The expanded 68-team Women's March Madness was released on Sunday night and teams that did not get the bid for the NCAA tournament have the opportunity to compete in two other post-season tournaments: the WNIT and the WBIT.

The WNIT

The WNIT is the Women's National Invitation Tournament. This tournament is not affiliated with the NCAA. It was created by Triple Crown Sports in 1994 as a preseason tournament. It started the postseason version in 1998 and gave automatic bids to teams that won their regular season conference title but didn't make the NCAA tournament. Later, the tournament expanded and provided automatic bids to all of the Division I conferences. In 2021, the tournament expanded to 64 teams but has been reduced to 48 teams for the 2024 season and after due to the creation of the WBIT.

The WBIT

The WBIT is the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament. This tournament was created this year and is sponsored by the NCAA. The difference between this tournament and the March Madness tournament is that the WBIT is a “pay-to-play” tournament. Teams pay a fee to enter the tournament and have to cover all travel expenses. 

Similar to the WNIT, Division I teams who win their regular season conference title but don't get the March Madness bid will receive an automatic bid into the WBIT. The first four teams out of the March Madness tournament will receive an automatic bid and one of the top four seeds in the WBIT. The semifinals and finals will be held at Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University. 

This new addition to women's post-season college basketball will be interesting to watch. We will have to pay attention to the quality of teams that decide to join the WNIT and the WBIT and whether the WBIT will become the new favorite tournament for teams who don't qualify for March Madness.