre DameBig East19-11At-large10DePaulBig East19-12At-large11WashingtonPac-1018-12At-large12Boise StateWAC24-8Automatic13Texas-ArlingtonSouthland24-8Automatic14BelmontAtlantic Sun25-6Automatic15Oral RobertsMid-Continent22-10Automatic16Prairie View A&MSWAC19-13Automatic+Dayton Regional +University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OhioSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1TennesseeSEC28-3At-large2MarylandACC27-5At-large3OklahomaBig 1226-4Automatic4Ohio StateBig Ten28-3At-large5Middle TennesseeSun Belt29-3Automatic6MarquetteBig East25-6At-large7Ole MissSEC21-10At-large8PittsburghBig East23-8At-large9James MadisonCAA27-5At-large10TCUMountain West21-10At-large11Louisiana-LafayetteSun Belt25-8At-large12GonzagaWest Coast24-9Automatic13MaristMAAC27-5Automatic14Southeast Missouri StateOhio Valley24-7Automatic15HarvardIvy15-12Automatic16DrakeMissouri Valley14-18Automatic+Fresno Regional +Save Mart Center, Fresno, CaliforniaSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1ConnecticutBig East29-3At-large2StanfordPac-1028-4Automatic3LSUSEC26-7At-large4NC StateACC23-9At-large5BaylorBig 1225-7At-large6XavierAtlantic 1026-7Automatic7Old DominionCAA24-8Automatic8New MexicoMountain West24-8Automatic9Wisconsin-Green BayHorizon28-3Automatic10Florida StateACC22-9At-large11West VirginiaBig East20-10At-large12ChattanoogaSouthern25-7Automatic13Robert MorrisNortheast24-7Automatic14UNC-AshevilleBig South21-11Automatic15Idaho StateBig Sky17-13Automatic16UMBCAmerica East16-16Automatic+Greensboro Regional +Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North CarolinaSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1DukeACC30-1At-large2VanderbiltSEC27-5Automatic3Arizona StatePac-1028-4At-large4RutgersBig East22-8Automatic5Michigan StateBig Ten23-8At-large6LouisvilleBig East26-7At-large7Bowling GreenMAC29-3Automatic8TempleAtlantic 1024-7At-large9NebraskaBig 1222-9At-large10Oklahoma StateBig 1220-10At-large11BYUMountain West23-9At-large12DelawareCAA26-5At-large13East CarolinaConference USA19-13Automatic14UC RiversideBig West21-10Automatic15Delaware StateMEAC20-12Automatic16Holy CrossPatriot15-17Automatic

Bids by conference Thirty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In twenty-one cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-three additional at-large teams were selected from ten of the conferences.

Bids Conference Teams 8

Big East

Rutgers, Connecticut, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, West Virginia 6

Atlantic Coast