Postseason WNIT Tournament Overview
The Women's National Invitation Tournament is an annual tournament involving 64 of the nation's top women's Division I basketball teams. All games, including the semifinals and championship, are hosted by participating schools. Every round is single elimination.
 
Format
The Postseason WNIT features 32 first-round games, followed by 16 second-round games, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games, and the championship. The championship game is televised. The event offers 31 automatic berths, one to each established conference, and 33 at-large berths. The WNIT field and bracket is announced late on the evening of the NCAA Tournament selections.
 
Tournament History
The Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament began in 1998 with 16 teams playing for a postseason crown. The event has undergone four expansions throughout which its mission has remained the same: To give deserving teams a quality opportunity to play elevated games for a postseason title.
Following the inaugural year, the field doubled to 32 teams and remained that way until 2006 when a renewed commitment was made to schools. The WNIT expanded to a 40-team field to give spots to teams that won their regular-season conference title but did not win their conference tournament and therefore were excluded from the NCAA Tournament.
The WNIT furthered that commitment to conferences in 2007, when it expanded to 48 teams and awarded an automatic berth to each conference. The number of at-large berths remained at 17 until this year, when the WNIT felt that the level of women’s basketball now warrants a 64-team field.
 
2010 Postseason WNIT
The 64-team tournament is a single-elimination event with all games played at sites of host schools. The WNIT is committed to offering deserved opportunities to women’s basketball programs, and the 2010 Postseason WNIT will be the first event to feature a full 64-team bracket.
 
The WNIT offers teams an opportunity to get more practices in, to experience playoff-atmosphere games, and to play in front of passionate fans.
 
Last spring, Kansas hosted South Florida in the championship, and the teams played in front of 16,113 fans, which set a women's college basketball record in Big 12 Conference and University of Kansas history.
 
Teams also use the Postseason WNIT as a jumping-board to their next season’s success. For example:
  • Michigan State, the 2008 WNIT runner-up, vaulted to a Sweet 16 finish in the NCAA Tournament, knocking off a No. 1 seed in the process.
  • Marquette, the 2006 WNIT runner-up, went on in 06-07 to its best season in school history and highest seed in the NCAA Tournament.
  • Pittsburgh converted its 2006 WNIT semifinalist effort into its best season in school history in 06-07.
  • Baylor, the 2003 WNIT runner-up, advanced to the NCAA regional semifinals in 2004 and earned its first NCAA Tournament championship in 2005.
  • Houston, the 2002 WNIT runner-up, went on to its best record in school history and NCAA second round the following year.
  • Michigan State, a semifinalist in the 2002 WNIT, played for the NCAA national championship in 2005.
  • Penn State, the 1998 WNIT champion, reached the NCAA Final Four in 2000.
 
Selection and Bracketing Process
The WNIT committee uses three stages in this order to implement the final bracket: 1) Select teams; 2) Group teams according to team strength; and 3) Bracket the selected teams.
 
Selection Procedures/Selection Day
The WNIT committee will choose 64 teams for its 2010 Postseason WNIT. The field will consist of 31 automatic berths – one from each established conference – and 33 at-large teams. The intention of the WNIT Selection Committee is to select the 33 best available at-large teams in the nation, regardless of conference or geographical location.
The field will be announced late Monday, March 15. All information will be disseminated via the website at www.womensnit.com that night, after the NCAA bracket is announced.
Selecting Teams: Automatic Berths
Thirty-one (31) spots in the Postseason WNIT will be filled automatically by the best team available in each of the nation’s 31 established conferences, after the NCAA Tournament committee makes its picks.
  1. A team that is offered an automatic berth by the WNIT shall be the team that is a.) the highest-finishing team in its conference’s regular-season standings, and b.) is then not selected for the NCAA Tournament. It does not matter what the team’s overall record is. For the automatic qualifying berth, the WNIT believes that a team’s conference record is a more fair comparison among teams within their own conference, and that the conference record should pre-empt overall records among teams from the same conference. The automatic qualifying team is rewarded with the AQ spot for its in-conference play.
  2. Should a conference’s automatic qualifier team decline the WNIT invitation, then the conference forfeits its AQ spot and that berth goes into the at-large pool.
  3. In the event of a tie among teams under consideration for the WNIT automatic berth, the WNIT will abide by conference bylaws that have been set up specifically to address a tiebreaking situation in that specific conference.
  4. In the event of a tie among teams with identical conference records and there are no specific bylaws to address it, the WNIT will recognize the conference tiebreaker, and select the team with the best seed for its conference tournament.
  5. Multiple-division conferences receive one WNIT automatic berth. The qualifying process is the same as that for single-division conferences. However, if a conference designates more than one top seed (i.e. a No. 1 seed for each division), then the conference office shall determine, before its conference tournament begins, a seeding order for WNIT purposes.
Selecting Teams: At-large Berths
The remaining 33 team slots in the Postseason WNIT will be filled by the top teams available. Any team from a Division I conference, or a Division I independent team, shall be considered. Any team considered for an at-large berth must have an overall record of .500 or better. Overall record includes conference tournament games.
  1. The WNIT committee will utilize at least seven women’s basketball ranking systems in the selection of the at-large tournament spots, such as RPI, Massey, Dolphin, Rothman, and Sagarin. These rankings vary in their emphasis, which provides a good cross-ranking of factors such as win-loss record, strength of schedule, strength of opponents, strength of opponents’ schedule, record at home and on the road, record against Top 25 and Top 50 teams, and margin of victory, among other factors.
  2. The WNIT will consolidate the rankings, eliminate the high and the low rankings for each team, and average the remaining rankings. This will be utilized as the principle resource for at-large selections.
  3. The WNIT will further look at additional factors among the teams “on the bubble” such as how well a team is currently playing, common opponents, late-season win/loss runs, games against other potential invitees, and key injuries.
  4. Factors that will not be taken into consideration at any time during team selection are host bids, location of school, attendance history, WNIT history, ability to host, etc.
Tiered Grouping Procedures
The Process
After the WNIT committee chooses the 64 teams adhering to the above-mentioned selection process, the teams will be grouped into tiers. The system is used to establish teams’ strengths to assist in the bracketing process.
The committee groups the 64 teams using a combination of tools, including the ranking systems and other criteria listed in the selection process.
This is a general placement of what is considered a distribution of the field strength.

The Bracket Process
Bracket guidelines
  1. The committee makes every attempt to distribute the top schools evenly across the bracket.
  2. First-round pairings will be determined initially on team strength (i.e. a top tier team plays a bottom tier team; a middle tier team plays a middle tier team) and then may be adjusted with consideration to school location, conference, and prior meetings among teams, among other factors. See below for details.
  3. Teams from the same conference will not meet in the first round. If possible, conference teams will not meet in the second round as well.
  4. Rematches of regular-season games shall be avoided, if possible, in the first round.
  5. Some pairings are dictated by schools’ ability to host. For example, two schools that cannot host will not be paired with each other.
  6. Factors can preclude teams from being placed in their natural grouping when it comes to bracketing games. These factors include travel issues, school location, facility availability, lodging constraints, previous games with WNIT opponents, etc.
  7. The committee strives to achieve competitive balance within each quadrant of the bracket, as well as to try to limit teams’ travel and missed school days.

How the host schools are chosen
The host site for each game is selected by the WNIT committee based on several factors such as fan base, host bids, facility availability, tournament seed, travel constraints, etc.

2010 Postseason WNIT Dates
The 64-team field will be announced Monday evening, March 15, 2010. The first round will kick off Wednesday, March 17, with the event culminating on Saturday, April 3 with the championship.
 
Did you know??
  • The Postseason WNIT is the longest current running postseason event for women’s college basketball, in addition to the NCAA Tournament.
  • In existence since 1998, the WNIT has afforded hundreds of opportunities for schools in every conference to play in the postseason.
  • The WNIT has expanded from 16 teams in the initial year to 64 teams for 2010. It is a huge supporter of women’s basketball, and has demonstrated consistency, tradition, and staying power throughout the years.
  • The WNIT is committed to all established conferences. It is the only men's or women's postseason tournament – other than the NCAA – to offer an automatic berth to each of the 31 established conferences.
  • WNIT games showcase the best of women’s basketball. Last year’s championship was played in front of a packed house of 16,113 fans.
  • Everyone wants home games, and the WNIT makes hosting affordable for all teams. Teams can host in the first round for a guarantee of $6,500 a game. They can host in the second round for $7,500 a game.
  • The WNIT helps offset those costs and assumes all risk for high-cost travel. Teams pay no more than $9,000 combined for all of their road games in the Postseason WNIT. This allows teams to budget for their postseason play and doesn’t penalize them for winning.
  • Early-round pairings are regionalized as much as possible in order to minimize missed class time and travel costs.
  • The WNIT’s travel agents are always available to help teams late at night and on the weekends to secure travel for the next round.
  • The championship game is televised to a national audience every year, because the WNIT is financially committed to promoting women’s basketball.
Past Champions
2009 – South Florida 2003 - Auburn
2008 – Marquette 2002 - Oregon
2007 – Wyoming 2001 - Ohio
2006 – Kansas State 2000 - Wisconsin
2005 – Missouri 1999 - Arkansas
2004 – Creighton 1998 - Penn State