New NCAA-funded WBB tourney; the WBIT

[kiyoat]

www.ncaa.org/news/2023/7/17/media-center-ncaa-announces-creation-of-womens-basketball-invitation-tournament.aspx



Not sure yet how this will affect the WNIT (which is not affiliated with the NCAA like the men's NIT-tournament is)

My guess is that this will bump the WNIT down a peg in terms of selection priority

Hopefully this will be a positive for women's teams, creating a 2nd tier tournament that P-5 schools will actually get behind, while still having the independent WNIT as a viable 3rd-tier option to add postseason opportunities. (if it survives)

Also, this represents a new challenge for USD/SDSU to see which team wins it first.....

[kiyoat]

Here's the text of the full article if you don't want to use the link:

The NCAA has announced the creation of the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament. The 32-team postseason tournament, which will be owned and funded by the NCAA, will be held annually beginning in 2024.



With the addition of the WBIT, 100 postseason NCAA-funded opportunities will be available for Division I women's basketball teams, equal to that of men's basketball through its two events (the 68-team championship and 32-team National Invitation Tournament). Details about the tournament's format — including the selection process, bracketing principles and host sites — will be released later.



"Women's basketball is at an all-time high with records being set for national championship and Final Four viewership, and the tournament was the most viewed since 2009," said Jamie Boggs, chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Oversight Committee and vice president of athletics for Grand Canyon. "This tournament will create an additional NCAA-funded postseason opportunity for women's basketball, and it comes at a time when we are seeing tremendous growth in popularity for women's basketball."



The NCAA also released branding for the tournament, which continues to highlight orange in alignment with other NCAA women's basketball branding, including the March Madness logo. The WBIT logo — which is inspired by a backboard and net — also will feature blue to tie in to the NCAA's primary branding.



Later this summer, the NCAA will identify a selection committee, comprising women's basketball stakeholders and NCAA members, to administer the WBIT.

[hoopsmom]

Currently, the WNIT has a 64-team format. This new WBIT is going to be inviting only 32 teams. Therefore, 32 fewer teams will be invited to play quality postseason tournaments. Smaller programs will lose out on opportunities.

[Yotes]

This seems like it will consolidate power back to the Power 5 for the consolation tournament. We've seen the preference that small and mid-major schools get from NCAA selection committees.

When reading the ESPN article they painted this as a positive because schools won't face the burden of bidding to host games anymore. While that sounds great, my mind reads that as "power schools refused to bid and are tired of travelling to places like South Dakota".

We don't have all the details and I am a cynic here. Failing to see how this helps our part of the world though.

[kiyoat]

[kiyoat]

Jul 17, 2023 21:48:10 GMT -6 hoopsmom said:

Currently, the WNIT has a 64-team format. This new WBIT is going to be inviting only 32 teams. Therefore, 32 fewer teams will be invited to play quality postseason tournaments. Smaller programs will lose out on opportunities.

Its relative.  With more P-5 participation in the WBIT (presumably), the finals will probably have more clout and legitimacy, maybe a higher profile.  So when a SD team is in the finals again, it will be even harder to ignore.

In terms of opportunities, the WNIT will still exist as a 48-team tournament, thus increasing the total number of teams in the postseason by 16.  That provides more opportunity to me.

Also, the backing and funding from the NCAA makes the WBIT more financially viable for small and large schools alike.  That is a lowering of the barrier to entry for schools that didn't want to "pay to play" in the WNIT.

We will see what comes of it.  Maybe P-5 schools will shun the WBIT just like some of them shunned the WNIT, and fail to participate.  In that case, the WBIT will just be a better-funded and better-promoted version of the WNIT.  Sounds fine to me!  Win-win either way.