WNIT Matchups Announced

[bradleyfan128]

Monday, March 15, 2010 ??“ The Women??™s National Invitation Tournament is excited to announce its 64-team field for the Postseason WNIT.

This is the first year of the expanded Postseason WNIT, and the field includes 31 teams that earned automatic berths and 33 teams that earned at-large berths.

The WNIT kicks off postseason action Wednesday with first-round games. All games are held on the campuses of participating schools. All 64 teams will play in the first round, featuring 32 games. That will be followed by 16 games in Round 2, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games, and the championship. The WNIT championship game will be played Saturday, April 3, and will be hosted by one of the two final participating schools.

The WNIT awards an automatic qualifying berth to each of the nation??™s 31 conferences. The spot goes to the team that finishes the highest in the regular-season conference standings that does not advance to the NCAA Tournament. If there is a tie, the WNIT abides by the conference tiebreaker. A team earns the automatic qualifying berth regardless of its overall record. However, to be considered for a WNIT at-large berth, a team must have an overall record of .500 or better.

This year??™s field features five teams each from the Big Ten, Big East, Atlantic 10, and Colonial Conferences. The Mountain West has four teams, and the Pac 10, Missouri Valley, Mid-American, Conference USA, and ACC have three each. Other conferences with more than one team in the field include: Big 12 (2), SEC (2), West Coast (2), and WAC (2).

Game times will be announced Tuesday, March 16, by the WNIT.

Here are the first-round pairings (All game times to be announced Tuesday):

Round 1
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
SMU at New Mexico
UC Davis at Cal
New Mexico State at Arizona State
Butler at Illinois State
Eastern Michigan at Purdue
Prairie View A&M at Kansas
American at Old Dominion
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Eastern Washington at Oregon
Pepperdine at BYU
Houston at Texas Tech
Eastern Illinois at Marquette
Mississippi at Samford
Providence at Boston University
Gardner-Webb at Charlotte
North Carolina A&T at Wake Forest
South Florida at Florida
Florida Gulf Coast at Miami
Robert Morris at St. Bonaventure
Duquesne at Northwestern
Harvard at Syracuse
Richmond at Delaware
VCU at St. Joseph??™s
Hofstra at Penn State
Friday, March 19, 2010
Nevada at Wyoming
Stephen F. Austin at Creighton
Illinois at Western Kentucky
Oral Roberts at Missouri State
Iona at Maryland
Eastern Carolina at Drexel
Kent State at Michigan
Pittsburgh at Toledo
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Utah at St. Mary??™s (CA)
Here are the 64 teams in the tournament:
31 Automatic Berths with team record

American (22-9), Patriot
Boston University (16-14), America East
Brigham Young (20-9), Mountain West
Butler (23-9), Horizon
California (18-13), Pac 10
Charlotte (17-13), Atlantic 10
Eastern Illinois (23-10), Ohio Valley
Eastern Washington (19-11), Big Sky
Florida (14-16), SEC
Florida Gulf Coast (24-6), Atlantic Sun
Gardner-Webb (28-4), Big South
Harvard (20-, Ivy League
Houston (17-14), Conference USA
Illinois State (24-7), Missouri Valley
Iona (18-13), Metro Atlantic
Nevada (17-15), WAC
North Carolina A&T (21-10), Mid-Eastern
Old Dominion (18-13), Colonial
Oral Roberts (23-9), Summit
Prairie View A&M (15-13), SWAC
Providence (16-14), Big East
Purdue (14-16), Big Ten
Robert Morris (23-, Northeast
Saint Mary??™s ??“ CA (21-9), West Coast
Samford (22-10), Southern
Stephen F. Austin (18-10), Southland
Texas Tech (17-13), Big 12
Toledo (24-, MAC
UC Davis (21-10), Big West
Wake Forest (18-13), Atlantic Coast
Western Kentucky (21-10), Sun Belt
33 At-large Berths with team record

Arizona State (17-13), Pac 10
Creighton (20-10), Missouri Valley
Delaware (21-11), Colonial
Drexel (17-13), Colonial
Duquesne (20-11), Atlantic 10
East Carolina (22-10), Conference USA
Eastern Michigan (22-, Mid-American
Hofstra (19-13), Colonial
Illinois (16-14), Big Ten
Kansas (15-15), Big 12
Kent State (20-10), Mid-American
Marquette (16-15), Big East
Maryland (19-12), Atlantic Coast
Miami (17-13), Atlantic Coast
Michigan (17-13), Big Ten
Mississippi (17-14), SEC
Missouri State (20-10), Missouri Valley
New Mexico (18-12), Mountain West
New Mexico State (18-13), WAC
Northwestern (16-14), Big Ten
Oregon (16-15), Pac 10
Penn State (17-13), Big Ten
Pepperdine (20-11), West Coast
Pittsburgh (16-14), Big East
Richmond (19-12), Atlantic 10
Saint Bonaventure (22-9), Atlantic 10
Saint Joseph??™s (17-14), Atlantic 10
South Florida (15-15), Big East
SMU (20-10), Conference USA
Syracuse (22-10), Big East
Utah (22-11), Mountain West
VCU (20-12), Colonial
Wyoming (19-11), Mountain West

[Da Coach]

Bummer. No Bradley.

[BradleyBrave]

I gotta ask, is there really a market for all of this extra women's basketball? There's barely a market for this much extra men's basketball.

[Da Coach]

It's not about whether there is money, or even if anyone cares enough to watch. It's about fabricating equality.

[squirrelgotdead]

Bummer. No Bradley.

Bradley was asked repeatedly to be in the WNIT. However, they chose the better option.

There's a little bit of history here. . .

The WNIT does have name recognition, but is not affiliated with the NIT. The WNIT charges even its road teams to participate.

The WNIT is frightened of the WBI. The WBI attempted to get off the ground last year and made an announcement, but the WNIT expanded from a 48-team to a 64-team tournament and the WBI took a step back to better plan the attack for this year.

The WBI offers better incentive to participate (financially and travel wise as the WNIT is terribly organized and will send teams all over).

And in a few years, the WBI will likely be the event schools will prefer. It's great that Bradley is receiving this opportunity at this time.

[squirrelgotdead]

I gotta ask, is there really a market for all of this extra women's basketball? There's barely a market for this much extra men's basketball.

I think at Bradley there can be with the new facility. It can be another money making vehicle.

And schools like the "prestige" of postseason. That's why teams have so willingly paid to play in the WNIT.