The 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 40th edition of the tournament began on March 16, 2022, and concluded with the championship game on April 3 at Target Center in Minneapolis, where the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the UConn Huskies 64–49 to win their second NCAA title, and handing UConn its first loss in the championship game. This tournament marked the introduction of the "First Four" round and an expansion of the field of participants from 64 teams to 68, mirroring the men's tournament since 2011.

Big South champion Longwood, Horizon champion IUPUI and Southland champion Incarnate Word made their tournament debuts. Tennessee continued its record streak of making every edition of the tournament, while UConn extended its record streak of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances.

For the first time, the women's tournament was expanded from 64 to 68 teams, adopting the format that has been used by the men's tournament since 2011; these teams consisted of the 32 conference champions, and 36 "at-large" bids that were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The last four at-large teams and the teams seeded 65 through 68 overall competed in First Four games, whose winners advanced to the 64-team first round.^[1]

The top four teams outside of the ranking (commonly known as the "first four out") were designated as standbys in the event a school was forced to withdraw before the start of the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. Once the tournament began, teams that withdrew would not be replaced, and the affected team's opponent would automatically advance to the next round by walkover.

Columbia

Tucson

Ames

Iowa City

Louisville

Waco

Ann Arbor

Knoxville

Stanford

College Park

Baton Rouge

Austin

Raleigh

Storrs

Bloomington

Norman

2022 Subregionals – Fri/Sun (pink) and Sat/Mon (green)

Bridgeport

Greensboro

Wichita

Spokane

Minneapolis

2022 NCAA Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

After the 2020 tournament was cancelled and the 2021 tournament was held in a single location due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reverted to the standard format for the first time since 2019.

The first two rounds, also referred to as the subregionals, were played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, as was done from 2016 to 2019.

First Four

• March 16 and 17
  • Four of the campuses seeded in the Top 16.

Subregionals (first and second rounds)

• March 18 and 20 (Fri/Sun)
  • Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
  • James Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa (Host: Iowa State University)
  • Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: University of Iowa)
  • KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
  • Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor University)
  • Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)
  • XFINITY Center, College Park, Maryland (Host: University of Maryland)
  • Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas)
• March 19 and 21 (Sat/Mon)
  • McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)
  • Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)
  • Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Host: University of Michigan)
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana State University)
  • Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
  • Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Oklahoma (Host: University of Oklahoma)
  • Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana (Host: Indiana University)
  • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 25–28^[3]
  • Bridgeport regional, Total Mortgage Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut (cohosts: University of Connecticut, Fairfield University)^[4]
  • Greensboro regional, Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Greensboro, North Carolina (host: Atlantic Coast Conference)^[5]
  • Wichita regional, Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas (host: Wichita State University)^[6]
  • Spokane regional, Spokane Arena, Spokane, Washington (host: University of Idaho)^[7]

National semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

• April 1 and April 3
  • Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (host: University of Minnesota)^[8]

In the wake of criticism raised in 2021 over inequities between the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments, the NCAA announced that the 2022 women's tournament will be promoted with the "March Madness" branding for the first time.^[9]

• Rebounds—South Carolina recorded 294 rebounds, the most ever recorded by a single team in an NCAA Tournament.^[10]

All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
* – Denotes overtime period

• The FF, R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the first four, round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.

• 2022 Women's National Invitation Tournament
• 2022 Women's Basketball Invitational
• 2022 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 2022 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament