Inside Higher Ed names Elon a Final Four team in NCAA women's basketball tournament

​Elon’s women’s basketball team is making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament, and is already being named a Final Four team for its academic prowess by Inside Higher Ed. The All-Academic Tournament Bracket puts Elon, Stanford, DePaul and Creighton in the final four of this year’s tournament based on the NCAA’s metrics for judging academic success. Elon posted perfect 1,000 scores the past two years for women’s basketball in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the bracket demonstrates how the tournament would turn out “if the teams advanced based on their academic performance rather than their skills on the court.”

In its region, Elon placed ahead of schools such as Duke, Bucknell, UCLA, Penn, Temple and Syracuse for academic success.

Elon is making its first trip to the NCAA Division I tournament after winning the Colonial Athletic Association tournament on March 11, defeating James Madison University. Elon’s first game is Friday, March 17, at 2:30 p.m. vs. West Virginia. The game will be played at the Xfinity Center at the University of Maryland.