Women's National Invitation Tournament Explained

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 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,^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4] It returned to 16 teams for 2022 and hereafter.

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,^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[5] Triple Crown Sports has not yet announced the future 48-team format.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[5]

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

Year	Champion		Runner-up		Venue and city
1998	Penn State	59		56		Waco, Texas
1999	Arkansas	67		64		Fayetteville, Arkansas
2000	Wisconsin	75		74		Madison, Wisconsin
2001	Ohio State	62		61		Albuquerque, New Mexico
2002	Oregon	54		52		Eugene, Oregon
2003	Auburn	64		63		Waco, Texas
2004	Creighton	73		52		Omaha, Nebraska
2005	SW Missouri State	78		70		Springfield, Missouri
2006	Kansas State	77		65		Manhattan, Kansas
2007	Wyoming	72		56	Arena-Auditorium	Laramie, Wyoming
2008	Marquette	81		66		East Lansing, Michigan
2009	South Florida	75		71		Lawrence, Kansas
2010	California	73		61		Berkeley, California
2011	Toledo	76		68	Savage Arena	Toledo, Ohio
2012	Oklahoma State	75		68	Gallagher-Iba Arena	Stillwater, Oklahoma
2013	Drexel	46		43	Daskalakis Athletic Center	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2014	Rutgers	56		54	Don Haskins Center	El Paso, Texas
2015	UCLA	62		60	Charleston Civic Center	Charleston, West Virginia
2016	South Dakota	71		65	DakotaDome	Vermillion, South Dakota
2017	Michigan	89		79	Calihan Hall	Detroit, Michigan
2018	Indiana	65	Virginia Tech	57	Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall	Bloomington, Indiana
2019	Arizona	56	Northwestern	42	McKale Center	Tucson, Arizona
2020	No tournament because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2021	Rice	71	Ole Miss	58	My Town Movers Fieldhouse	Collierville, Tennessee
2022	South Dakota State	82	Seton Hall	50	Frost Arena	Brookings, South Dakota
2023	Kansas	66	Columbia	59	Allen Fieldhouse	Lawrence, Kansas
2024	Saint Louis	69	Minnesota	50	Sam M. Vadalabene Center	Edwardsville, Illinois

*Was called National Women's Invitational Tournament.

Preseason

Year	Champion		Runner-up		Final venue and city
1994[8]	Washington	79		75	Lubbock Municipal Coliseum	Lubbock, Texas[9]
1995[10]	Colorado	73		71	Bud Walton Arena	Fayetteville, Arkansas
1996[11]	Louisiana Tech	66		64	Thomas Assembly Center	Ruston, Louisiana
1997[12]	Connecticut	71		61	Gampel Pavilion	Storrs, Connecticut
1998[13]	Colorado State	71		60	Moby Arena	Fort Collins, Colorado
1999[14]	Georgia	85		64	Assembly Hall	Champaign, Illinois
2000[15]	Louisiana Tech	68		63	Mackey Arena	West Lafayette, Indiana
2001[16]	Connecticut	69		50	Gampel Pavilion	Storrs, Connecticut
2002[17]	Kansas State	88		66	Bramlage Coliseum	Manhattan, Kansas
2003[18]	Texas Tech	73		45	United Spirit Arena	Lubbock, Texas
2004[19]	Notre Dame	66		62	Joyce Center	Notre Dame, Indiana
2005[20]	Connecticut	82		62	Gampel Pavilion	Storrs, Connecticut
2006[21]	Purdue	69		55	Ferrell Center	Waco, Texas
2007[22]	Maryland	75		62	Comcast Center	College Park, Maryland
2008[23]	North Carolina	80		79	Lloyd Noble Center	Norman, Oklahoma
2009[24]	Ohio State	93		72	Value City Arena	Columbus, Ohio
2010[25]	Purdue	67		58	Mackey Arena	West Lafayette, Indiana
2011[26]	Baylor	94		81	Ferrell Center	Waco, Texas
2012[27]	North Carolina	77		64	Carver–Hawkeye Arena	Iowa City, Iowa
2013[28]	Louisville	97OT		92	Lloyd Noble Center	Norman, Oklahoma
2014[29]	Mississippi State	88		77	Humphrey Coliseum	Mississippi State, Mississippi
2015[30]	Baylor	86		72	Ferrell Center	Waco, Texas
2016[31]	Notre Dame	71		60	Joyce Center	Notre Dame, Indiana
2017[32]	Louisville	74		61	KFC Yum! Center	Louisville, Kentucky
2018[33]	Iowa State	75		52	Hilton Coliseum	Ames, Iowa
2019[34]	Oregon State	80	Missouri State	69	Gill Coliseum	Corvallis, Oregon
2020	No tournament because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2021	Due to continued COVID-19 issues, no champion was crowned.					Manhattan, Kansas Raleigh, North Carolina
2022	Texas Tech	64	Louisiana	48	Cajundome	Lafayette, Louisiana

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Triple Crown Sports - Home. www.triplecrownsports.com.
2. Web site: Women's College Basketball Championship Page. Gregory. Cooper. womenscollegebasketballhistory.com.
3. Web site: WNIT: Event Info . Triple Crown Sports . November 21, 2017.
4. Preseason WNIT announces field, format change for 2021 event . Triple Crown Sports . June 10, 2021 . June 18, 2021.
5. Web site: Event Info. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
6. WNIT Statement . Triple Crown Sports . July 17, 2023 . July 27, 2023.
7. Web site: FGCU sees payoff to being postseason hosts. The News-Press. 2016-04-03.
8. Web site: 1994 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
9. Web site: Washington Huskies. Washington Huskies. en. 2019-11-18.
10. Web site: 1995 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
11. Web site: 1996 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
12. Web site: 1997 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
13. Web site: 1998 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
14. Web site: 1999 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
15. Web site: 2000 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
16. Web site: 2001 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
17. Web site: 2002 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
18. Web site: 2003 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
19. Web site: 2004 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
20. Web site: 2005 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
21. Web site: 2006 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
22. Web site: 2007 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
23. Web site: 2008 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
24. Web site: 2009 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
25. Web site: 2010 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
26. Web site: 2011 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
27. Web site: 2012 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
28. Web site: 2013 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
29. Web site: 2014 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
30. Web site: 2015 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
31. Web site: 2016 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
32. Web site: 2017 Preseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
33. Web site: 2018 Preseason Championship Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. womensnit.com. en. 2019-11-18.
34. Web site: 2019 Preseason WNIT. womensnit.com. 2019-11-18.