2011 Women's Basketball Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS -- Green Bay has claimed the top seed in the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship for the 12th time in the past 13 seasons. The winner of the League’s 2011 10-team tournament earns an automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.
Green Bay (29-1, 18-0) finished league play with a perfect18-0 record for the second time in three years and its 29 wins (in 30 games) are the most in program history.
Green Bay has clinched at least a share of the Horizon League’s regular-season title in each of the past 13 campaigns, which marks the nation’s longest active streak. The 2010 tournament runner-up Phoenix has also secured its 34th consecutive winning season, dating back to 1977-78.
Butler (18-12, 12-6) earns the tournament’s No. 2 seed for the second consecutive season. The Bulldogs, have posted a .500-or-better conference record in each of the past eight years.
Cleveland State (19-10, 12-6) earns the tournament’s No. 3 seed. The Vikings took the tournament title in 2010 as a four seed and have had their fourth consecutive season winning at least 19 games.
Wright State State (16-13, 11-7) improves three spots from a season ago and earns the tournament’s No. 4 seed.
No. 5 Milwaukee (12-17, 9-9), No. 6 UIC (14-15, 9-9) and No. 7 Detroit (12-17, 6-12) occupy the tournament’s next three positions, while No. 8 Loyola (11-18, 5-13), No. 9 Youngstown State (6-23, 4-14) and No. 10 Valparaiso (7-23, 4-14) sit in the final three spots.
The 2011 Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship begins on Monday with two first-round tilts -- Valparaiso at Detroit (7 p.m. ET) and Youngstown State at Loyola (8 p.m.).
Wednesday’s schedule includes four quarterfinal contests -- Milwaukee at Wright State (7 p.m.), UIC at Cleveland State (7 p.m.), the #7/10 winner at Butler (7 p.m.) and the #8/9 winner at Green Bay (8 p.m.).
Friday’s semifinals and Sunday’s championship will be hosted by the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals. The tournament finale will be televised live by ESPNU at 1 p.m.
Top-seeded Green Bay lost to Cleveland State in the semi-finals of the 2010 Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship, but received the League’s first ever at-large bid into the NCAA tournament. Cleveland State also received an automatic bid into the NCAA tourney for winning the 2010 Horizon League championship, while Butler made a post-season appearance in the WNIT. The Phoenix has reached postseason play every year since 1998.
Visit www.HorizonLeague.com for complete coverage of this year’s Horizon League Championship.
2011 HORIZON LEAGUE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
First-round – Monday, March 7
#10 Valparaiso at #7 Detroit 7 p.m. ET HLN
#9 Youngstown State at #8 Loyola 8 p.m. ET HLN
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 9
#5 Milwaukee at #4 Wright State 7 p.m. ET HLN
#6 UIC at #3 Cleveland State 7 p.m. ET HLN
#7/10 winner at #2 Butler 7 p.m. ET HLN
#8/9 winner at #1 Green Bay 8 p.m. ET HLN
Semifinals – Friday, March 11(at highest remaining seed after quarterfinals)
Semifinal #1 TBD HLN
Semifinal #2 TBD HLN
Championship – Sunday, March 13(at highest remaining seed after quarterfinals)
Championship 1 p.m. ET ESPNU
Tags: Horizon League - Women's Basketball
