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The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team was selected in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) – which that tournament is in its third year. The Badgers are making their first appearance in the tournament and earned the number 3 seed.
However, Wisconsin (13-17) is unable to host the first round matchup against Oregon State (23-11) due to facility conflicts and will travel to Corvallis to play the Beavers on Thursday.
Tipoff on Thursday is set for 8:00 PM (CT) and will be televised on ESPN+.
This selection marks the first postseason appearance for UW since they played in the WNIT (Women’s National Invitational Tournament) in the 2023-24 season.
This will be the first ever meeting between Wisconsin and Oregon State in program history.
I am excited that UW made it to the postseason in year one under Robin Pingeton. The Badgers got off to a 13-7 start to the season, but finished on a 10-game losing streak. This will give some valuable practice time and more game experience to try to build the program.
The Badgers have now made 16 all-time postseason tournament appearances, including seven in the NCAA Tournament, seven in the WNIT, one in the now defunct AIAW Tournament, and now one in the WBIT.
The Badgers captured the 2000 WNIT Championship under head coach Jane Albright (winningest coach in program history) and finished as the 2007 WNIT Runner Up under Lisa Stone.
If Wisconsin advances, they’ll face either #2 Miami (FL) or Georgia Southern on Sunday, March 22 in the second round. Location and time are TBD.
WBIT games will be played March 19 (first round), March 22 (second round), and March 26 (quarterfinals), with the highest seed hosting the games. The WBIT semifinals and championship game will be played March 30 and April 1 at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. ESPN+ will broadcast all preliminary rounds. The semifinals will air on ESPNU and the championship game will air on ESPN2.
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