2024 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament

Last updated

2024 WBIT
Season 202324
Teams32
Finals site Hinkle Fieldhouse,
Indianapolis, Indiana
Champions Illinois (1st title)
Runner-up Villanova
Winning coach Shauna Green (1st title)
MVP Makira Cook (Illinois)
WBIT
2025 »

The 2024 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I women's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2024 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 21 and ended on April 3. The first three rounds were played on campuses, with the semifinal and championship final played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. [1] It was the inaugural edition of the postseason Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament. Illinois won the tournament, marking the program's first postseason tournament championship. [2]

Contents

Participants

Teams and pairings for the 2024 WBIT were released by the WBIT Committee on Sunday, March 17, 2024. 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 Championship will, if eligible, secure an automatic qualification invitation to the WBIT. [a] Like the Division I tournament committee, the WBIT Selection Committee will use a variety of resources to determine the participating teams. [3]

TeamConferenceOverall record
Hawaii Big West20–10
Lamar Southland24–6
Tulsa American23–9
High Point Big South20–11
Stony Brook CAA27–4
Cleveland State Horizon29–5
Toledo MAC26–5

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

TeamConferenceOverall record
George Mason Atlantic 1023–7
VCU Atlantic 1026–5
Saint Joseph's Atlantic 1026–5
Georgia Tech ACC17–15
Virginia ACC15–15
North Texas American23–8
TCU Big 1220–11
BYU Big 1216–16
St. John's Big East17–14
Villanova Big East18–12
Georgetown Big East22–11
Seton Hall Big East17–14
Penn State Big Ten19–12
Illinois Big Ten14–15
Ball State MAC28–5
Belmont MVC25–8
Missouri State MVC23–9
California Pac-1218–14
Washington State Pac-1218–14
Washington Pac-1216–14
Mississippi State SEC21–11
Arkansas SEC18–14
Florida SEC16–15
James Madison Sun Belt23–11
Santa Clara WCC24–8

Declined bids

Miami (FL) declined to play in the 2024 WBIT.

Bracket

First round
March 21
Campus sites
Second round
March 24
Campus sites
Quarterfinal
March 28
Tulsa, OK
         
1 James Madison 70
Stony Brook 81
Stony Brook 62
4Illinois79
4 Illinois 74
Missouri State 69
4Illinois69
3 Tulsa 61
3 Tulsa 80
Arkansas 62
3Tulsa73
Georgetown 61
2 Washington 56
Georgetown 64
First round
March 21
Campus sites
Second round
March 24
Campus sites
Quarterfinal
March 28
Pullman, WA
         
1 Washington State 66
Lamar 46
1Washington State 73
4 Santa Clara 47
4 Santa Clara 60
BYU 59
1Washington State63
2 Toledo 61
3 Florida 60
St. John's 79
St John's 71
2Toledo72
2 Toledo 76
Cleveland State 68
First round
March 21
Campus sites
Second round
March 24
Campus sites
Quarterfinal
March 28
Villanova, PA
         
1 Villanova 75
VCU 60
1Villanova73
4 Virginia 55
4 Virginia 81
High Point 59
1Villanova67
3 Saint Joseph's 59
3 Saint Joseph's 54
Seton Hall 47
3Saint Joseph's63
2 California 61
2 California 65
Hawaii 60
First round
March 21
Campus sites
Second round
March 24
Campus sites
Quarterfinal
March 28
State College, PA
         
1 Penn State 84*
George Mason 80
1Penn State74
Belmont 66
4 Ball State 59
Belmont 77
1Penn State92
2 Mississippi State 87
3 TCU 67
North Texas 58
3 TCU 61
2Mississippi State68
2 Mississippi State 84
Georgia Tech 47
Semifinals
April 1
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Final
April 3
Hinkle Fieldhouse
      
4Illinois81
1 Washington State 58
4 Illinois71
1 Villanova 57
1Villanova58
1 Penn State 53

* Denotes overtime period

Media

ESPN Inc. had exclusive rights to all WBIT games. It telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN+. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

See also

Footnotes

  1. The regular-season and tournament champion of the Ohio Valley Conference, Southern Indiana, was not eligible for either the NCAA tournament or WBIT due to being in transition from NCAA Division II.

References

  1. "Event Information". ncaa.com. March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  2. "Makira Cook's strong 2nd half leads Illinois past Villanova 71-57 for inaugural WBIT championship". Associated Press. April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  3. "ESPN networks to televise inaugural Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament". ncaa.com. September 26, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2024.