It’s a given that Arizona women’s basketball will be offered a place in the postseason bid for the sixth straight time. The question is what tournament.
The loss to Colorado in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament likely closed the door on a fifth straight NCAA Tournament bid. The Wildcats are 59th in NET. They went 2-11 in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games while dropping two Quad 3 games. Thirteen of their 19 wins were Quad 4. It doesn’t scream, “NCAA tournament bid!”
That doesn’t mean they won’t play on. The NCAA held its inaugural WBIT last year. It will feature 32 teams that don’t make the Big Dance. It nudges the WNIT into tertiary status among postseason women’s basketball tournaments.
The NCAA Selection Show will be held at 5 p.m. MST on Sunday, Mar. 16. It will air on ESPN.
The WBIT field will be announced on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. MST on the same day.
The silver lining for Arizona is that it will not end up playing a First Four game on a court far away from Tucson. The Wildcats will likely host games in the WBIT. The first three rounds are held on campus.
The first four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament get the top seeds in the WBIT. If ESPN’s Charlie Creme is correct, that likely means Arizona ends up with no better than a two seed in that tournament. Creme has the Wildcats among the “next four out” in his latest projections.
The WBIT tips off on Thursday, Mar. 20. Games will be available on ESPN+ through the quarterfinals. The semifinals and finals will be held in Indianapolis and air on ESPNU on Mar. 31 and Apr. 2.
The NCAA Tournament starts with the First Four on Thursday, Mar. 19. The Final Four will start on Friday, Apr. 4 in Tampa, Fla.