The 2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I women's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2026 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 19 and ended on April 1. The first three rounds were played on the campuses of various schools, and the semifinal and championship games were played at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
The Columbia Lions won the 2026 WBIT 81–64 over the BYU Cougars, becoming the first team from a mid-major conference to win the tournament title.
Participants Teams and pairings for the 2026 WBIT were released by the WBIT committee on Sunday, March 15, 2026. Thirty-two teams qualified for the WBIT, including both automatic qualifiers and at-large selections.
Automatic qualifiers The regular-season champion of any NCAA Division I conference (as determined by the conference's tiebreaking protocol) not otherwise selected for the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament will, if eligible, secure an automatic qualification invitation to the WBIT. Like the Division I tournament committee, the WBIT selection committee used a variety of resources to determine the participating teams.
TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bid SWAC 22–10 1st Never Chattanooga Southern 20–10 1st Never Eastern Kentucky ASUN 24–8 1st Never Georgia Southern Sun Belt 23–7 1st Never Louisiana Tech CUSA 26–6 1st Never Loyola Marymount WCC 26–6 1st Never Southland 28–5 1st Never Patriot 22–8 1st Never North Dakota State Summit 28–4 1st Never Quinnipiac MAAC 26–6 2nd 2025 Rice American 28–5 1st Never San Diego State Mountain West 25–5 1st Never UC Irvine Big West 26–6 1st Never
At-large bids The following teams were awarded at-large bids. TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bid BYU Big 12 22–11 2nd 2024 California ACC 19–14 2nd 2024 Columbia Ivy 20–8 1st Never Georgia Tech ACC 14–18 2nd 2024 George Mason Atlantic 10 23–9 2nd 2024 Harvard Ivy 18–11 1st Never Kansas Big 12 19–13 1st Never Kansas State Big 12 18–17 1st Never Miami (FL) ACC 17–14 1st Never Missouri SEC 16–16 1st Never Oregon State WCC 23–11 1st Never Santa Clara WCC 24–9 2nd 2024 Seton Hall Big East 19–12 3rd 2025 St. John's Big East 22–11 2nd 2024 Stanford ACC 19–13 2nd 2025 Texas A&M SEC 14–12 1st Never Troy Sun Belt 25–7 1st Never Utah Big 12 19–12 1st Never Wisconsin Big Ten 13–17 1st Never
Bracket * – Denotes overtime period. First and second round games are hosted at campus sites of higher seed unless stated otherwise.
Semifinals and championship
See also 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament 2026 Women's National Invitation Tournament
References