There were balloons at Baylor, streamers at Missouri State and fake smiles at more colleges than anyone cared to count, but one thing was decidedly absent when the N.C.A.A. women’s basketball bracket was released on Monday: suspense.

For the second time in three years, a basketball tournament field leaked before it was supposed to be revealed on a selection show created specifically for that purpose. This time it was the bracket for the Division I women’s championship, which was supposed to be revealed at 7 p.m. Eastern on Monday on ESPN. Instead, ESPN’s sister network ESPNU accidentally broadcast it live four hours earlier.

Starting at 3 p.m. on ESPNU’s “Bracketology” show, the college basketball analysts Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams were discussing the men’s bracket, which was released Sunday night. While the men’s bracket appeared front-and-center on the broadcast, the women’s bracket was shown in pieces on the side.