2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament

2026 WBIT
Season	2025–26
Teams	32
Finals site	Charles Koch Arena,; Wichita, Kansas
Champions	Columbia (1st title)
Runner-up	BYU (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Kansas (1st semifinal); Wisconsin (1st semifinal);
Winning coach	Megan Griffith (1st title)
MVP	Riley Weiss (Columbia)
WBIT
«2025

The 2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I women's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2026 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 19 and ended on April 1. The first three rounds were played on the campuses of various schools, and the semifinal and championship games were played at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.^[1]

The Columbia Lions won the 2026 WBIT 81–64 over the BYU Cougars, becoming the first team from a mid-major conference to win the tournament title.

Participants

Teams and pairings for the 2026 WBIT were released by the WBIT committee on Sunday, March 15, 2026. Thirty-two teams qualified for the WBIT, including both automatic qualifiers and at-large selections.

Automatic qualifiers

The regular-season champion of any NCAA Division I conference (as determined by the conference's tiebreaking protocol) not otherwise selected for the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament will, if eligible, secure an automatic qualification invitation to the WBIT. Like the Division I tournament committee, the WBIT selection committee used a variety of resources to determine the participating teams.

Team	Conference	Record	Appearance	Last bid
Alabama A&M	SWAC	22–10	1st	Never
Chattanooga	Southern	20–10	1st	Never
Eastern Kentucky	ASUN	24–8	1st	Never
Georgia Southern	Sun Belt	23–7	1st	Never
Louisiana Tech	CUSA	26–6	1st	Never
Loyola Marymount	WCC	26–6	1st	Never
McNeese	Southland	28–5	1st	Never
Navy	Patriot	22–8	1st	Never
North Dakota State	Summit	28–4	1st	Never
Quinnipiac	MAAC	26–6	2nd	2025
Rice	American	28–5	1st	Never
San Diego State	Mountain West	25–5	1st	Never
UC Irvine	Big West	26–6	1st	Never

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

Team	Conference	Record	Appearance	Last bid
BYU	Big 12	22–11	2nd	2024
California	ACC	19–14	2nd	2024
Columbia	Ivy	20–8	1st	Never
Georgia Tech	ACC	14–18	2nd	2024
George Mason	Atlantic 10	23–9	2nd	2024
Harvard	Ivy	18–11	1st	Never
Kansas	Big 12	19–13	1st	Never
Kansas State	Big 12	18–17	1st	Never
Miami (FL)	ACC	17–14	1st	Never
Missouri	SEC	16–16	1st	Never
Oregon State	WCC	23–11	1st	Never
Santa Clara	WCC	24–9	2nd	2024
Seton Hall	Big East	19–12	3rd	2025
St. John's	Big East	22–11	2nd	2024
Stanford	ACC	19–13	2nd	2025
Texas A&M	SEC	14–12	1st	Never
Troy	Sun Belt	25–7	1st	Never
Utah	Big 12	19–12	1st	Never
Wisconsin	Big Ten	13–17	1st	Never

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period.
First and second round games are hosted at campus sites of higher seed unless stated otherwise.

First round March 19 Campus sites			Second round March 22-23 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 26 Campus sites

1	BYU	72

	Alabama A&M	47
			1	BYU	93

			4	Missouri	75
4	Missouri	67

	Seton Hall^[a]	57
						1	BYU	76

						2	Stanford	61
3	George Mason	64

	Quinnipiac	71
				Quinnipiac	69

			2	Stanford	81
2	Stanford	80

	Loyola Marymount	76

First round March 19 Campus sites			Second round March 22 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 26 Campus sites

1	Texas A&M	48

	McNeese	68
				McNeese	41

			4	San Diego State	56
4	San Diego State^[b]	61

	UC Irvine	55
						4	San Diego State	78

						2	Kansas	85
3	Rice	66

	Louisiana Tech	61
			3	Rice	55

			2	Kansas	62
2	Kansas	79

	Troy	70

First round March 19 Campus sites			Second round March 22 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 26 Campus sites

1	North Dakota State	75

	Chattanooga	62
			1	North Dakota State	57

			4	Columbia	86
4	Columbia	74

	St. John's	26
						4	Columbia	74

						3	California	68
3	California	72

	Santa Clara	68
			3	California	83

			2	Kansas State	75
2	Kansas State	69

	Georgia Tech	65

First round March 19 Campus sites			Second round March 22 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 26 Campus sites

1	Utah	58

	Eastern Kentucky^[c]	72
				Eastern Kentucky	34

			4	Harvard	63
4	Harvard	73

	Navy	52
						4	Harvard	61

						3	Wisconsin	64*
3	Wisconsin	62

	Oregon State^[d]	58
			3	Wisconsin	72

			2	Miami (FL)	65
2	Miami (FL)	82

	Georgia Southern	56

Semifinals and championship

Semifinals March 30 Charles Koch Arena			Final April 1 Charles Koch Arena

1	BYU	70

2	Kansas	67
			1	BYU	64

			4	Columbia	81
3	Wisconsin	50

4	Columbia	67

References

↑ "2026 WBIT: Schedule, game times, TV channels for the women's basketball tournament". ncaa.com. NCAA. March 15, 2026. Retrieved March 15, 2026.

↑ Due to facilities conflicts with Missouri, Seton Hall hosted the first round game.
↑ Due to San Diego State hosting first and second round games of the NCAA men's tournament, University of San Diego hosted the first and second round games.
↑ Due to facilities conflicts with Utah, Eastern Kentucky hosted the first round game.
↑ Due to facilities conflicts with Wisconsin, Oregon State hosted the first round game.

[1] "2026 WBIT: Schedule, game times, TV channels for the women's basketball tournament". ncaa.com. NCAA. March 15, 2026. Retrieved March 15, 2026.

[2] Due to facilities conflicts with Missouri, Seton Hall hosted the first round game.

[3] Due to San Diego State hosting first and second round games of the NCAA men's tournament, University of San Diego hosted the first and second round games.

[4] Due to facilities conflicts with Utah, Eastern Kentucky hosted the first round game.

[5] Due to facilities conflicts with Wisconsin, Oregon State hosted the first round game.

[1]

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournaments
Conference	ACC America East American ASUN Atlantic 10 Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA CUSA Horizon Ivy MAAC MEAC Mid-American Missouri Valley Mountain West Northeast Ohio Valley Patriot SEC Southern Southland Summit Sun Belt SWAC WAC West Coast
National	NCAA WBIT WNIT