With a NET ranking of #69 on Monday morning, we know that Marquette women’s basketball is not going to the NCAA tournament as an at-large qualifier this season. We can hash out the moment when it became very obvious that was not going to happen this season, but with Cara Consuegra’s Golden Eagles eliminated from the Big East tournament on Saturday
, it’s now a fact that Marquette won’t be in the field of 68.That raises the question: Will the Golden Eagles go to the WBIT for the second straight year
under Consuegra’s direction? The WBIT needs 32 teams to fill out its bracket one way or another, but a NET ranking of #69 doesn’t exactly make it clear cut that Marquette is a safe bet to be in the field.
First things first: How does the NCAA decide who’s going to the WBIT at all?
There’s a PDF for that! Here’s the details:
FIRST FOUR OUT
The first four teams out of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship – as determined by the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee – will receive an AUTOMATIC BID and will be the first four seeds in the WBIT.AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS
Regular-season champions of any NCAA Division I conference (as determined by the conference’s tie-break
protocol) not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship will secure an automatic qualification to the WBIT. The remaining at-large field will be determined by the eight-member WBIT Selection Committee. Reclassifying institutions are not eligible to participate in the WBIT.
So we should probably track the regular season champions and the automatic qualifiers, huh? Thankfully, the NCAA is already tracking the automatic bids for the 68 team national championship, so we can get a head start on who won a regular season title but not an NCAA tournament bid. You can skip down the page for all 31 conferences, but we’re going to drop in the regularly updating lists of regular season champions that are not tournament champions up top here. Yes, lists, plural, because we’re going to do a NET Top 40 list and an Everyone Else list. If you’re a regular season champion in the top 40 of the NET as of Monday morning, you’re safe for an at-large bid and thus will be in the NCAA field. It’s everyone else that Marquette has to worry about.
NET TOP 40 REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS
South Carolina — #3
TCU —#12
EVERYONE ELSE
North Dakota State — #47
Georgia Southern — #77
Eastern Kentucky — #111
Chattanooga — #206
We know that Marquette won’t be in the First Four out of the NCAA tournament field — ESPN’s Charlie Creme has that as BYU (NET #56) , Utah (#59), North Dakota State (#47), and Texas A&M (#61) as of Sunday night — so that’s four WBIT spots already occupied that the Golden Eagles won’t get. As that Everyone Else list grows between now and Selection Sunday, things are going to get dicier and dicier for Marquette. As I type this up, there’s already four teams in there, which means eight WBIT bids occupied and therefore just 24 remaining.
America East
Regular Season Champion: Vermont
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 13
American
Regular Season Champion: Rice
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 14
Atlantic 10
Regular Season Champion: Rhode Island
Tournament Champion: Rhode Island
ACC
Regular Season Champion: Duke
Tournament Champion: Duke
ASUN
Regular Season Champion: Eastern Kentucky
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 9, Austin Peay vs Jacksonville
Big 12
Regular Season Champion: TCU
Tournament Champion: West Virginia
Big East
Regular Season Champion: UConn
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 9, UConn vs Villanova
Big Sky
Regular Season Champion: Idaho
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 11
Big South
Regular Season Champion: High Point
Tournament Champion: High Point
Big Ten
Regular Season Champion: UCLA
Tournament Champion: UCLA
Big West
Regular Season Champion: UC Irvine
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 14
CAA
Regular Season Champion: Charleston
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 15
Conference USA
Regular Season Champion: Louisiana Tech
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 14
Horizon League
Regular Season Champion: Green Bay
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 10
Ivy League
Regular Season Champion: Princeton
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 14
MAAC
Regular Season Champion: Quinnipiac
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 9, Quinnipiac vs Fairfield
MAC
Regular Season Champion: Miami
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 14
MEAC
Regular Season Champion: Howard
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 13
Missouri Valley
Regular Season Champion: Murray State
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 15
Mountain West
Regular Season Champion: San Diego State
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 10
NEC
Regular Season Champion: Fairleigh Dickinson
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 15
Ohio Valley
Regular Season Champion: Western Illinois
Tournament Champion: Western Illinois
Patriot League
Regular Season Champion: Navy
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 15
SEC
Regular Season Champion: South Carolina
Tournament Champion: Texas
SoCon
Regular Season Champion: Chattanooga
Tournament Champion: Samford
Southland
Regular Season Champion: McNeese
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 12
SWAC
Regular Season Champion: Alabama A&M
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 14
Summit League
Regular Season Champion: North Dakota State
Tournament Champion: South Dakota State
Sun Belt
Regular Season Champion: Georgia Southern
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 9, James Madison vs Troy
West Coast
Regular Season Champion: Loyola Marymount
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 10
WAC
Regular Season Champion: Cal Baptist
Tournament Champion: Title game on March 14
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