College basketball: Stanford, Cal and Santa Clara join 32-team WBIT

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Stanford's head coach Kate Paye in 1st half against Tennessee during women's college basketball in Stanford, Calif., on Wednesday, December 3, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle)


The Stanford, Cal and Santa Clara women's basketball teams weren't selected for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. But their seasons are not over.

The three Bay Area schools will play in the WBIT this week, with the Bears and Broncos facing off in a first-round game.

Stanford (19-13) is a No. 2 seed in the 32-team tournament and will host Loyola Marymount (21-9) on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Lions went 15-3 in West Coast Conference play to win their first regular-season conference title since 2003-04, but were denied the WCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament when they were beaten by Oregon State in the conference tournament semifinals.

Cal (19-14) is a No. 3 seed and will host unseeded Santa Clara on Thursday. The tipoff time has yet to be determined. The Broncos set a school record for wins in a coach's first season in the South Bay, going 24-9 for Loree Payne.

BYU (22-11) is the top seed in Stanford's bracket, while North Dakota State earned the No. 1 spot in the Cal-Santa Clara regional.

First- and second-round games will be played on the campuses of the top 16 seeds. Quarterfinal games will be played at the home of the higher remaining seed on March 29 with the semifinals and final being played March 30 and April 1, respectively, in Wichita, Kansas.

WNIT: USF (18-14) and UC Davis (23-10) have accepted at-large bids to the 48-team WNIT, the pairings and schedules for which will be announced Monday.

Men

Cal will play in the NIT, beginning play Wednesday with an 8 p.m. game at Haas Pavilion against Illinois-Chicago.

The Bears (21-11) reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2017 this season.

UIC (19-15) finished fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference during the regular season and was beaten 84-69 by Northern Iowa in the MVC tournament title game.

This article originally published at College basketball: Stanford, Cal and Santa Clara join 32-team WBIT.

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