Florida Gators
NCAA Selection Announcement
Women's Basketball Receives NCAA Championship Berth
Tuesday, March 14, 2006 | Women's Basketball
The University of Florida received an at-large berth into the 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, where the Gators earned the No. 6 seed in the Albuquerque Regional and will face 11th-seeded and 24th-ranked New Mexico (21-9) on Saturday, March 18 at the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz. Tip-off is set for approximately 10:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. MST) and will be televised live on ESPN2.
The winner of that first round contest advances to the second round to play the winner of the game between third-seeded Baylor (24-6) and 14th-seeded Northern Arizona (22-10), which play at 8 p.m. ET (6 p.m. MST).
This is the 11th time Florida (21-8) has earned a bid to compete in the NCAA Championship, most recently in 2004 when the Gators advanced to the second round before losing to Baylor. Florida sports a 9-10 all-time record in NCAA play, with the best showing a Regional Final appearance in 1996.
The Gators played New Mexico in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Championship, where Florida prevailed in a 68-56 on the Lobos' home court. The Gators then faced Baylor in the second round, falling to the Bears 91-76.
Ticket Information
The Gator Ticket Office will begin accepting orders Tuesday morning for ONLY the sessions involving Florida. If future-round tickets are purchased and the Gators do not advance, fans will receive a refund for those tickets.
Adult tickets are $50 and student tickets cost $30 for the Saturday-Monday sessions at the McKale Center which seats 14,480.
To order tickets, call the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 384-3261 or (877) 428-6742 (toll-free).
NCAA Tournament Television Coverage
All 63 games of the 2006 championship will be televised live on ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN will offer whiparound-style coverage of the first- and second-round games to most of the nation with regionalized/protected coverage in the home markets of the competing teams. All first- and second-round games will be available in their entirety on ESPN's FullCourt pay-per-view package. ESPNU will also provide coverage of selected first- and second-round games.
Beginning with the regional semifinals, the remaining 15 games will be televised nationally on ESPN and ESPN2.
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