1986 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament - First and Second Rounds

First and Second Rounds

In 1986, the field expanded to 40 teams. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-10 in each region. In Round 1, seeds 8 and 9 faced each other for the opportunity to face the 1 seed in the second round, while seeds 7 and 10 faced each other for the opportunity to face the 2 seed. In the first two rounds, the higher seed was given the opportunity to host the first round game. In most cases, the higher seed accepted the opportunity. The exceptions:

• Illinois was an eight seed, but chose not to host, so the game was played at nine seed Ohio
• James Madison, the eight seed, played ninth seeded Providence at Providence
• Arkansas, the eight seed, played ninth seeded Missouri at Missouri
• Kentucky, the seven seed, played the tenth seeded Drake at Drake

The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the twenty-four first round locations:

Philadelphia Columbia Athens Des Moines Columbia Missoula Seattle 1986 NCAA first round Charlottesville Bowling Green Piscataway Athens Baton Rouge Columbus Knoxville Auburn Norman Austin University Chapel Hill Long Beach Los Angeles Ruston 1986 NCAA second round

Region	Rnd	Host	Venue	City	State
East	1	Providence College	Alumni Hall (Providence)	Providence	Rhode Island
East	1	Villanova University	Palestra	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
East	2	Pennsylvania State University	Recreation Building (Rec Hall)	University Park	Pennsylvania
East	2	University of Virginia	University Hall (University of Virginia)	Charlottesville	Virginia
East	2	Western Kentucky University	E.A. Diddle Arena	Bowling Green	Kentucky
East	2	Rutgers University	Louis Brown Athletic Center	Piscataway	New Jersey
Mideast	1	University of South Carolina	Carolina Coliseum	Columbia	South Carolina
Mideast	1	University of Ohio	Convocation Center	Athens	Ohio
Mideast	2	University of Georgia	Georgia Coliseum (Stegeman Coliseum)	Athens	Georgia
Mideast	2	Louisiana State University	LSU Assembly Center (Pete Maravich Assembly Center)	Baton Rouge	Louisiana
Mideast	2	Ohio State University	St. John Arena	Columbus	Ohio
Mideast	2	University of Tennessee	Stokely Athletic Center	Knoxville	Tennessee
Midwest	1	Drake University	Drake Fieldhouse	Des Moines	Iowa
Midwest	1	University of Missouri	Hearnes Center	Columbia	Missouri
Midwest	2	Auburn University	Memorial Coliseum (Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum)	Auburn	Alabama
Midwest	2	University of Oklahoma	Lloyd Noble Center	Norman	Oklahoma
Midwest	2	University of Texas	Frank Erwin Center	Austin	Texas
Midwest	2	University of Mississippi	Tad Smith Coliseum	University	Mississippi
West	1	University of Montana	Dahlberg Arena	Missoula	Montana
West	1	University of Washington	Hec Edmundson Pavilion	Seattle	Washington
West	2	University of North Carolina	Carmichael Auditorium	Chapel Hill	North Carolina
West	2	Long Beach State	University Gym (Gold Mine)	Long Beach	California
West	2	University of Southern California	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena	Los Angeles	California
West	2	Louisiana Tech University	Thomas Assembly Center	Ruston	Louisiana