Mar. 15—Postseason play remains a legitimate aspiration for the Gonzaga and Washington State women’s basketball teams.
They won’t see their names selected for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, but Gonzaga definitely should land in the second Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament and Washington State will likely be seriously considered.
After 64 teams are placed in the NCAA bracket, 32 teams will be picked for the WBIT. Also, 48 teams will be selected for the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
The WBIT Selection Show will stream live at ncaa.com at 6 p.m.
The criteria for the WBIT is straightforward. The First Four out for the NCAA receive No. 1 seeds divided into four pods. Any conference champions that don’t win their conference tournaments or earn an NCAA at-large berth are selected, and the rest of the bracket is filled with at-large picks.
In 2023, the NCAA announced the creation of the 32-team WBIT, which would be owned and funded by the NCAA. It’s first year was last season. The NCAA believes in offering the WBIT it ensures providing equitable postseason opportunities for women’s basketball.
The WBIT selection committee is comprised of five former Division I head coaches and three current/former Division I athletic administrators.
Preliminary round games (first, second and quarterfinal) are played at campus sites. The semifinals and championship games are played at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University in Indianapolis.
WSU was selected for the first WBIT last year and the Cougars won three straight to advance to the Final Four. They lost to Illinois and the Fighting Illini topped Villanova in the final.
The West Coast Conference is likely to have three teams in the WBIT — co-regular-season champs Gonzaga (22-10) and Portland (28-4) and WSU (20-13).
Fourth-seeded Oregon State (19-15) upset No. 1 Gonzaga in the WCC semifinals. Oregon State then upset No. 2 Portland in the title game. Third-seeded WSU lost to Portland in the semifinals.
Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier would welcome another chance for her soon-to-be-departed seniors she is heavily attached to and her younger players to keep putting on their uniforms and sneakers.
“We have some really young players on our team to where if it works, then it’s great for them to get some postseason experience,” Fortier said.
WSU’s lone senior was asked about continuing the season after losing to Portland.
“I would love to,” Tara Wallack said. “It’s just another opportunity to play and play with WSU on my chest and then another experience for the freshmen growing up. I wish I had a couple more years to play with them, because I know they’re only going to get better and get to this spot next year and go to the finals.
“I’m just excited for what is next in the next couple of weeks and hopefully we can go as far as we can.”
WSU coach Kamie Ethridge was pleased to listen to Wallack’s postgame comments Monday.
“It’s so important that Tara wants to do it (continue playing),” Ethridge said. “That’s the biggest thing, a senior that wants to keep playing. It’s our opportunity to get good minutes for our young players. Everybody on our team is young. So it would be a great thing to host or be in a tournament or go somewhere for a tournament.
“It doesn’t matter. Getting some extra games for our young team and getting extra practices would be beneficial for us and be something they all crave.”
The WNIT, meanwhile, is not run by the NCAA.
It’s an independent tournament sponsored by Triple Crown Sports, a company based in Fort Collins, Colorado, that specializes in the promotion of amateur sporting events. The WNIT postseason tournament was created in 1998.
For the WNIT, teams must have a .500 record or better. The 2025 field, the 27th edition, will be announced Monday.
Making things a bit confusing is there are two more tournaments — the Women’s Basketball Invitation and the College Basketball Invitational. In 2024, the WBI and CBI were scheduled to be co-located in Daytona Beach, Florida, but the WBI was paused. It will resume next week.
