2012–13 NCAA Division I women's basketball season

• October 30 – The AP preseason All-American team was named. Three players received all 40 possible votes from the media panel—Baylor center Brittney Griner, Notre Dame point guard Skylar Diggins, and Delaware's multi-positional Elena Delle Donne. They were joined by Stanford power forward Chiney Ogwumike (23 votes), Baylor point guard Odyssey Sims (19), and Maryland power forward Alyssa Thomas (19). Sims and Thomas tied in the voting, creating a sixth spot on the team.[1]
• December 15 – The seven Big East Conference schools that do not sponsor FBS football (DePaul, Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Villanova, Seton Hall and Marquette, collectively called the "Catholic 7") announced that they would break from the Big East and pursue other conference affiliation. The move leaves Connecticut as the only original Big East member set to remain in the conference.[2]
• February 28 – ESPN reports that the "Catholic 7" will launch their new conference in July 2013, two years ahead of schedule, and will purchase the rights to the "Big East" name from the remaining conference schools. Two Atlantic 10 Conference members, Butler (which had only joined the A10 in July 2012) and Xavier, will reportedly join the new Big East, with Missouri Valley Conference member Creighton also a possibility.[3]
• March 8 – The Big East split is officially announced. As previously reported, the "Catholic 7" will leave on June 30 with the Big East name. As of the announcement, the "Catholic 7" were the only members of the new Big East, but Butler, Xavier, and Creighton were added March 20.[4]

• January 6, 2014 - Missouri's Morgan Eye hit 11 three-pointers in a game against Auburn, tied for third most three-pointers in a single game (in NCAA history).[5]
• February 22, 2013 - Saint Peters' Bridget Whitfield hit eight of eight three-point attempts, tied for third most (in NCAA history) without a miss.[6]
• Baylor's Brittney Griner scored 3,283 points in her career, the third highest career total in NCAA history.[7]
• Baylor's Brittney Griner recorded more than 2,000 points and 500 rebounds, the only player in NCAA history to reach that milestone.[8]

The 2012–13 season saw the second wave of membership changes resulting from a major realignment of NCAA Division I conferences. The cycle began in 2010 with the Big Ten and the then-Pac-10 publicly announcing their intentions to expand. The fallout from these conferences' moves later affected a majority of D-I conferences.

In addition, two schools are moving from Division II starting this season. These schools will be ineligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play until completing their D-I transitions in 2016. Finally, one school that had announced a transition to Division II, New Orleans, announced that it would halt its transition and remain in Division I.

• Coastal Carolina left behind one of the smallest venues in Division I basketball, Kimbel Arena (seating little over 1,000). The Chanticleers remained on campus at the new HTC Center.
• Troy left its on-campus home, the original Trojan Arena, for a new on-campus venue also named Trojan Arena.

• There is now unlimited contact, including text messaging, allowed between college coaches and a prospective player in high school and junior college recruiting.[13]

A number of early-season tournaments marked the beginning of the college basketball season.

A number of teams changed coaches during and after the season.