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 76-team field, since 2027. 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 YearChampionRunner-upVenue and city1998*Penn State 59Baylor 56Ferrell Center Waco, Texas1999Arkansas 67Wisconsin 64Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas2000Wisconsin 75Florida 74Kohl Center Madison, Wisconsin2001Ohio State 62New Mexico 61University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico2002Oregon 54Houston 52McArthur Court Eugene, Oregon2003Auburn 64Baylor 63Ferrell Center Waco, Texas2004Creighton 73UNLV 52Omaha Civic Auditorium Omaha, Nebraska2005SW Missouri State 78West Virginia 70Hammons Student Center Springfield, Missouri2006Kansas State 77Marquette 65Bramlage Coliseum Manhattan, Kansas2007Wyoming 72Wisconsin 56Arena-Auditorium Laramie, Wyoming2008Marquette 81Michigan State 66Breslin Student Events Center East Lansing, Michigan2009South Florida 75Kansas 71Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, Kansas2010California 73Miami (FL) 61Haas Pavilion Berkeley, California2011Toledo 76USC 68Savage ArenaToledo, Ohio2012Oklahoma State 75James Madison 68Gallagher-Iba ArenaStillwater, Oklahoma2013Drexel 46Utah 43Daskalakis Athletic CenterPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania2014Rutgers 56UTEP 54Don Haskins CenterEl Paso, Texas2015UCLA 62West Virginia 60Charleston Civic CenterCharleston, West Virginia2016South Dakota 71Florida Gulf Coast 65DakotaDomeVermillion, South Dakota2017Michigan 89Georgia Tech 79Calihan HallDetroit, Michigan2018Indiana 65Virginia Tech 57Simon Skjodt Assembly HallBloomington, Indiana2019Arizona56Northwestern42McKale CenterTucson, Arizona2020No tournament because of COVID-19 pandemic.2021Rice71Ole Miss58My Town Movers FieldhouseCollierville, Tennessee2022South Dakota State82Seton Hall50Frost ArenaBrookings, South Dakota2023Kansas66Columbia59Allen FieldhouseLawrence, Kansas2024Saint Louis69Minnesota50Sam M. Vadalabene CenterEdwardsville, Illinois2025Buffalo88Troy84Alumni ArenaAmherst, New York2026Marshall66Illinois State41Cam Henderson CenterHuntington, West Virginia *Was called National Women's Invitational Tournament.
Preseason YearChampionRunner-upFinal venue and city 1994 Washington 79 Texas Tech 75Lubbock Municipal ColiseumLubbock, Texas 1995 Colorado 73 Arkansas 71 Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas 1996 Louisiana Tech 66 Tennessee 64 Thomas Assembly Center Ruston, Louisiana 1997 Connecticut 71 Nebraska 61 Gampel Pavilion Storrs, Connecticut 1998 Colorado State 71 Rutgers 60 Moby Arena Fort Collins, Colorado 1999 Georgia 85 UC Santa Barbara 64 Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 2000 Louisiana Tech 68 Purdue 63 Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana 2001 Connecticut 69 Vanderbilt 50 Gampel Pavilion Storrs, Connecticut 2002 Kansas State 88 Penn State 66 Bramlage Coliseum Manhattan, Kansas 2003 Texas Tech 73 Rutgers 45 United Spirit Arena Lubbock, Texas 2004 Notre Dame 66 Ohio State 62 Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana 2005 Connecticut 82 Oklahoma 62 Gampel Pavilion Storrs, Connecticut 2006 Purdue 69 Baylor 55 Ferrell Center Waco, Texas 2007 Maryland 75 LSU 62 Comcast Center College Park, Maryland 2008 North Carolina 80 Oklahoma 79 Lloyd Noble Center Norman, Oklahoma 2009 Ohio State 93 Oklahoma State 72 Value City Arena Columbus, Ohio 2010 Purdue 67 DePaul 58 Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana 2011 Baylor 94 Notre Dame 81 Ferrell Center Waco, Texas 2012 North Carolina 77 Iowa 64 Carver–Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, Iowa 2013 Louisville 97OT Oklahoma 92 Lloyd Noble Center Norman, Oklahoma 2014 Mississippi State 88 Western Kentucky 77 Humphrey Coliseum Mississippi State, Mississippi 2015 Baylor 86 DePaul 72 Ferrell Center Waco, Texas 2016 Notre Dame 71 Washington 60 Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana 2017 Louisville 74 Oregon 61 KFC Yum! Center Louisville, Kentucky 2018 Iowa State 75 Miami (FL) 52 Hilton Coliseum Ames, Iowa2019 Oregon State 80 Missouri State 69 Gill Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon2020 No tournament because of COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 Due to continued COVID-19 issues, no champion was crowned. Bramlage ColiseumReynolds Coliseum Manhattan, KansasRaleigh, North Carolina2022 Texas Tech 64 Louisiana 48 Cajundome Lafayette, Louisiana2023 Baylor 66 Utah 59 Ferrell Center Waco, TX
See also NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament Women's Basketball Invitational National Women's Invitational Tournament
References
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