Tag: Women’s National Invitation Tournament

First Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament explained

The first Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament started on March 21 and culminates with a championship weekend right after Easter.

The first Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) started March 21 and culminates with a championship weekend right after Easter. With the 2024 addition of the WBIT, women’s Division I college basketball players have three postseason opportunities to showcase talent: the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), the WBIT and the NCAA Tournament.

The WBIT tournament consists of 32 teams chosen by the WBIT selection committee and is fully owned by the NCAA. The WNIT consists of 48 teams and is privately owned. The NCAA Tournament consists of 68 teams and is also owned by the NCAA.

The WBIT committee comprised five former DI women’s basketball coaches and three current or former Division I athletic administrators. The committee follows a set of rules when selecting the teams, including, but not limited to:

  • Select the best available teams to fill the WBIT field with no limit on the number of teams the committee may select from one conference.
  • A member shall not vote for a team the committee member currently represents as an institutional or conference administrator.
  • The regular-season champion of any NCAA Division I conference (as determined by the conference’s tie-break protocol) not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship will secure an automatic qualification to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
  • Co-champions who do not receive the declaration of WBIT representative through the conference’s tie-break protocol will not receive automatic qualification and institutions ineligible for postseason play will not receive automatic qualification as a regular-season champion.
  • The first four teams out of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, will receive an automatic bid and will be the top four seeds in the WBIT field.
  • Reclassifying institutions are not eligible to participate in the WBIT.
  • All votes will be by secret ballot.

The first, second and quarterfinal games will be held at campus sites, and the semifinals and championship games will be played at Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The top 16 teams will host the first-round games as long as they submit a bid and meet the requirements for hosting.

Preliminary round games can be watched live on ESPN+. The semifinal games will be broadcast on ESPNU, with the title game set for ESPN2.

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