2012 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Three human polls and one formula ranking make up the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) football rankings, in addition to various publications' preseason polls. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship title. That title is bestowed by one or more of four different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Two additional polls are released midway through the season; the Harris Interactive Poll is released after the sixth week of the season, and the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings are released after the seventh week. The Harris Poll and Coaches Poll are factors in the BCS standings. At the end of the regular season, on December 2, 2012, the BCS standings determined who would play in the BCS bowl games as well as the 2013 BCS National Championship Game on January 7, 2013, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The regular season began on August 30, 2012 and ended on December 8, 2012. The postseason concluded on January 7, 2013 with the BCS National Championship Game, where Alabama repeated as national champions by defeating Notre Dame.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season
Although Ohio State finished the regular season as the only undefeated team from an automatic-qualifying ("Power 5") BCS conference, they were ineligible to play in the postseason due to sanctions imposed earlier in the year.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Rule changes
The NCAA Rules Committee approved the following rule changes for the 2012 season, mostly for safety reasons:


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Membership changes
The following list includes schools transitioning from FCS to FBS.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Membership changes
On March 7, Temple was admitted back into the Big East Conference after having been expelled from it a decade earlier for failing to maintain a competitive football program. Temple joined from the Mid-American Conference, where it had competed since 2007.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Teams transitioning to FBS
On April 9, 2012, Georgia State University, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, announced that it would rejoin the Sun Belt Conference effective in July 2013. Georgia State had been a charter Sun Belt member when the conference formed in 1976, but left in 1981. The Panthers began their FBS transition during the 2012 season and started playing a full Sun Belt schedule upon joining the conference in 2013. Full FBS membership, along with bowl eligibility, followed in 2014.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Teams transitioning to FBS
The Panthers, who had been coached by Bill Curry since starting a football program in 2010, played home games at the Georgia Dome near the school's campus in downtown Atlanta. The Panthers remained at the Georgia Dome until its closure and demolition after the 2016 season; they have since taken over the venue formerly known as Centennial Olympic Stadium and Turner Field and converted it into the football-specific Georgia State Stadium.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Teams transitioning to FBS
Georgia State followed four other schools that were in the second and final years of FBS transitions— UMass, South Alabama Texas State, and UTSA.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Future changes
The conference realignment period that began in 2010 continued for a third consecutive off-season.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Future changes
The Mountain West Conference continued to raid the rapidly-collapsing Western Athletic Conference by adding San Jose State and Utah State on May 4. The additions allowed the Mountain West, which was anticipating the looming departures of Boise State and San Diego State to the Big East, to keep its football membership at ten teams for the 2013 season.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Future changes
On September 12, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced the addition of Notre Dame in all sports except football. Under the agreement, Notre Dame's football team would play five games against ACC opponents per season but remain classified an FBS independent, while its other sports would be fully integrated into the ACC. The arrangement is effectively a stronger version of the affiliation Notre Dame had had with the Big East since 1995.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Future changes
The Big Ten Conference, having already added Nebraska in 2011, admitted two more schools to expand the conference's geographic footprint to the East Coast. Maryland, coming from the ACC, was announced as the 13th member on November 19, followed by Rutgers of the Big East as the 14th member on November 21. Both moves would take effect during the 2014–15 academic year.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference realignment, Future changes
To keep its football membership at an even number, the ACC added Louisville on November 28 as a replacement for departing Maryland.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Regular season top 10 matchups
Rankings reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 8 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Conference summaries
Rankings reflect the Week 14 AP Poll before the games were played.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Awards and honors, Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, Coaching changes
This list is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2012. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2012, see 2011 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, TV ratings, Most watched regular season games in 2012
Note(*): Games rate in the top six most watched games of the last 20 years.


2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, TV ratings, Most watched regular season games in 2012
Note(**): Rankings reflect AP Poll Standings. (All others rankings reflect BCS Standings at the time of the game)


2012 NCAA Division I FCS football rankings
The following weekly polls comprise the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football rankings which determine the top 25 teams at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level of college football for the 2012 season. The Sports Network poll is voted by media members while the Coaches' Poll is determined by coaches at the FCS level.


2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season
The 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The season began on August 30, 2012, and concluded with the 2013 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game on January 5, 2013, at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas.


2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season, Conference changes
Several teams changed conferences from the 2011 season. Texas State of the Southland Conference (but technically played as an independent in 2011), Massachusetts of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and independents South Alabama and UTSA are transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision and were transitional FBS members in 2012; all four will were to become full FBS members in 2013.


2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season, Conference changes
The Great West Conference dropped football after all of its five football members in the 2011 season joined other conferences. Cal Poly, North Dakota, Southern Utah and UC Davis all joined the Big Sky Conference. South Dakota joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference.


2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season, Conference changes
In their third year as a program, Georgia State, already a full member of the CAA, joined the football conference after two years as an independent. However, this was the Panthers' only season as a CAA football member, as the school has announced that it would begin an FBS transition in 2012 in advance of its July 2013 move to the Sun Belt Conference.


2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season, Conference summaries, Other conference winners
Note: Records are regular-season only, and do not include playoff games.


2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season, Coaching changes, Preseason and in-season
This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2012. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2012, see 2011 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.


2012 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship
The 2012 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship was the thirty-second women's collegiate field hockey tournament organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to determine the top college field hockey team from Division I in the United States. The Princeton Tigers won their first championship, defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels in the final. The championship was played at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex on the home field of the host Old Dominion Lady Monarchs in Norfolk, Virginia.


2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game
The 2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the North Dakota State Bison and the Sam Houston State Bearkats. It was played on January 7, 2012, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The culminating game of the 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season, it was won by North Dakota State, 17–6.


2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game
With sponsorship by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the game was officially known as the NCAA FCS Championship presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car. This was the final day that the name of the venue was officially Pizza Hut Park, although ESPN2 referred to it as FC Dallas Stadium during its broadcast.


2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game, Teams
The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 2011 FCS Playoffs, which began with a 20-team bracket.


2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game, Teams, North Dakota State Bison
North Dakota State finished their regular season with a 10–1 record (7–1 in conference), including a win over Minnesota of the FBS. As the second-seed in the tournament, the Bison defeated James Madison, Lehigh, and third-seed Georgia Southern to reach the final. This was North Dakota State's first appearance in an FCS/Division I-AA title game.


2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game, Teams, Sam Houston State Bearkats
Sam Houston State finished their regular season with an 11–0 record (7–0 in conference), including a win over New Mexico of the FBS. As the first-seed in the tournament, the Bearkats defeated Stony Brook, Montana State, and fourth-seed Montana to reach the final. This was also Sam Houston State's first appearance in an FCS/Division I-AA championship game.


2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game, Game summary
First-half scoring was limited to three field goals, with the Bearkats holding a 6–3 lead at halftime. The only second-half scoring was a pair of touchdowns by the Bison; the first setup by a fake punt that gained 27 yards, and the second following a 63-yard interception return by the game's MVP, linebacker Travis Beck. The Bison won their first FCS championship via the 17–6 final score.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game
The 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game  was the finals of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament and it determined the national champion for the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The 2012 National Title Game was played on April 2, 2012, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, and featured the 2012 South Regional Champions, #1-seeded Kentucky and the 2012 Midwest Regional Champions, #2-seeded Kansas.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game
The two head coaches for this game, Kentucky's John Calipari and Kansas's Bill Self also coached at the 2008 National Championship Game where Bill Self was coaching for Kansas and John Calipari was coaching for Memphis. The two teams met in the regular season at the 2011 Champions Classic and Kentucky won that game 75–65.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Participants, Kansas
Kansas entered the 2012 tournament as the #2 seed in the Midwest Regional. In the 2nd Round, Thomas Robinson had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds as Kansas beat Detroit 65–50. In the 3rd round against Purdue trailing 60–59, Elijah Johnson got the steal and layup to take a 61–60 lead and with 3 seconds left, Tyshawn Taylor made a dunk for a 63–60 win. In the Sweet 16 against NC State, Jeff Withey blocked 10 shots to survive with a 60–57 victory.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Participants, Kansas
In the Elite Eight, Tyshawn Taylor finally got hot with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals as Kansas beat North Carolina 80–67 to advance to the Final Four. In the 2012 Final Four, Ohio State got off to a strong start and had a 26–13 lead at one point and then, Kansas managed to control Jared Sullinger to beat the Buckeyes 64–62 and advance to the 2012 National Championship Game.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Participants, Kentucky
Kentucky entered the 2012 NCAA Tournament as the #1 overall seed and was placed in the South Regional. The Wildcats dominated Western Kentucky in an 81–66 victory. In the 3rd round, after being up 38–27 at halftime, Kentucky pulled away from Iowa State to advance to the Sweet 16. In the Sweet 16, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 24 points to take revenge on Indiana with a 102–90 win. Indiana beat Kentucky on December 10, 2011, at Assembly Hall on a Christian Watford buzzer-beater.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Participants, Kentucky
The Wildcats managed to beat Baylor in the Elite Eight with an 82–70 win to go to the 2012 Final Four. In the National Semifinal, Anthony Davis had a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead Kentucky to the 2012 National Championship Game with a 69–61 win over Louisville.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Starting lineups
Selected in an NBA Draft   (number corresponds to draft round)  † = 2012 All-American


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Game Summary, 1st Half
Despite no points from Naismith Trophy winner Anthony Davis in the 1st 9 and a quarter minutes, Kentucky got off to a hot start with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scoring 7 of his 11 points, Doron Lamb 6 points, and Marquis Teague and Terrence Jones each 4 points in that same time frame as Kentucky would have a 23–14 lead and Kansas would be forced to call timeout.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Game Summary, 1st Half
The Wildcats kept their dominance to lead 41–27 at halftime despite no points from Davis, as Kidd-Gilchrist scored all 11 of his points in the 1st half, Lamb had 12 points, and Teague had nine. For the Jayhawks, Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor each scored eight points, and Jeff Withey scored 5.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Game Summary, 2nd Half
Anthony Davis's 1st point of the night came with a made free throw with 15:30 left to give Kentucky a 44–30 lead. Elijah Johnson scored four points in 15 seconds to cut the Kentucky lead to 46–34 and force a timeout. But, with Kentucky up 48–38, Doron Lamb made two three-pointers on 40 seconds for a 54–38 lead. Davis's 1st field goal of the night came with a made jump shot with 5:14 left to give Kentucky a 59–44 lead.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, Game Summary, 2nd Half
Then, Tyshawn Taylor scored six points in one minute, and Thomas Robinson made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 59–52. Kansas kept its comeback effort going with an Elijah Johnson three-pointer and Robinson making a pair of free throws, cutting their deficit to 62–57. Kentucky was able to hold on when Davis made a free throw, and Marquis Teague and Lamb each made a pair of free throws for a 67–59 victory.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was a single-elimination tournament involving 68 schools playing to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 74th edition of the tournament began on March 13, 2012, and concluded with the championship game on April 2 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
The Final Four consisted of Kentucky, making their second appearance in the Final Four under John Calipari, Louisville, making their second appearance under Rick Pitino and first since 2005, Kansas, making their first appearance since winning the 2008 national championship under head coach Bill Self by defeating Calipari's Memphis team, and Ohio State, making their first appearance since their runner-up finish in 2007 and second under coach Thad Matta.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Kentucky defeated Kansas 67-59 to win their first national championship since Tubby Smith led the team there in 1998. This was Calipari's first national championship in four trips to the Final Four, having previously gone there with Kentucky in 2011, Memphis in 2008 and Massachusetts in 1996.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Upsets were once again the story of the tournament in 2012, and for the first time ever two #15 seeds won in the same tournament. In the South Region, #15 Lehigh of the Patriot League defeated #2 Duke. In the West Region, #15 Norfolk State of the MEAC, making their first ever NCAA tournament appearance, defeated #2 Missouri. In addition to this, Ohio won a game as a double digit seed for the second time in four tournaments as the #13 seed Bobcats defeated #4 seed Michigan to advance to the third round of the Midwest Region. A team from the First Four games also won in the Round of 64 for the second consecutive year as South Florida defeated Midwest #5 seed Temple, setting up a #12 vs. #13 matchup that Ohio won.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Virginia Commonwealth, a Final Four team from 2011 as an #11 seed, made the 2012 tournament as a #12 seed and once again made the round of 32 by defeating South #5 seed Wichita State. The South Region saw four double digit seeds win in their opening games, as Colorado and Xavier joined VCU and Lehigh as victors. Xavier advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, where they were defeated by Baylor.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Despite the upsets, all four top seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2009. Three made it to the Elite Eight, as only Michigan State of the West Region lost. Kentucky was the only one to advance to the Final Four as Syracuse and North Carolina lost in their regional finals.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Two teams made their first NCAA tournament appearances in school history: MEAC champion Norfolk State and Summit League champion South Dakota State. Ivy League champion Harvard made its first appearance since 1946.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
All four teams from the state of Ohio (Cincinnati, Ohio, Ohio State, and Xavier) made it to the Sweet 16, marking the first time in tournament history any state has been represented by four teams in the round of 16. This tournament was also the first tournament since 1985 to feature no teams in the Sweet 16 from the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
It is also the first tournament ever that both national semifinals and the national championship game were regular season rematches.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Tournament procedure
A total of 68 teams entered the tournament. Thirty out of 31 automatic bids were given to the teams that won their conference tournament. The remaining automatic bid was awarded to the Ivy League regular season champion since they do not hold a conference tournament. The remaining 37 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee on March 11.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Tournament procedure
Eight teams—the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams—will play in the First Four (the successor to what had been popularly known as "play-in games" through the 2010 tournament). The winners of these games will advance to the main draw of the tournament.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Tournament procedure
For the first time ever, the Selection Committee publicly disclosed the overall rankings for each team, which are listed below.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Schedule and venues
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2012 tournament:


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Schedule and venues
The Final Four returned to the Superdome for the fifth time overall and first time since before Hurricane Katrina; it is scheduled to host again in 2022. The tournament saw two new arenas in previous host cities. For the first time since 1991, the tournament returned to the city of Louisville at its new KFC Yum! Center, the downtown home of the Louisville Cardinals and successor venue to Freedom Hall. And for the first time in ten years, the city of Pittsburgh hosted the tournament, this time at Consol Energy Center, which replaced the Civic Arena as Pittsburgh's main arena. As of 2018, this is the most recent year hosting for the Dome at America's Center, the Greensboro Coliseum, The Pit and Talking Stick Resort Arena; of these, only the Greensboro Coliseum has been selected thus far for a future site, in 2020.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Automatic qualifiers
The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2012 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Qualifying teams
Team names are those used on CBSsports.com scoreboards and team pages.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Qualifying teams, Automatic bids
Automatic bids to the tournament were granted for winning a conference championship tournament, except for the automatic bid of the Ivy League given to the regular season champion. Seeds listed were seeds within the conference tournaments. Runners-up in bold face were given at-large berths.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Qualifying teams, Conferences with multiple bids
All other conferences have only one bid (see Automatic Bids)NOTE: Teams in bold represent the conference's automatic bid.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Last four teams out
The Selection Committee also announced the last four teams out of the tournament as part of the Hardcore Brackets special following announcement of the teams. In order, they were Oral Roberts, Miami (Florida), Nevada, and Drexel. Oral Roberts, Nevada, and Drexel were automatically selected, as regular-season champions, for berths in the National Invitation Tournament, while Miami was also selected for a berth by the NIT Selection Committee.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket
Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-04)


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket, First Four – Dayton, Ohio
In addition, the March 13 session was notable for the attendance of Barack Obama, president of the United States, and David Cameron, prime minister of Great Britain. Cameron was in the U.S. for bilateral political and economic talks with Obama.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket, South Regional – Atlanta, Georgia, South Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Quincy Acy, Baylor; Anthony Davis, Kentucky; Doron Lamb, Kentucky; Christian Watford, Indiana.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket, West Regional – Phoenix, Arizona, West Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Bradley Beal, Florida; Gorgui Dieng, Louisville; Draymond Green, Michigan State; Peyton Siva, Louisville.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket, East Regional – Boston, Massachusetts, East Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Scoop Jardine, Syracuse; Lenzelle Smith, Jr., Ohio State; Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin; Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket, Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri, Midwest Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Walter Offutt, Ohio; Tyshawn Taylor, Kansas; Jeff Withey, Kansas; Tyler Zeller, North Carolina.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket, Final Four – Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, Final Four all-tournament team
Final Four all-tournament team: Anthony Davis, Kentucky; Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky; Doron Lamb, Kentucky; Thomas Robinson, Kansas; Tyshawn Taylor, Kansas


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Media, Television
2012 marked the second year of a 14-year partnership between CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting cable networks TBS, TNT and truTV to cover the entire tournament under the NCAA March Madness banner. CBS aired the Final Four and championship rounds for the 31st consecutive year.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Media, Radio
Dial Global Sports (formerly Westwood One) and SiriusXM  have live broadcasts of all 67 games.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Courts
All tournament sites continued to use the uniform courts that were first introduced tournament-wide in 2010, except for a slight variation at the East Regionals in Boston at the TD Garden, where a parquet floor court pattern similar to that used by the hometown Boston Celtics was used.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament: qualifying teams
This is a list of qualifying teams for the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. A total of 68 teams entered the tournament. Thirty of the teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. The automatic bid of the Ivy League, which does not conduct a post-season tournament, went to its regular season champion. The remaining 37 teams were granted at-large bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. All teams are seeded 1 to 16 within their regionals, while the Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament: qualifying teams
For the first time ever, the NCAA Selection Committee disclosed each team's seed within the entire field following the announcement of the entire bracket.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament: qualifying teams, Qualifying teams
Team names are those used on CBSsports.com scoreboards and team pages.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament: qualifying teams, Qualifying teams, Automatic bids
Automatic bids to the tournament were granted for winning a conference championship tournament, except for the automatic bid of the Ivy League given to the regular season champion. Seeds listed were seeds within the conference tournaments. Runners-up in bold face were given at-large berths.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament: qualifying teams, Qualifying teams, Conferences with multiple bids
All other conferences have only one bid (see Automatic Bids)NOTE: Teams in bold represent the conference's automatic bid.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament: qualifying teams, Last four teams out
The Selection Committee also announced the last four teams out of the tournament as part of the Hardcore Brackets special following announcement of the teams. In order, they were Oral Roberts, Miami (Florida), Nevada, and Drexel. Oral Roberts, Nevada, and Drexel were automatically selected, as regular-season champions, for berths in the National Invitation Tournament, while Miami was also selected for a berth by the NIT Selection Committee.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship
The 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship was a golf tournament contested from May 29–June 3 at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. It was the 74th NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship. The team championship was won by the Texas Longhorns who won their third national championship by defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the championship match play round 3–2. The individual national championship was won by Thomas Pieters from the University of Illinois.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, Venue
This was the first NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship held at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament involved sixteen schools in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey for the 2011–12 season. The tournament began on March 23, 2012 with regional semifinals and ended on April 7 with the national championship game. The Boston College Eagles won their third national championship in five years, beating the Ferris State Bulldogs, 4–1, in the championship game. BC won nineteen consecutive games to end the season. It is the fifth title for both the program and head coach Jerry York – York previously coached Bowling Green to a championship in 1984.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Tournament procedure
The four regionals are officially named after their geographic areas. The following are the sites for the 2012 regionals:


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Qualifying teams
The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 18. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) had five teams receive a berth in the tournament, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and Hockey East had four teams receive a berth, ECAC Hockey had two teams receive a berth, and Atlantic Hockey had one team receive a berth.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Media, Television
ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the eighth consecutive year ESPN aired every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU, and ESPN3. They also streamed them online via WatchESPN.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Media, Radio
Dial Global Sports used exclusive radio rights to air both the semifinals and the championship, AKA the "Frozen Four."


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship
The 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship was the 42nd annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college lacrosse. Sixteen teams were selected to compete in the tournament based upon their performance during the regular season, and for some, by means of a conference tournament automatic qualifier.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament overview
The tournament started on May 12 and ended on May 28, with the Championship game being played at Gillette Stadium, home of the National Football League's New England Patriots. The United States Naval Academy hosted two quarterfinal matches on May 19 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. Drexel University hosted the other two quarterfinal matches on May 20 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament overview
Canisius (MAAC), Lehigh (Patriot League), Loyola (ECAC), Massachusetts (CAA), Stony Brook (America East), Syracuse (Big East), and Yale (Ivy League), earned an automatic bid into the tournament by winning their respective conference tournaments. During the tournament, the Colgate Raiders won their first ever NCAA Tournament game, defeating Massachusetts by a score of 13–11.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament overview
Eric Lusby for Loyola set a then tournament record for goals with 17, and the Loyola Greyhounds won their first ever NCAA lacrosse title in defeating unseeded Maryland, 9-3. Loyola began the season unranked. The Greyhounds were just the ninth school to win an NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse championship, since tournament play began in 1971.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament is a single-elimination tournament involving 48 teams to determine the champion of the 2012 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 54th edition of the tournament. Indiana defeated Georgetown, 1–0, to win its 8th national title.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, Qualified Teams
A total of 48 teams will qualify into the tournament proper, either automatically, or through an at-large bid that is determined by a selection committee. Each conference that field varsity soccer teams are admitted one automatic berth into the tournament. Depending on the conference, that automatic berth is either given the champions of the regular season, or the tournament that culminates the regular season. Twenty-two teams earn automatic bids into the tournament, while 26 enter through an at-large bid.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, Format
Like previous editions of the NCAA Division I Tournament, the tournament will feature 48 participants out of a possible field of 198 teams. Of the 48 berths, 22 are allocated to the conference tournament or regular season winners. The remaining 26 berths are determined through an at-large process based upon teams' Ratings Percentage Index that did not win their conference tournament.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, Format
From there, the NCAA Selection Committee selects the top sixteen seeds for the tournament, that earn an automatic bye to the second round of the tournament. The remaining 32 teams play in a single-elimination match in the first round of the tournament, to play a seeded team in the second round.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, Statistics, Goalscorers
A total of 123 goals were scored over 47 matches, for an average of 2.62 goals per match.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships
The 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships were contested in March 2012 at the Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington at the 89th annual NCAA-sanctioned swim meet to determine the team and individual national champions of Division I men's collegiate swimming and diving in the United States.


2012 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships
California again topped the team standings, finishing 44.5 points ahead of Texas. It was the Golden Bears' fourth team national title.


2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships
The 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships were the 91st NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the 31st NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa on the campus of the Drake University from  June 5–8, 2012.


2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships
In total, thirty-six different men's and women's track and field events were contested.


2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Results, Women's events, 100 meters
Semoy Hackett of Louisiana State University was initially awarded the Bronze but was subsequently disqualified for testing positive for methylhexaneamine. LSU was forced to vacate their national championship as a result and Hackett was given a doping ban of two-year and four months. Hackett was given a doping ban of two-year and four months. The ban ended 30 April 2015.


2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Results, Women's events, 200 meters
Semoy Hackett of LSU initially placed 5th but was subsequently disqualified for a doping offence.


2012 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament was held from May 18 through June 6, 2012 as the final part of the 2012 NCAA Division I softball season. The 64 NCAA Division I college softball teams were selected out of an eligible 284 teams on May 13, 2012. 30 teams were awarded an automatic bid as champions of their conference, and 34 teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Softball Selection Committee. The tournament culminated with eight teams playing in the 2012 Women's College World Series at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.


2012 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament
Alabama won the national title, defeating Oklahoma 2–1 in the best-of-three final to win the program's first national championship, and also the first softball title for any Southeastern Conference school.


2012 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, National Seeds
Teams in "italics" advanced to Super Regionals. Teams in "bold" advanced to Women's College World Series.


2012 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, Women's College World Series, Participants
† Excludes results of the pre-NCAA Women's College World Series of 1969 through 1981.


2012 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, Women's College World Series, Post-Series Notes
Jackie Traina was named the Women's College World Series MVP. Traina pitched 42 innings, surrendering 18 earned runs on 35 hits and 24 walks while striking out 45 to lead Alabama to its first national softball title. It was also the first national softball title for the SEC.


2012 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships
The 2012 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships were the men's and women's tennis tournaments played concurrently from May 23 to May 28, 2012 in Athens, Georgia on the campus of the University of Georgia. It was the 67th edition of the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship and the 31st edition of the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship. It was the seventh time the men's and women's tournaments were held at the same venue. It consisted of a men's and women's team, singles, and doubles championships.


2012 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships
The men's team championship was won by the USC Trojans, and the women's team championship was won by the Florida Gators. The men's singles title was won by Steve Johnson from USC, and the men's doubles title went to Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola of Ohio State. The women's singles title was won by Nicole Gibbs of Stanford, and the women's doubles title was also won by Nicole Gibbs, along with partner Mallory Burdette, from Stanford.


2012 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships, Women's Championship
The sixth ranked Florida defeated UCLA 4–0 to win the national title. Nicole Gibbs and the team of Mallory Burdette and Nicole Gibbs from Stanford University won the singles and doubles title respectively.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament began March 17 and concluded April 3, 2012. The Final Four was played at Pepsi Center in Denver. For only the second time in history, and the first time since 1989, all four of the number one seeds made it to the Final Four. Baylor won its second national championship, defeating Notre Dame 80–61 in the championship game. They were the only team to win 40 straight games in a season until Connecticut matched it in 2014.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Tournament procedure
Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2012 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 36 bids are "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The tournament is split into four regional tournaments, and each regional has teams seeded from 1 to 16, with the committee ostensibly making every region as comparable to the others as possible[citation needed]. The top-seeded team in each region plays the #16 team, the #2 team plays the #15, etc. (meaning where the two seeds add up to 17, that team will be assigned to play another).


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Tournament procedure
The basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Tournament procedure
The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 64.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, 2012 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
The format is similar to the Men's Tournament, except that there are 64 teams; this in turn means there is no "First Four" round. Thirty-one automatic bids for conference champions and 33 at-large bids were available.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, 2012 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
The following 16 sites were used for first- and second-round games:


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, 2012 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, were held from March 24 to March 27 at these sites:


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, 2012 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
It was the first time that Denver had hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
BYU held a small, two-point lead at half-time, which evaporated when DePaul opened the second half with a 14–0 run. BYU chipped at the lead, and cut the lead to three points late in the game. With one second left in the game, the lead was three, and Haley Steed launched a three-point attempt that many, including BYU coach Jeff Judkins, thought it was going in. It did not, and DePaul secured the round, and hit a final foul shot to win the game, 59–55.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
The last time Tennessee-Martin beat Tennessee, Pat Summitt, then Pat Head, was playing for the Tennessee-Martin team. Tennessee held Heather Butler to 14 points, almost ten points below her usual average, which made her the third leading scorer in the nation. Tennessee-Martin was held to under 30% shooting, and Tennessee won the opening round game 72–49.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
Florida opened the game with a 9–0 run and lead 12–2 early in the game. Ohio State would play roughly even with Florida the rest of the way, occasionally cutting the margin, once to two points, but never taking the lead. Florida won in the match up between eight and nine seeds, 70–65.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
Georgetown extended a ten-point halftime lead to 17, but gave most of the lead back. Fresno State cut the lead to three, and had possession of the ball with a chance to tie the game. Fresno State turned the ball over on several of their final possessions, while Georgetown missed free throws to keep the outcome in doubt until the final seconds. The Hoyas hung on to win 61–56.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
Brittney Griner only played 22 minutes, but she wasn't needed in an easy win against UC Santa Barbara. The Bears cruised to a 30 points margin in the first half and Baylor easily beat the Gauchos 81–40.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
Sydney Wallace, a freshman at Georgia Tech, scored 28 points, in a match up against Sacred Heart. The Yellow Jackets build a large lead early, and were never threatened again by the Pioneers, who were playing in their third NCAA tournament since 2006 but still looking for their first won. The final score was 76–50.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
In her first NCAA appearance, Elena Delle Donne had 39 points when she was removed from the game by her coach. At the time, the opposing team, Arkansas, Little Rock, had not yet scored 39 points. They would go on to score a total of 42, but the Fightin' Blue Hens of Delaware scored 73, to win their first ever NCAA tournament game.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, First round
Kansas hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1999. They narrowly made the field, but were going through a rough patch, losing all but two of their final eight games, and losing their leading scorer, Carolyn Davis, to a season-ending knee injury. Despite facing a higher seeded team in Nebraska, they managed to outscore their opponents and beat the Huskers 57–49.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, Second round
The game between Tennessee and DePaul was a rematch of an earlier season game played at the Maggie Dixon Classic, won by Tennessee 84–61. In that game, starting point guard Ariel Massengale was not available due to injury, while DePaul's Keisha Hampton scored 14 for DePaul. Since that match up, Massengale returned from injury, and Hampton was lost to a season-ending injury. Despite the changes in available players, DePaul stayed close to the Volunteers in the first half, ending the half with a five-point deficit. Tennessee's Glory Johnson had a career-high 21 rebounds to help Tennessee pull away in the second half, and the Volunteers won, 63–48.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, Second round
Brittney Griner went almost twelve minutes before scoring, but ended up with 25 points. She only had eight points in the first half, when Baylor pulled to a nine-point margin over Florida. The Lady Bears extended the margin to 13 in the opening minutes of the second half, and the Gators were never close again. The final score was in favor of Baylor, 76–57.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, Second round
Georgia Tech is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament, but had never advanced beyond the second round. This year's team set a record for victories in their conference, and overall victories, and received a 4 seed, their highest seed ever. The game against 5 seeded Georgetown was close early, but the Yellow Jackets pulled to a ten-point margin at halftime. The Hoyas were never closer than ten points in the final twelve minutes of the game, and Georgia Tech went on to win, 76–64.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, Second round
Delaware reached halftime with a six-point lead over eleventh seeded Kansas, but the Jayhawks came on strong in the second half. Even though The Blue Hens Elena Delle Donne would score 34 points, her teammates combined would contribute fewer points, and Kansas would start the second half with a 19–6 run to take the lead, which they would never relinquish. Kansas won 70–64 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, Sweet sixteen
Kansas started the game against Tennessee with a strong performance, working their way out to a 14-point lead. The Volunteers would cut into the lead and reduce it to five at halftime. In the second half, the Tennessee team, behind 22 points off the bench from Meighan Simmons, and took over the lead, then extended it to double digits. Tennessee ended up with the win, 84–73.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, Sweet sixteen
Georgia Tech out scored Baylor by one in the second half, but that result was academic, as the Bears had out together a 16-point lead by halftime. Georgia Tech's Sydney Wallace scored 32 points, but Brittney Griner had 35 for Baylor to help lead them to a win, 83–68.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Des Moines Region, Elite eight
Tennessee pulled out to an early 9–5 lead, but Baylor quickly responded. Brittney Griner was one block short of a triple double, and Baylor ended up winning by 19, 77–58. An incident occurred in the last minute of the game between Odyssey Sims and Shekinna Stricklen, resulting in a technical foul for each. Three players, including Griner, came off the bench, and were ejected. At the pro level, an ejection for leaving the bench brings with it a suspension for the subsequent game, but the rule is different in the NCAA. The loss prevented the Tennessee team from reaching the Final Four; the seniors in this class are the first class in Tennessee history to fail to make it to a Final Four.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
Early in the match up between top seeded Stanford and 16th seeded Hampton, the Pirates were staying close to the Cardinal, trailing at one time by one point, 22–21. However, Stanford then went on a 13–0 run, and the Pirates were never close again, falling 73–51.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
West Virginia's leading rebounder, Ayana Dunning, picked up her fourth foul and headed to the bench less than six minutes into the second half. Texas, who were down 13 points at halftime, climbed back into the game, and cut the lead to three points. WVU's Taylor Palmer scored 13 of her overall 18 points in the second half, with one three-pointer coming after a five-minute stretch without any score by the Mountaineers. West Virginia then stretched out the lead, and won the game, 68–55.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
South Carolina faced Eastern Michigan, whose Tavelyn James is the second leading scorer in the nation at 24 points per game. The Gamecocks were effective on defense, holding James to just 11 points, and the entire team to 48. South Carolina went on to win 80–48.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
The game plan of South Dakota State's head coach Aaron Johnston including containing Purdue's leading scorer Brittany Rayburn. That part of the plan was executed, as Rayburn scored 12 points. However, Johnston hadn't planned on the Boilermakers' Courtney Moses setting an NCAA record for three-pointers in a game. She hit nine, for 27 of her 29 points, helping lead the team to an 83–68 victory.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
Vanderbilt is about forty miles from Middle Tennessee, but the two teams haven't played in twenty years. Vanderbilt moved out to a small seven-point lead at halftime, then went on a 20–5 run in the second half to put the game out of reach. Vanderbilt prevailed, 60–46.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
The fourteen seed has never beaten a three seed, but Creighton came very close to breaking that streak. St. Johns had the ball and a two-point lead when pressure defense appeared to force the ball out of bounds. The St. Johns coach had called time out in time, but when the officials reviewed the replay, they noticed an elbow to the face by a St. Johns player. That gave two free throws to Creighton, and the ball. Creighton tied the game, but was unable to score on that possession. St. Johns had the ball with about five second left in the game, when Nadirah McKenith ran the length of the court, putting in a basket with 0.1 on the clock, securing the 69–67 victory.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
Duke's Elizabeth Williams is nursing a stress fracture, but still managed to be one of four Blue Devils with double-digit scoring. The game started with Duke pulling out to a 23–7 lead; Samford was never able to make the game close, in just its second appearance in the tournament.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, First round
Oklahoma's Aaryn Ellenberg played only seven minutes in the first half of the game because of foul trouble, but made up for it in the second half. She scored 28 points, playing on her home court, to help lead the Sooners to an 88–67 victory over Michigan.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, Second round
West Virginia played Stanford even in the second half, but they had been out scored by 17 in the first half, so the second half did not move them closer to their goal. Stanford had put together a 17–0 run in the first half, and that would match the halftime and final margin. The freshman point guard for the Cardinal, Amber Orrange took home scoring honors with 18 points, and had five assists while committing zero turnovers. The Cardinal beat the Mountaineers 72–55.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, Second round
Dawn Staley, the South Carolina head coach, made it to the sweet sixteen several times as a player, but had not reached that level as a coach. They faced fourth seeded Purdue in a match up to determine who would advance to the sweet sixteen in the Fresno region. The Gamecocks held the Boilermakers to under 40% shooting for the game, and extended a seven-point half time lead to an eleven-point final margin, winning the game 72–61, and advancing to the regional game in Fresno, California.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, Second round
It was unseasonably hot in Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym, both in terms of temperature and shooting. The gym does not have air conditioning, resulting in temperatures reaching the 90's. Duke hit 42 baskets in 65 attempts, just short of 66%. While the Commodores would score 80 points, the Blue Devils scored 96, to end up with  a 16-point margin. Duke's Haley Peters set a career high mark with 25 points.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, Second round
St. Johns took on Oklahoma on their home floor, where they were 8–1 in previous NCAA Tournament games. They allowed the Sooners to shoot almost 48% from the field and score 70 points. St. Johns had not won a game this year when giving up 70 points. Despite that, the Red Storm managed to score 74, so ended up with a win and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, Sweet sixteen
St. John's would have the leading scorer of the game with Da'Shena Stevens, who scored 19 points, but the team as a whole shot under 35%, against Duke's 54%. The Blue Devils scored sixteen consecutive points in one run spanning halftime which put the game out of reach. Duke won 74–47.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, Sweet sixteen
South Carolina stayed close to Stanford for much of their game, but could not overcome the Cardinal. The Ogwumike sisters filled the stat sheet with Nneka scoring 39 points and pulling down ten rebounds, while sister Chiney lead the team in blocks and steals. Stanford pulled away late, then used a 9–0 run to put the game out of reaching, winning the game 76–60.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Fresno Region, Elite eight
Once again, the Ogwumike sisters contributed significantly to a Stanford victory. Nneka scored 29 points, while younger sister Chiney was the rebounding leader with 17. The Cardinal pulled out to a 15-point lead at halftime. Although the Duke Blue Devils were able to outscore Stanford in the second half, they only reduced the final margin to twelve, 81–69.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
Arkansas faced a double-digit deficit in the first half, but pulled even by halftime. In the second half, the defense of Arkansas prevailing, holding the Dayton flyers to zero field goals in the last twelve minutes of the game. The Razorbacks won, 72–55.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
The defending national champion Aggies held only a four-point lead at halftime over Albany, playing in its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The Great Danes were on a ten-game winning streak, but were unable to extend the run to eleven, as Texas A&M extended the lead in the second half, and won 69–47.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
After not sleeping well, Maryland's Alyssa Thomas struggled in the first half. She only had five points in the first half, while her team missed five of its first seven shots and fell behind early 8–4. The Terrapins moved out to a seven-point lead over Navy by the half, and after coach Brenda Frese urged Thomas to settle down, Thomas scored  a dozen in the second half, and help lead the team to a 59–44 victory over the Midshipmen.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
The venue for Louisville's head coach Jeff Walz was familiar, as they were playing at Maryland, where he had served as an assistant coach for several years, including a national championship. The opponent were the Spartans, whose senior class had won at least one game in each of the prior three NCAA tournaments. The Cardinals would frustrate that streak, holding Michigan State to 55 points, and winning the game 67–55.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
There have been nine wins by thirteen seeds in history, and Marist now has three of them. Free throws shooting (21–25) helped the Red Foxes win the biggest upset of the tournament so far. The Georgia Bulldogs out-rebounded Marist 33–27, and took 21 more field goal attempts, but over 50% shooting by Marist helped the Red Foxes defeat Georgia 79–70.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
None of the players on the California team have competed in an NCAA tournament game, but the team did not show it early on, as they took a nine-point lead at the half, and built it to a 16-point lead in the second half. Iowa made a run, and cut the lead to seven, but cut not get closer, and lost to the Golden Bears, 84–74.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
Notre Dame scored the first eleven points before the two-minute mark, giving the Irish a chance to rest starters. The lead was 25 at halftime, and extended to a 31-point margin at the end, as Notre Dame beat Liberty 74–43.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, First round
Florida Gulf Coast, transitioning into NCAA Division I, took St. Bonaventure to overtime in the first NCAA appearance for both teams. The Eagles were on a 21-game winning streak and hit their 341st three-pointer of the season, setting an NCAA season record, but were unable to hold on to a double-digit lead. They were outscored in overtime by seven and ended up losing 72–65.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, Second round
Arkansas fell behind by double digits, then rallied against Dayton to win their first-round game. Against, Texas A&M they fell behind by double digits again, with a 14-point deficits in the second half and rallied again, taking a one-point lead late in the game. However, this time the Razorbacks could not hold the lead, and the Aggies' Sydney Carter hit two free throws with 23 seconds left in the game to give the Aggies the win 61–59.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, Second round
The Maryland-Louisville game set up a rematch between Jeff Walz, the head coach of Louisville, but former assistant at Maryland to Brenda Frese. Louisville had knocked Maryland out of the 2009 NCAA tournament, but this time the Terrapins would prevail. It was a close battle with an early lead by Louisville, then small leads by Maryland in the second half. Maryland held a three-point lead in the closing seconds when Becky Burke launched a potential tying shot that was tipped by Maryland. The Terrapins hit a final foul shot to win 72–68.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, Second round
St. Bonaventure faced Marist in the second-round game. It is the first visit to the NCAA tournament for the Bonnies. Marist has been here before, but was the lowest seed left in the tournament. The two teams faced each other in the regular season, with St. Bonaventure winning by eleven in their December game. The result would be the same this time, but much closer, as Marist missed a closing seconds three-point shot that would have tied the game. The Bonnies beat the Red Foxes 66–63.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, Second round
California scored more field goals than Notre Dame, and made more three-pointers, but the Fighting Irish, playing on their home court, had more points from the free throw line. The game was tied at 31 all at halftime, but Notre Dame had an 8–2 run to open the second half. The Golden Bears tried to come back, but did not get closer than nine points in the late part of the game. Natalie Novosel hit 18 of her 20 free throw attempts, while the entire team hit almost 80% (26 for 33) in the game to end up with the win, 73–62.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, Sweet sixteen
The defending national champion Texas A&M pulled out to an 18-point lead against Maryland. Although the Terrapins would cut the lead to three at the break, the Aggies stretched the lead back to 11 early in the second half. Maryland used a rebounding margin of 42–30 to earn more second chance points, and went on to win 81–74.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, Sweet sixteen
St. Bonaventure was never in the game with Notre Dame. The Irish started out on a 16–2 run. The Bonnies didn't get their second basket until more than halfway through the first half. Notre Dame shot over 50%, while holding the Bonnies to 19%. The Irish would go on to win easily 79–35.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Raleigh Region, Elite eight
Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins had a triple-double in points assists and rebound to help lead the Irish to a 31-point victory over Maryland. Although the game was close for the first few minutes, Notre Dame went on a 26–7 run to reach a 19-point margin by halftime, and stretched the margin in the second half, winning 80–49.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
Connecticut started the game like they have in so many other first-round games, looking like a potential blowout. UConn scored the first eight points, before Prairie View hit an awkward three-pointer off the glass. However, The Lady Panthers stayed relatively close in the first half, cutting the lead to eight well into the game. Senior Tiffany Hayes, nursing a stress injury, played 17 minutes in the first half, but sat out the second half. Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis stepped up, scoring 21 points, tying a UConn record for points in their first NCAA appearance, held by former UConn player and current Cincinnati coach Jamelle Elliott. UConn stretched out the lead in the second half and won 83–47.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
Princeton won the last three IVY league regular-season titles, which earned them an invitation to the tournament, but their regular-season performance earned a national ranking, the first time an Ivy League school has been in the AP ranking, so they were a nine seed, rather than the double-digit seeds usually awarded to automatic bids by the Ivy league. They played well against the eight-seeded Kansas State Wildcats, going on a 10–2 run to start the second half, and turn a small halftime deficit into a lead. However, Kansas State's Branshea Brown set a career record for points with 22 and helped the Wildcats hold on for a 67–64 victory.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
Gonzaga, which had ridden graduated superstar Courtney Vandersloot to the regional final in 2011, picked up where it had left off a year earlier, achieving the only upset of the day. The Bulldogs, playing on their home court for the second straight year, pulled out to an early lead, with a score of 20–4 ten minutes into the game, and never relinquished the lead. Rutgers managed only one field goal in the first ten minutes of the game. Rutgers scored 50 points in the second half, but even the 28 points by Erica Wheeler were not enough to take over the lead. Gonzaga won, 86–73.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
Miami played without one of their top players, Riquna Williams, not present as a result of violating a team rule, but Shenise Johnson scored 20 points to help lead the team to victory over Idaho State. In addition to her points, Johnson had four steals, which made her only the second player in Division I NCAA history to record at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 400 steals in a career. The only other player to achieve that level is Nancy Lieberman. The Hurricanes won the game, 70–41.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
After winning all but one game in the regular season and conference tournament, Green Bay felt they deserved better than a seven seed. The Phoenix opened the game playing better than a seven seed, and reached a 19-point lead by halftime. The Cyclones scored more points than Green Bay in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome that large lead, and Green Bay went on to win, 71–57.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
McNeese State entered the tournament as a fifteen seed, knowing that a fifteen seed had never beaten a two seed in the women's tournament, and remembering that they lost in the opening round in the prior year by 40 points. Despite that, the Cowgirls were only down by three points at the half, and were within six points very late in the game, but could not complete the upset. Kentucky held on to win, 68–62.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
UTEP took more shots at the basket than Penn State, made a higher percentage of their shots, had a higher free throw percentage, out rebounded the Lady Lions by nine, had more assists and steals, yet did not outperform their opponents in the most important statistic: points. Penn State was behind much of the first half, and tied at halftime, but took a lead in the second half and ended up winning 85–77.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, First round
San Diego State was tied at halftime against LSU, then went on a 7–0 run to take a seven-point lead, but could not hold on to the lead. The Tigers came back, and pulled to an eight-point lead, which matched the final margin of the game, 64–56.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, Second round
Gonzaga was seeded eleventh, despite making it to the Elite Eight in 2011, possibly because Vandersloot had graduated. They still managed two upset wins to advance to the sweet sixteen. This time, they defeated Miami, holding the Hurricanes to under 33% shooting. Home floor and home fans may not have hurt either, as they beat Miami 65–54.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, Second round
Kentucky pulled out to a 17-point lead at halftime against Green Bay, but managed to give up the entire lead in the second half. Turnovers plagued both teams, with 24 committed by the Phoenix and 34 by the Wildcats. Kentucky shot over 50% from the field, which helped to overcome the turnovers. Green Bay pulled ahead by one point with just under two minutes to play, but Kentucky responded with a basket, and Green Bay's final shot missed everything.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, Second round
After Connecticut scored the first basket of the game, Kansas State responded with a three-pointer taking a 3–2 lead. It would be their last point for over eleven minutes, and their last lead of the game. UConn played a game described as "nearly...flawless defensive game". The Wildcats scored just before halftime to increase their point total to ten, narrowly missing a tie for fewest points in the first half of an NCAA tournament game. They would not be so fortunate in avoiding the complete game record, set by Southern when they scored only 27 points in a game. The Kansas State team reached 26 points with almost three minutes left to play, but would not score again. The Huskies won 72–26.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, Second round
Even though Penn State started the game on a 9–0 run, the game against LSU game was close through much of the game, with a tie score ten different times. LSU was playing on their home floor, and managed a slim, one-point led at halftime. Their lead was as much as six points in the second half, but the Lady Lion's Maggie Lucas hit five of seven three-pointers, as part of a 30-point scoring effort, to help lead Penn State to a ten-point margin over LSU.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, Sweet sixteen
Gonzaga's Kayla Standish would score 25 points to be the high scorer in their game against Kentucky, but the threes of Kentucky, including five by Keyla Snowden, helped Kentucky win. The Wildcats hit 57% of their three-point attempts, almost as high as their (59%) free throw shooting. Kentucky would lead the game the entire way, winning 79–62.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, Sweet sixteen
Penn State's Alex Bentley was asked about UConn after their win over Kansas State, and she said "I don't think [the Huskies] played against a real, true scoring team". UConn held the two guards, Bentley and Lucas to seven made shots on 31 attempts. In one notable sequence, Kelly Faris leaped to block a three-point attempt by Lucas. Caroline Doty grabbed the ball, and, with her back to her own basket and closely covered, leapt and spun to heave the ball to a streaking Faris, who had to be fouled hard to prevent a score. Bria Hartley would lead all scorers with 20 points, while Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had a double-double in points and rebounds off the bench. The game was the 100th NCAA Tournament game in UConn history. UConn has a record of 84–16 in NCAA Tournament games.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Game summaries, Kingston Region, Elite eight
Connecticut opened with a 9–0 run, but Kentucky did not quit, and responded, first closing the gap, then taking a small lead. When the Wildcats hit two free throws with 2.1 seconds in the first half to make the score 39 all, it looked like the score would be tied at halftime, but Tiffany Hayes hit a streaking Kelly Faris who put in a shot at the halftime buzzer to take a two-point lead. In the second half, the Huskies expanded the margin to 20 points, then ended with a 15-point victory, 80–65, to propel the UConn team to their fifth consecutive Final Four, tying an NCAA record.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Final four, Semi-Finals
In the first semi-final game of the evening, UConn faced Notre Dame for the fourth time this season. Notre Dame prevailed in the two regular season games, one of which went to overtime, while UConn won the match-up in the Big East Tournament Finals. The Huskies scored first, but Notre Dame quickly responded with seven straight points. The game was close through most of the first half, with UConn holding on to a small three-point halftime lead.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Final four, Semi-Finals
The Irish scored the first five points of the second half to take the lead, and would hold on to a slim lead for much of the rest of the half. With under three minutes left in the half, Notre Dame had a six-point lead, but UConn managed to come back and took a two-point lead with eleven seconds left, but Notre Dame responded to force overtime. Although UConn started the overtime period with a three-point basket, the Irish responded with three-point baskets, one  by Diggins, then two by Mallory, to put the game out of reach. The final score in favor of Notre Dame was 83–75.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Final four, Semi-Finals
In the second semi-final, Baylor faced Stanford. Baylor had played, and beaten the other two Final Four participants, but had not played against the Cardinal. The Stanford team was playing in their fifth consecutive Final Four. Stanford's coach, Tara VanDerveer was faced with the challenge of stopping a team with outside and inside threats. The inside threat,  Brittney Griner, would be named (the following day) the winner of three  national player of the year awards, the Naismith,  the Wade Trophy and the WBCA defensive player of the year.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Final four, Semi-Finals
VanDerveer chose to emphasize defense on Griner and it had some success, as Griner was limited to seven points in the first half, and the outside shooters did not take advantage. The Cardinal were down at the half, but by only two points. Stanford's Nneka Ogwumike would be the leading scorer for the game, with 22 points, but she was the only double-digit scorer for the Cardinal, while Baylor had three players in double digits. Baylor would go on to the national championship game with a 59–47 victory.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Bracket
Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04)


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Media coverage, Television
ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the first and second round, ESPN aired select games nationally on ESPN or ESPNU. All other games were aired regionally on ESPN or ESPN2 and streamed online via ESPN3. Most of the nation got whip-a-round coverage during this time, which allowed ESPN to rotate between the games and focus the nation on the one that was the closest. The regional semifinals were split between ESPN and ESPN2, and ESPN aired the regional finals, national semifinals, and championship match.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship
The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship was the thirty-first annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's college lacrosse. The tournament began with first-round play on May 12, and concluded with the championship game played at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, on May 27, 2012. The Northwestern Wildcats were the 2012 NCAA Tournament champions.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Dates and locations
The NCAA Tournament's eight first-round games were played Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, and the four quarterfinal games were played Saturday, May 19, and Sunday, May 20. The tournament's first-round and quarterfinal games were played on the home fields of the higher seeded teams. The winners of the four quarterfinal games advanced to the two semifinal games played on May 25 and hosted by Stony Brook University at LaValle Stadium, the home field of the Stony Brook Seawolves football and lacrosse teams. The tournament championship game was played at LaValle Stadium on May 27.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament field
The NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Committee selected sixteen teams to compete in the 2012 Division I Women's Lacrosse Tournament. Eight teams were selected on an "automatic qualifier" basis. The tournament champions of five conferences, including the America East Conference, the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC), the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Big East Conference and the Ivy League, received automatic invitations to the NCAA Tournament. These five teams included the Albany Great Danes of the America East, the No. 1 seed Florida Gators of the ALC, the No. 3 seed Maryland Terrapins of the ACC, the No. 6 seed Loyola Greyhounds of the Big East, and the Dartmouth Big Green of the Ivy League.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament field
In addition, three play-in games were held to determine the last three automatic qualifiers. The champions of the Patriot League, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), the Northeast Conference (NEC), the Atlantic 10 Conference, and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) competed in the play-in games. The Patriot League's Navy Midshipmen defeated the Oregon Ducks of the Mountain Pacific, the CAA's Towson Tigers beat the NEC's Monmouth Hawks, and the Atlantic 10's UMass Minutemen defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins of the MAAC, with the winners receiving the final three automatic qualifier bids.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament field
The remaining eight tournament teams were chosen by the NCAA tournament selection committee on an at-large basis; the factors considered by the selection committee included: (1) the NCAA's ratings percentage index (RPI); (2) results against common opponents; (3) significant wins and losses; and (4) evaluation of the ten highest-rated teams on a team's schedule, as defined by strength of schedule and winning percentage.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament field
The eight at-large teams selected by the committee were the No. 2 seed Northwestern Wildcats, No. 4 seed Syracuse Orange, No. 5 seed North Carolina Tar Heels, and No. 7 seed Duke Blue Devils, as well as the unseeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Penn Quakers, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Virginia Cavaliers.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament field
Eight conferences placed member teams in the 2012 tournament, but four conferences dominated the selections, garnering twelve invitations in the sixteen-team field. The ACC received four bids (Maryland, North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia), the ALC got three (Florida, Northwestern, Penn State), the Big East also received three (Syracuse, Loyola, Notre Dame), and the Ivy League got two (Dartmouth, Penn). The ACC, ALC and Big East also dominated the tournament seeding, with member teams receiving the top seven seeds.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament field, Seeds
1. Florida (17-2)2. Northwestern (17-2)3. Maryland (17-3)4. Syracuse (16-3)5. North Carolina (14-3)6. Loyola (MD) (13-5)7. Duke (11-6)8. Towson (16-3)


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, Tournament bracket
The 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket consisted of sixteen teams, eight of whom were seeded No. 1 through No. 8. In the first round of the tournament, each of the eight seeded teams was paired with one of the eight unseeded teams.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament (also known as the 2012 Women's College Cup) was the 31st annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I women's collegiate soccer. The semifinals and championship game were played at Torero Stadium in San Diego, California from November 30–December 2, 2012 while the preceding rounds were played at various sites across the country from November 9–23.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament
North Carolina defeated Penn State in the final, 4–1, to win their twenty-first national title. The Tar Heels (15–5–3) were coached by Anson Dorrance.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament
The Most Outstanding Offensive Player was Kealia Ohai from North Carolina, and the Most Outstanding Defensive Player was Satara Murray, also from North Carolina. Murray and Ohai, alongside nine other players, were named to the All-Tournament Team.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament
The tournament's leading scorer, with 7 goals and 1 assist, was Tiffany McCarty from Florida State.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
All Division I women's soccer programs were eligible to qualify for the tournament. The tournament field remained fixed at 64 teams.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament, Format
Just as before, the final two rounds, deemed the Women's College Cup, were played at a pre-determined neutral site. All other rounds were played on campus sites at the home field of the higher-seeded team although with a few exceptions. The first round was played exclusively on the home fields of higher-seeded teams (noted with an asterisk below). However, the second and third rounds were played on the home fields of the home fields of the two remaining teams in each bracket with the highest seed (generally the #1 and #2 seed in each bracket with a few noted exceptions). Those teams are also noted with asterisk. Finally, the quarterfinal round, or the championship match for each bracket, was played on the home field of the higher-seeded team, with no exceptions.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships
The 2012 NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships were contested at the 31st annual NCAA-sanctioned swim meet to determine the team and individual national champions of Division I women's collegiate swimming and diving in the United States.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships
This year's events were hosted by Auburn University at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn, Alabama.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships
Defending champions California again topped the team standings, finishing 46.5 points (412.5–366) ahead of Georgia. This was the Golden Bears' third women's team title.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament started on November 29, 2012 and ended on December 15 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky with Texas winning the national championship. The NCAA selection show was televised on Sunday, November 25, 2012.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament
With its appearance in the Final Four, Michigan became the second unseeded team to make it that far since seeding began in 1997 (and in 2000 in its current method).


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament
Texas won their second NCAA volleyball championship in school history, defeating first-time finalist Oregon (winner over Penn State in its semi-final) in a three-set final match sweep.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament, Qualifying teams
The champions of the NCAA's 31 conferences qualify automatically. Twenty-two conferences hold tournaments, while the other nine award their automatic bid on the basis of being the league's regular-season champion. Those that do not hold tournaments are the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big West, Big Ten, Ivy League, Mountain West, Pac-12, Southeastern and West Coast Conferences. The other 33 bids are apportioned on an at-large basis. Only the top 16 teams overall are seeded.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament, Qualifying teams, Records
All together, the Big Ten and Pac-12 got six at-large bids in addition to their automatic, the West Coast Conference got five, the Big 12 and the Southeastern four, the Atlantic Coast three, the Big East and Missouri Valley two, and the Mountain West received one at-large bid. The other 22 conferences only got their automatic qualifiers in.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament, Bracket
The first two rounds were held on campus sites (the home court of the seeded team). Regional semifinals and finals were held at pre-determined sites. In 2012, those sites were hosted by Purdue, Nebraska, Texas, and California, all of whom made the tournament. Unlike the NCAA basketball tournament, where teams cannot be placed into regionals that they host, the selectors in the volleyball tournament were required to place qualifying teams in their 'home' regionals, in order to reduce travel costs.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament, Record by conference
* Three of the Big Ten's losses were to fellow Big Ten schools (so they are also counted as wins).


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament, Record by conference
The columns R32, S16, E8, F4, CM, and NC respectively stand for the Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, Championship Match, and National Champion.


2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament, Record by conference
The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Colonial Athletic, Conference USA, Horizon League, Ivy League, Metro Atlantic, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot League, Southland, Southwestern Athletic, Summit League, and Western Athletic Conferences all qualified one team which lost in the first round.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball rankings
The following human polls make up the 2012 NCAA Division I men's baseball rankings. The USAToday/ESPN Coaches Poll is voted on by a panel of 31 Division I baseball coaches. The Baseball America poll is voted on by staff members of the Baseball America magazine. These polls rank the top 25 teams nationally. Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association rank the top 30 teams nationally.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball rankings, Collegiate Baseball Poll
The Collegiate Baseball Preseason poll ranks the top 40 teams, while each subsequent week ranks the top 30. This table shows only the top 30.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball rankings, NCBWA Poll
The NCBWA Preseason Poll ranks the top 35 teams, while each subsequent week ranks the top 30. This table only shows the top 30 of the Preseason Poll


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season
The 2012 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began on February 17, 2012. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2012 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament and 2012 College World Series.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season
The College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held annually in Omaha, Nebraska at TD Ameritrade Park concluded on June 25, 2012 with the final game of the best of three championship series. Arizona defeated two-time defending champion South Carolina two games to none to claim their fourth championship.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season, Realignment, Dropped programs
Cleveland State dropped its varsity baseball program following the 2011 season. Two programs which had competed as Division I Independents, Le Moyne and New Orleans, dropped to Division II. Centenary, which had been a member of The Summit League, dropped to Division III.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season, Realignment, Conference changes
Several conferences added single programs prior to the 2012 season. The Pac-12 Conference added Utah, previously a Mountain West Conference member, and the West Coast Conference added BYU, also a previous Mountain West member. Nebraska moved from the Big 12 Conference to the Big Ten Conference. Campbell moved from the Atlantic Sun Conference to the Big South Conference.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season, Realignment, Conference changes
Three Independents joined conferences prior to the season. Savannah State and North Carolina Central both joined the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, while SIU Edwardsville joined the Ohio Valley Conference.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season, Realignment, Conference formats
With the addition of Savannah State and North Carolina Central, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference split into two divisions, the North and the South.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season, Conference standings, Conference winners and tournaments
Thirty athletic conferences each end their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament or a double-elimination tournament. The teams in each conference that win their regular season title are given the number one seed in each tournament. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the 2012 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, with the exception of the Great West Conference, as that league remains in a provisional status.


2012 NCAA Division I baseball season, College World Series
The 2012 season marked the sixty sixth NCAA Baseball Tournament, which culminated with the eight team College World Series. The College World Series was held in Omaha, Nebraska. The eight teams played a double-elimination format, with Arizona claiming their fourth championship with a two games to none series win over South Carolina in the final.


2012 NCAA Division I men's soccer season
The 2012 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 54th season of NCAA men's college soccer in the United States. The defending champions were the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels, who defeated sister school, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 49ers in the previous College Cup championship.


2012 NCAA Division I men's soccer season
Indiana defeated Georgetown, 1–0, in championship to win the title.


2012 NCAA Division I men's soccer season, Season overview, Pre-season polls
Several American soccer outlets posted their own preseason top 25 rankings of what were believed to be the strongest men's collegiate soccer teams entering 2012.


2012 NCAA Division I softball season
The 2012 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 2012. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2012 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament and 2012 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in Oklahoma City at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on June 6, 2012.


2012 NCAA Division I softball season, Women's College World Series
The 2010 NCAA Women's College World Series took place from May 31 to June 6, 2012 in Oklahoma City.


2012 NCAA Division I softball season, Records
Junior class single game RBIs:11 – Dacia Hale, Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters; May 10, 2012


2012 NCAA Division I softball season, Records
Senior class season of perfect stolen bases:45-45 – Sammy Marshall, Western Illinois Leathernecks


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college basketball as a culmination of the 2011–12 basketball season.


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
The Western Washington Vikings won the tournament to earn the first basketball national championship in school history.


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament, Qualification and tournament format
The champions of 22 of the 23 Division II basketball conferences qualified automatically. An additional 42 teams were selected as at-large participants by the selection committee. The first three rounds of the tournament were organized in regions comprising eight participants in groups of two or three conferences (two in the Central and Midwest regions).


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament, Qualification and tournament format
The eight regional winners met at the Elite Eight for the final three rounds held at The Bank of Kentucky Center, now known as BB&T Arena, on the campus of Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky, after the final rounds were held in Springfield, Massachusetts for the previous six years.


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament, Qualification and tournament format, Automatic qualifiers
The following teams automatically qualified for the tournament as the winners of their conference tournament championships: The newly formed Great American Conference began play for the 2011–12 season, composed of former members of the Lone Star Conference and Gulf South Conference. The conference champion, Arkansas Tech, was not eligible for an automatic berth, but did receive an at-large No. 3 seed in the South Central Region.


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship
The 2012 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship featured 35 schools in four unbalanced Super-Regional tournaments involving seven to ten teams each. Super-Regional games were played at campus sites.


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship
The Division II College Cup was held at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Georgia and was hosted by the Peach Belt Conference.


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship
In the national semifinals, Mercyhurst (17-6-1) was defeated by Lynn 4-1, and Simon Fraser (19-2-1) fell to Saginaw Valley 3-1. Lynn (19-3-1) won its second Division II crown by beating Saginaw Valley (18-3-4) 3-2 in the national final.


2012 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship, Division II College Cup at Evans, Ga.
Attendance: Semi #1 = 182; Semi #2 = 213; Final = 311


2012 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament was the 31st annual tournament hosted by the NCAA to determine the national champion of Division II women's  collegiate basketball in the United States.


2012 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
Shaw defeated Ashland in the championship game, 88–82 after one overtime period, to claim the Bears' first NCAA Division II national title.


2012 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
The championship rounds were contested at Bill Greehey Arena on the campus of the St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.


2012 NCAA Division II football rankings
The 2012 NCAA Division II football rankings are from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). This is for the 2012 season.


2012 NCAA Division II football season
The 2012 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on September 1, 2012, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 15, 2012 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The Valdosta State Blazers defeated the Winston-Salem State Rams, 35–7, to win their third Division II national title.


2012 NCAA Division II football season
It proved to be the final season for the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). Shortly before the start of the 2012–13 school year, the WVIAC's nine football-playing members announced plans to break away and form a new league. Before the new conference was announced, one of the nine breakaway schools (Seton Hill) chose instead to join the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference; the remaining eight schools joined with three other football-playing schools and one non-football WVIAC member left out of the original split. The new league, officially unveiled in August 2012 as the Mountain East Conference, began play in 2013.


2012 NCAA Division II football season
The Harlon Hill Trophy was awarded to Zach Zulli, quarterback from Shippensburg.


2012 NCAA Division II football season, Conference changes and new programs
Minot State, Notre Dame (OH), Simon Fraser, Sioux Falls, and William Jewell completed their transitions to Division II and became eligible for the postseason.


2012 NCAA Division II football season, Conference changes and new programs, Regional realignment
The GNAC, MIAA, and Great American moved from Super Region 4 to Super Region 3, while the RMAC and GLIAC moved in the opposite direction; the GLVC, newly sponsoring football, was assigned to Super Region 4.


2012 NCAA Division II football season, Conference standings, Conference champions
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Winston-Salem State (14–1, 7–0)Great American Conference – Henderson StateGreat Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – AshlandGreat Lakes Valley Conference – IndianapolisGreat Northwest Athletic Conference – Central WashingtonGulf South Conference – West AlabamaLone Star Conference – Midwestern State and West Texas A&MMid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Missouri Western StateNortheast-10 Conference – New HavenNorthern Sun Intercollegiate Conference – Minnesota–Duluth (North) and Minnesota State–Mankato (South)Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference – Indiana (PA)Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference –  CSU PuebloSouth Atlantic Conference – Lenoir-RhyneSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – TuskegeeWest Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference‡ – Shepherd


2012 NCAA Division II football season, Postseason
The 2012 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the 39th single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college football. The championship game was held at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama for the 25th time.


2012 NCAA Division II football season, Awards and honors, Harlon Hill Trophy
The Harlon Hill Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player.