Jump to content

Women's Basketball Invitational

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Women's Basketball Invitational
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 Women's Basketball Invitational
SportBasketball
Founded2009
FounderSport Tours International
First season2009–10
No. of teams8
Country United States
Most recent
champion(s)
Cal Baptist (2023)
Most titles
Related
competitions
Women's National Invitation Tournament
Official websiteWebsite

The Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) is a women's college basketball tournament created in 2009 by Sport Tours. The inaugural tournament occurred at the conclusion of the 2009–10 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. Selections for the WBI are announced on Selection Monday. Prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the field for the WBI consisted of a 16-team, single elimination divided into two regions with 8 seeded teams in each.[1] The current format consists of 8 teams, all of which are guraranteed 3 games. Teams are picked based on NET, record, conference standings, end of year performance, and quality wins and losses, after the NCAA, WBIT, and WNIT fields are filled.[2]

Teams in the WBI traditionally competed on the home court of the higher seed; recent tournaments have been held at a single site. Teams not making the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament or Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) are eligible for the WBI.

Although the WBI shares a similar name with the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and fills a similar role (a postseason tournament outside the auspices of the NCAA and NIT/WBIT tournaments), the two competitions are operated by separate organizations and are unrelated except for the coincidental name. In 2024, the CBI and WBI were scheduled to be co-located at the same venue, Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, but the WBI was paused. The tournament will resume in 2025.

Champions

[edit]
Year Champion Runner-up Venue and city†
2010 Appalachian State 79 Memphis 71 Holmes Convocation Center Boone, NC
2011 UAB 68 Cal State Bakersfield 60 Bartow Arena Birmingham, AL
2012 Minnesota 88 Northern Iowa 74 Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
2013 Detroit 73 McNeese State 62 Calihan Hall Detroit, MI
2014 UIC 73 Stephen F. Austin 64 UIC Pavilion Chicago, IL
2015 Louisiana 52 Siena 50 Earl K. Long Gymnasium Lafayette, LA
2016 87 Weber State 85
2017 Rice 74 UNC Greensboro 62 Tudor Fieldhouse Houston, TX
2018 Yale 54 Central Arkansas 50 Farris Center Conway, AR
2019 Appalachian State (2) 76 North Texas 59 Holmes Center Boone, NC
2020 No tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 Cleveland State 67 Portland 64 William Exum Center Frankfort, KY
2022 Saint Mary's 80 Cleveland State 73 Clive M. Beck Center Lexington, KY
2023 Cal Baptist 63 New Mexico State 61 Clive M. Beck Center Lexington, KY
2024 Tournament not held.[3]

† Through the 2019 edition, games were played at campus sites; the championship game venue is listed. Starting with the 2021 edition, the entire tournament is played at a single site.

Women's Basketball Invitational is located in the United States
Appalachian State
Appalachian State
UAB
UAB
Minnesota
Minnesota
Detroit
Detroit
UIC
UIC
Louisiana
Louisiana
Rice
Rice
Yale
Yale
Cleveland State
Cleveland State
Saint Mary's
Saint Mary's
WBI Champions
– 2 championships, – 1 championship

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "WBI Frequently Asked Questions". PrestoSports. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  2. ^ "WBI Selection Process". WBI. PrestoSports. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  3. ^ "x.com".
[edit]