Bradley Braves women's basketball earns bid to Women's National Invitation Tournament

[ASFN Admin]

PEORIA — Bradley has two basketball teams in postseason play.

The Braves women's team earned an at-large bid to the 2026 Women's National Invitation Tournament on Sunday night.

The 48-team field was announced Sunday. Bracket pairings and game locations will be released Monday.

First-round games tip off on Thursday.

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Who is in the tournament?​

Automatic Qualifiers*:

Abilene Christian (23-10) - WAC

Alcorn State (17-13) - SWAC

Florida International (20-11) - Conference USA

Lamar (20-10) - Southland Conference

Mercyhurst (15-16) - NEC

Montana State (25-7) - Big Sky

Radford (22-12) - Big South

Maryland Eastern Shore (19-14) - MEAC

Youngstown State (24-9) - Horizon League

*– Teams that were the 2-seed in their conference tournament that did not receive a bid into the NCAA Tournament or WBIT.

‍At-Large:

Air Force (16-18) - Mountain West

Arkansas State (24-9) - Sun Belt

Army (24-7) - Patriot League

Austin Peay (19-13) - ASUN

Binghamton (19-12) - America East

Bradley (20-12) - Missouri Valley

Cleveland State (24-9) - Horizon League

Drexel (21-10) - CAA

Florida Gulf Coast (16-15) - ASUN

George Washington (15-17) - Atlantic 10

Illinois State (20-13) - Missouri Valley

La Salle (18-13) - Atlantic 10

Lehigh (17-14) - Patriot League

Loyola Chicago (14-17) - Atlantic 10

Marshall (23-9) - Sun Belt

Merrimack (19-12) - MAAC

Middle Tennessee State (16-15) - Conference USA

Monmouth (20-11) - CAA

Morehead State (18-14) - OVC

NJIT (18-12) - America East

Norfolk State (18-14) - MEAC

Northern Colorado (22-10) - Big Sky

Ohio (18-13) - MAC

Pepperdine (19-12) - WCC

Portland (18-14) - WCC

Purdue Fort Wayne (20-13) - Horizon League

Sam Houston (18-12) - Conference USA

San Francisco (18-14) - WCC

South Alabama (16-18) - Sun Belt

South Dakota (23-9) - Summit League

Southern Indiana (21-10) - OVC

Southern Utah (19-12) - WAC

St. Bonaventure (16-15) - Atlantic 10

Stetson (20-11) - ASUN

UC Davis (23-10) - Big West

UMBC (16-14) - America East

Utah Valley (16-14) - WAC

UTRGV (20-13) - Southland

Wake Forest (14-17) - ACC

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The tournament schedule​

Round 1: March 19-21

Round 2: March 22-24

Super 16: March 25-27

Great 8: March 28-30, 2026

Fab 4: March 31-April 1

Championship: Saturday, April 4, 2 p.m. CT

How the tournament field is filled​

Automatic Berths: One berth from each of the nation's 31 conferences. A team that is offered an automatic berth by the WNIT shall be the team that is:

• the highest-finishing team in the conference's regular-season standings and ...
• is not selected for the NCAA Tournament or the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament.

Should a conference's automatic qualifier team decline the WNIT invitation, the spot will then be awarded to either the next highest-finishing team in the designated conference or reallocated to the At-Large berth consideration per the WNIT committee's discretion.

‍At-large Berths: The remaining team slots will be filled by the top teams available at the discretion of the WNIT committee. Any team from Division I will be considered. Teams that are considered for at-large berths MUST have:

• an overall record of .500 or better.
• Teams who are under .500 are eligible to submit a waiver to be considered for an At-large spot and the following criteria points will be taken into high consideration: Minimum 13 wins, excluding non-D1 or exhibition games; a 1-120 NET ranking.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or [email protected]. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Bradley Braves women's basketball is in the WNIT 48-team field

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