Women's National Invitation Tournament

The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament. It used to feature both a preseason and postseason version played every year, but the preseason tournament was last held in 2023. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and NIT Season Tip-Off. Unlike the NIT, the women's tournament is not run by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), but is an independent tournament. Triple Crown Sports, a company based in Fort Collins, Colorado that specializes in the promotion of amateur sporting events, created the WNIT in 1994 as a preseason counterpart to the then-current National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT). After the NWIT folded in 1996, Triple Crown Sports resurrected the postseason version in 1998 under the NWIT name, but changed the following season to the current name.

Format

Preseason

The WNIT began in 1994 as a 16-team preseason tournament; the preseason version has remained at that field size throughout its history except for the 2021 event, which was reduced to eight teams due to ongoing COVID-19 issues. Originally, the preseason WNIT was a single-elimination tournament, but since the 2007 edition has used a format which guarantees all participating teams three games. Since it is classified by the NCAA as an "exempt" event, a team can only participate in the preseason WNIT once every four years; additionally, only one team per conference may participate.

The 2021 event involved eight teams divided into four-team pods, one hosted by Kansas State and the other by NC State. Each team played a full round-robin within its pod, followed by Kansas State traveling to NC State for a final game. No overall champion was crowned, and a separate all-tournament team was named for each pod.

In 2022 it featured 4 teams: Colorado, Jackson State, Louisiana and Texas Tech, with Texas Tech the winner.

In 2023 the "tournament" featured just 3 teams and 2 games, with Baylor the only undefeated team of the 3.

There was no preseason WNIT in 2024.

Postseason

The postseason WNIT started in 1998 as a 16-team tournament. It was doubled to a 32-team tournament in 1999, and once more in 2021. In 2006, competing schools assumed more responsibility, hosting the early rounds of the tourney, and additional expansion was made to forty teams. At that time, schools which won their regular-season conference title but were excluded from the NCAA tournament by having lost their conference tournament were awarded automatic bids. The field was further expanded in 2007 to 48 teams, with automatic bids awarded to each Division I conference. The tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 2021, but will be reduced to 48 from 2024 & hereafter. This most recent change came shortly after the NCAA announced it would create the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament, a 32-team event whose first edition will be held in 2024.

Through the 2023 edition, the postseason field consisted of 32 automatic berths – one from each conference – and 32 at-large teams. Thirty-two spots in the Postseason WNIT were filled automatically by the best item available in each of the nation's 32 conferences. If a conference's automatic qualifier team declined the WNIT invitation, the conference forfeited that automatic spot, and that selection went into the pool of at-large schools. The remaining 32 team slots in the Postseason WNIT were filled by the top teams available. Any team from a Division I conference, or a Division I independent team, may be considered. Any team considered for an at-large berth must have an overall record of .500 or better. The format won't affect the WNIT's automatic bid to any regular season conference champion not making the 68-team field, since 2022. Bids are announced on the evening of the same day that the NCAA tourney bids are made. Triple Crown Sports has not yet announced the future 48-team format.

The 64-team tournament had 32 first-round games, followed by 16 second-round games, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games, and the championship. Since the WNIT is a for-profit tournament, all games are played on the site of the higher bidding team. The national championship game is currently carried on CBS Sports Network. Teams can host in the first round for a guarantee of $6,500 a game and in the second round for $7,500 a game. Early-round pairings are regionalized as much as possible in order to minimize missed class time and travel costs.

Since 2024, this 48-team tourney has 16 games each for the first two rounds, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games and the championship.

Championship history

Postseason

*''Was called National Women's Invitational Tournament.''

Preseason

See also

* NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
* Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament
* Women's Basketball Invitational
* National Women's Invitational Tournament

References

External links

*

{{NCAA women's college basketball tournament navbox

Postseason college basketball competitions in the United States
Recurring sporting events established in 1998

College women's basketball competitions in the United States
College basketball competitions