The Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) is a women's
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
tournament created in 2009 by Sport Tours. The inaugural tournament occurred at the conclusion of the
2009–10 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. Selections for the WBI are announced on
Selection Monday
The selection process for college basketball's National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Men's and NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, Women's Basketball Tou ...
. Prior to the
2020 COVID-19 pandemic the field for the WBI consisted of a 16-team,
single elimination
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
divided into two regions with 8 seeded teams in each. The current format consists of 8 teams, all of which are guraranteed 3 games. Teams are picked based on
NET
Net or net may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence
* Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2
* Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...
, record, conference standings, end of year performance, and quality wins and losses, after the NCAA and WNIT fields are filled.
Teams in the WBI traditionally competed on the home court of the higher seed; recent tournaments have been held at the Clive M. Beck Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Teams not making the
NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 Women's sports, women's college basketball teams from the NCAA Division I, Division I level of t ...
or
Women's National Invitation Tournament
The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tournam ...
(WNIT) are eligible for the WBI.
Although the WBI shares a similar name with the
College Basketball Invitational
The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...
(CBI) and fills a similar role (a postseason tournament outside the auspices of the NCAA and NIT tournaments), the two competitions are operated by separate organizations and are unrelated except for the coincidental name.
Champions
Through the 2019 edition, games were played at campus sites; the championship game venue is listed. Starting with the 2021 edition, the entire tournament is played at a single site.
See also
*
NAIA Women's Basketball Championships
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Women's Basketball national championship has been held annually since 1981. The NAIA Women's Tournament was established one year before the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament. It was created t ...
References
External links
*
{{NCAA women's college basketball tournament navbox
Postseason college basketball competitions in the United States
Recurring sporting events established in 2010
College women's basketball competitions in the United States