2026 Women's National Invitation Tournament
| Season | 2025–26 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 48 | ||||
| Finals site | , | ||||
| |||||
The 2026 Women's National Invitation Tournament is a single-elimination tournament of 48 NCAA Division I women's college basketball teams that were not selected for the field of the 2026 NCAA tournament or the 2026 WBIT. The tournament committee announced the 48-team field on March 16, following the selection of the fields for the NCAA tournament and WBIT.
Participants
Automatic qualifiers
The 2026 field features 9 automatic qualifiers and 39 at-large bids. Automatic qualifiers for the WNIT are teams that were the 2–seeds in their conference tournament that did not receive a bid into the NCAA tournament or the WBIT.[1]
For the first time since their transition to Division I with the 2024–25 academic year, Mercyhurst is participating in the NCAA postseason.
| School | Conference | Record | Appearance | Last bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abilene Christian | WAC | 23–10 | 3rd | 2017 |
| Alcorn State | SWAC | 17–13 | 1st | Never |
| FIU | CUSA | 20–11 | 9th | 2024 |
| Lamar | Southland | 20–10 | 5th | 2019 |
| Maryland Eastern Shore | MEAC | 19–14 | 1st | Never |
| Mercyhurst | NEC | 15–16 | 1st | Never |
| Montana State | Big Sky | 25–7 | 2nd | 2016 |
| Radford | Big South | 22–12 | 5th | 2017 |
| Youngstown State | Horizon | 24–9 | 5th | 2022 |
At-large bids
| School | Conference | Record | Appearance | Last bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force | Mountain West | 16–18 | 3rd | 2025 |
| Arkansas State | Sun Belt | 24–9 | 9th | 2016 |
| Army | Patriot | 24–7 | 4th | 2025 |
| Austin Peay | ASUN | 19–13 | 1st | Never |
| Binghamton | America East | 19–12 | 1st | Never |
| Bradley | Missouri Valley | 20–12 | 1st | Never |
| Cleveland State | Horizon | 24–9 | 3rd | 2025 |
| Drexel | CAA | 21–10 | 12th | 2023 |
| Florida Gulf Coast | ASUN | 16–15 | 7th | 2016 |
| George Washington | Atlantic 10 | 15–17 | 6th | 2017 |
| Illinois State | Missouri Valley | 20–13 | 17th | 2025 |
| La Salle | Atlantic 10 | 18–13 | 1st | Never |
| Lehigh | Patriot | 17–14 | 2nd | 2011 |
| Loyola Chicago | Atlantic 10 | 14–17 | 1st | Never |
| Marshall | Sun Belt | 23–9 | 2nd | 2016 |
| Merrimack | MAAC | 19–12 | 1st | Never |
| Middle Tennessee | CUSA | 16–15 | 9th | 2022 |
| Monmouth | CAA | 20–11 | 3rd | 2024 |
| Morehead State | OVC | 18–14 | 3rd | 2019 |
| NJIT | America East | 18–12 | 1st | Never |
| Norfolk State | MEAC | 18–14 | 2nd | 2022 |
| Northern Colorado | Big Sky | 22–10 | 5th | 2019 |
| Ohio | MAC | 18–13 | 6th | 2022 |
| Pepperdine | WCC | 19–12 | 7th | 2022 |
| Portland | WCC | 18–14 | 4th | 2022 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Horizon | 20–13 | 3rd | 2025 |
| Sam Houston | CUSA | 18–12 | 2nd | 2013 |
| San Francisco | WCC | 18–14 | 6th | 2023 |
| South Alabama | Sun Belt | 16–18 | 5th | 2019 |
| South Dakota | Summit | 23–9 | 7th | 2024 |
| Southern Indiana | OVC | 21–10 | 3rd | 2025 |
| Southern Utah | WAC | 19–12 | 2nd | 2014 |
| St. Bonaventure | Atlantic 10 | 16–15 | 5th | 2014 |
| Stetson | ASUN | 20–11 | 6th | 2024 |
| UC Davis | Big West | 23–10 | 6th | 2018 |
| UMBC | America East | 16–14 | 2nd | 2011 |
| Utah Valley | WAC | 16–14 | 2nd | 2025 |
| UTRGV | Southland | 20–13 | 2nd | 2016 |
| Wake Forest | ACC | 14–17 | 9th | 2023 |
Bracket
* – Denotes overtime period
(H) - Denotes home team
Teams with a bye are not guaranteed to play at home in the second round.
| Round 1 March 19–21 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Super 16 March 25–27 | Great 8 March 28–30 | ||||||||||||||||
| Southern Utah | 80 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Pepperdine | 71 | (H) | Pepperdine | 85 | ||||||||||||||
| UC Davis | 68 | Pepperdine | |||||||||||||||||
| South Dakota | |||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | South Dakota | 80 | |||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Air Force | 72 | Northern Colorado | 60 | |||||||||||||||
| Northern Colorado | 79 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lamar | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Portland | 62 | (H) | Portland | 78 | ||||||||||||||
| Sam Houston | 59 | Portland | |||||||||||||||||
| Montana State | |||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Montana State | 69 | |||||||||||||||||
| (H) | San Francisco | 80 | San Francisco | 53 | |||||||||||||||
| Utah Valley | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 March 19–21 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Super 16 March 25–27 | Great 8 March 28–30 | ||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Florida Gulf Coast | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Norfolk State | 54 | Loyola Chicago | ||||||||||||||||
| Loyola Chicago | 58 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Southern Indiana | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | George Washington | 63 | George Washington | ||||||||||||||||
| Bradley | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Abilene Christian | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | FIU | 76* | FIU | ||||||||||||||||
| Stetson | 73 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois State | |||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Illinois State | 81 | |||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Austin Peay | 59 | UTRGV | 52 | |||||||||||||||
| UTRGV | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 March 19–21 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Super 16 March 25–27 | Great 8 March 28–30 | ||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Army | 59 | |||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Merrimack | 65 | NJIT | 52 | |||||||||||||||
| NJIT | 68 | Army | |||||||||||||||||
| (H) | La Salle | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Mercyhurst | 60 | Binghamton | ||||||||||||||||
| Binghamton | 81 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Youngstown State | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Wake Forest | 48 | Maryland Eastern Shore | ||||||||||||||||
| Maryland Eastern Shore | 59 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Marshall | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Ohio | 58 | UMBC | ||||||||||||||||
| UMBC | 62* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 March 19–21 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Super 16 March 25–27 | Great 8 March 28–30 | ||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Purdue Fort Wayne | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Alcorn State | 65 | South Alabama | ||||||||||||||||
| South Alabama | 73 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Arkansas State | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Radford | 77 | Radford | ||||||||||||||||
| Morehead State | 58 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Middle Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | St. Bonaventure | 69* | St. Bonaventure | ||||||||||||||||
| Drexel | 67 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Cleveland State | ||||||||||||||||||
| (H) | Monmouth | 72 | Monmouth | ||||||||||||||||
| Lehigh | 62 | ||||||||||||||||||
Fab 4 and Championship Game
| Fab 4 March 31–April 1 | Championship April 4 | ||||||||
See also
- 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
- 2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament
- 2026 National Invitation Tournament
References
- ^ "Postseason WNIT announces 48-team field for 2026 event". WNIT. March 15, 2026. Retrieved March 16, 2026.