The NCAA confirmed this week it will resume a 32-team post-season tournament for women's basketball this year. It will be called the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT). This will be in addition to the 68-team NCAA tournament held each year to crown a national champion.
Meanwhile, the organizers of the WNIT immediately said they will continue to run the 48-team tourney they have been running for several years. That's the tournament Vandy took part in two years ago after coach Ralph's first season here. So, between the 68-team NCAA, the 32-team WBIT and the 48-team WNIT, there will be 148 teams playing post-season basketball this season. I think that's roughly 40 percent of women's NCAA basketball teams will be playing in the post season. How did we come to this confusing alphabet soup group of tourneys?
* For years, the NCAA ran a 32-team tourney in addition to its NCAA tourney called the WNIT. It was a consolation prize for teams that did not make the NCAA, and it had a fairly stringent set of criteria teams had to meet in order to participate. Eventually, the NCAA just dropped the tourney.
* At this point, a private entity stepped in and took over the tourney format and its name. They kept the criteria for participation fairly similar to what the NCAA had done with one glaring difference: It is basically a pay-for-play tourney. It still meant something to be one of the teams chosen to participate, but then teams offered bids for the right to play host for games. I'm not knowledgable enough to know how the bid process worked, but obviously the owners of the tourney were making enough money that they have kept it going for several years. The tourney still served its purpose of giving teams who didn't make the NCAA tourney an opportunity to play post-season basketball.
* Now, the NCAA has stepped back in and decided to resume the tourney it dropped a few years ago. I feel they will probably get first choice for the 32 teams to fill the field. Of course, any team can always decline the invite. The WBIT will most likely be second only to the NCAA in terms of prestige. They haven't released the rules for participation, but they are likely to be some version of what they were before. For instance, the highest ranked team in most conferences that did not make the NCAA tourney would get an automatic bid. If six SEC teams make the NCAA, the seventh team in the standings would get an automatic bid to the WBIT. After that, there are various criteria guiding at-large bids. That's just my guess. I think the 48-team WNIT will continue as long as the organizers make enough money to make it worthwhile. Time will tell.
NCAA Confirms New WBIT for This Season
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