WNIT

[UAalum72]

Today's TU says the UAlbany women have been invited to the WNIT. No details until Monday

Other schools to receive “AQ” bids, as the WNIT calls them, include Stetson (17-14, Atlantic Sun), Colgate (18-13, Patriot League), South Carolina-Upstate (16-15, Big South), Le Moyne (18-13, Northeast Conference), Southern Indiana (24-6, Ohio Valley) and N.C.-Greensboro (21-11, Southern Conference).

 

[cwdickens]

43 minutes ago, UAalum72 said:

Today's TU says the UAlbany women have been invited to the WNIT. No details until Monday

Other schools to receive “AQ” bids, as the WNIT calls them, include Stetson (17-14, Atlantic Sun), Colgate (18-13, Patriot League), South Carolina-Upstate (16-15, Big South), Le Moyne (18-13, Northeast Conference), Southern Indiana (24-6, Ohio Valley) and N.C.-Greensboro (21-11, Southern Conference).

 

Possible game against LeMoyne.

[bob87]

Their site says first round is next Wednesday to Friday.  There were a few autobids on Facebook yesterday including lemoyne 

[cwdickens]

I was reminded yesterday, a first-round host school pays for the privilege.  Further, I was reminded UAlbany is not looking to pay a first-round hosting fee.

[GreatDanes06]

The WBIT Tournament is now more prestigious than WNIT. WBIT it run by NCAA. WNIT is not.

 

[GreatDanes06]

https://womensnit.com/news/2024/3/17/general-2024-postseason-wnit-field-announced.aspx

UA gets in with the AQ. UVM also in. Bracket and schedule release tomorrow. Looking at teams in, yes the WNIT is the 3rd tier postseason women’s tourney. Who cares if you ask me. Glad the ladies get to play a little more.

[bob87]

At colgate Thursday at 6.

I am going to try to make that one. 

Winner plays Providence over the weekend 

 

[UAalum72]

WNIT announcement

 

Bracket

Vermont with a first-round bye, and if we beat 13-20 Providence we get to play UVM a  fourth time.

Edited March 18 by UAalum72

[cwdickens]

13 minutes ago, bob87 said:

At colgate Thursday at 6.

I am going to try to make that one. 

Winner plays Providence over the weekend 

 

Lilly Phillips's parents will be in the house.

[cwdickens]

2024 WNIT first round matchups

Here is a link to the bracket: 2024 WNIT Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament (womensnit.com)

Edited March 19 by cwdickens

[cwdickens]

UALBANY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

 

Danes’ journey starts on road

 

By Pete Dougherty and Michael Kelly

Jim Franco/Times Union archive

UAlbany’s Meghan Huerter and the Danes will play at Colgate. A win would mean the Danes would play Huerter’s former school, Providence.

Jim Franco/Times Union archive

UAlbany coach Colleen Mullen said Danes’ first-round WNIT foe Colgate has a lot of threats. Four players average nine points per game or more.

For the University at Albany women’s basketball program, its Women’s National Invitational Tournament first-round opponent is certainly a familiar one.

UAlbany found out Monday evening that it will travel to play Thursday against Colgate of the Patriot League. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. between the programs that played in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

 

“We actually scrimmaged them this year, too,” said UAlbany coach Colleen Mullen, whose Great Danes topped Colgate 60-39 on Dec. 5, 2021and lost to the Raiders 55-41 on Nov. 19, 2022.

At 25-6, the Danes have the best winning percentage (.806) of any team in the 48-team WNIT. Northern Arizona (25-9) of the Big Sky Conference is the only other team with as many victories as UAlbany.

Colgate is18-13 after losing in the Patriot League semifinals. The Raiders are11-6 this season on their home Wesley M. Cotterell Court in Hamilton.

“They’ve got some really tough seniors and some good scorers,” Mullen said. “They’re well-coached. They have a lot of threats.”

At12.1points per game, junior guard Taylor Golembiewski leads Colgate in scoring. Four Raiders average at least nine points per game.

UAlbany played the majority of its season with 10 players, and Mullen said she expects each of those Danes to be available to play Thursday. The sixth-year coach said her program had no players enter the NCAA transfer portal when it opened Monday, and that the Danes “are anticipating everyone coming back” who has remaining eligibility for next season.

The Danes lost a first-round WNIT matchup to Massachusetts 74-49 last season. They also made the WNIT field in 2018 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times (2012 through 2017, and 2022).

The 2024 WNIT field features 11 automatic qualifiers and 37 at-large selections. There are six teams with losing records who accepted bids: Butler (14-16) and Providence (13-20) of the Big East, Cincinnati (14-17) of the Big 12, Purdue (13-18) and Wisconsin (13-16) of the Big Ten, and St. Louis (16-18) of the Atlantic 10. Half of the tournament’s field won at least 20 games.

With a win against Colgate, UAlbany will play one of those teams with a losing record. The winner of Thursday’s game will advance to play Providence, a matchup that would send UAlbany junior guard Meghan Huerter to play against the program with which she started her college career.

Thirty-two teams will play first-round games, while the other 16 received first-round byes.

Second-round games will be played between Saturday and next Tuesday (March 26). The third round is scheduled for March 27-29, the quarterfinals March 30-April 1, the semifinals April 2-3 and the championship game Saturday, April 6, on CBS Sports Network.

All games in the tournament are played at campus sites. The teams that made last year’s title game, Kansas and Columbia, are in this season’s NCAA Tournament field.

The WNIT is somewhat watered down because of the NCAA’s creation of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. Even with the WNIT reduced from 64 to 48 teams, there will be 148 women’s basketball teams in postseason play.

“So much has changed in the world of women’s basketball, but the Postseason WNIT is proud to be a trusted destination for dozens of programs that recognize our commitment to respecting the sport, and how we have been unwavering in that goal for 26 years,” Sarah Molina, director of the Postseason WNIT, said in a statement. “We look forward to igniting the spark the event provides to programs ready to embrace the experience — time and again we’ve seen success in the Postseason WNIT lead to great things down the road.”

WNIT: UALBANY AT COLGATE

When: 6 p.m. Thursday

Where: Reid Athletic Center, Hamilton