By Malcolm Butler
The Lady Techsters aren’t done just yet.
Louisiana Tech is one of 64 teams selected to play in the 2023 WNIT announced Sunday night, including one of four from Conference USA.
Tech (19-12) joins Rice, WKU and UTEP out of C-USA among the field of 64 teams that will begin the single elimination tournament with first round games set for Wednesday through Friday.
“I’m very happy for this group to be able to reach postseason back to back years and continue playing together,” said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. “It’s always special to be able to play in March, and we are grateful for the opportunity to play in the WNIT. This group has battled through adversity all year and continued to show up for each other. We are excited to have an opportunity to compete for a championship and look forward to taking the court with this group again.”
Louisiana Tech has submitted a bid to host WNIT games at the Thomas Assembly Center, but match-ups, dates and sites for the 25th Postseason WNIT won’t be announced by Triple Crown Sports until sometime this morning. Tech fell 64-54 to UTEP in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Conference USA Tournament on Thursday after winning seven of its final eight regular season games.
The 2023 field features 32 automatic qualifiers, which are teams that are the next-highest finishers in their conference’s regular season that were not tabbed for the NCAA Tournament. The other 32 teams are at-large selections, chosen after consideration of a mix of criteria by WNIT officials.Last year’s Postseason WNIT champion, South Dakota State, was 28-5 this season, going 18-0 in the Summit Conference.
Last year’s Postseason WNIT champion, South Dakota State, was 28-5 this season, going 18-0 in the Summit Conference. Here’s the field for the 2023 Postseason WNIT, which is produced by Triple Crown Sports:
AQ’s (32 – * denotes regular season champion/co-champion)
Arkansas (21-12) – Southeastern
*Boston (24-8) — Patriot
Bowling Green (27-6) – Mid-American
*Columbia (23-5) – Ivy
*Fairleigh Dickinson (24-7) — Northeast
*Green Bay (27-5) – Horizon
High Point (17-14) – Big South
*Illinois State (24-8) – Missouri Valley
*Jackson State (21-9) – Southwestern Athletic
Kansas (19-11) – Big 12
Liberty (24-8) — Atlantic Sun
*Little Rock (21-10) – Ohio Valley
Memphis (20-10) – American Athletic
Morgan State (17-11) — Mid-Eastern Athletic
Nebraska (16-14) – Big Ten
Niagara (18-12) – Metro Atlantic Athletic
North Dakota State (18-11) – Summit
*Northern Arizona (21-13) – Big Sky
San Diego (17-13) – West Coast
Seton Hall (18-14) – Big East
*Stephen F. Austin (26-6) — Western Athletic
Syracuse (18-12) – Atlantic Coast
*Texas A&M Corpus Christi (19-11) – Southland
Texas State (23-9) – Sun Belt
*Towson (21-11) — Colonial Athletic
*UAlbany (22-11) – America East
*UC-Irvine (24-6) – Big West
*UMass (26-6) – Atlantic 10
Washington (15-14) – Pac 12
Western Kentucky (19-13) — Conference USA
*Wofford (22-9) – Southern
Wyoming (22-10) – Mountain West
At Large (32)
Auburn (15-14) – Southeastern
Ball State (25-8) – Mid-American
*Belmont (23-11) – Missouri Valley
BYU (16-16) – West Coast
Clemson (17-15) – Atlantic Coast
Colorado State (20-11) – Mountain West
Drexel (21-9) – Colonial Athletic
Florida (16-14) – Southeastern
Fordham (18-12) – Atlantic 10
Harvard (17-11) – Ivy
Kansas State (17-16) – Big 12
Kent State (21-10) – Mid-American
Long Beach State (23-9) – Big West
Louisiana Tech (19-12) – Conference USA
Missouri (17-13) – Southeastern
Missouri State (20-11) – Missouri Valley
New Mexico (20-12) – Mountain West
Northern Iowa (22-9) – Missouri Valley
Oregon (17-14) – Pac 12
Penn (17-11) – Ivy
*Rhode Island (24-6) – Atlantic 10
Rice (22-8) – Conference USA
Richmond (20-10) – Atlantic 10
Saint Joseph’s (20-10) – Atlantic 10
San Diego State (23-10) – Mountain West
San Francisco (19-12) – West Coast
SMU (16-12) – American
Texas Tech (18-14) – Big 12
Tulane (18-13) – American
UTEP (20-11) – Conference USA
Wake Forest (16-16) – Atlantic Coast
Wichita State (18-14) – American Athletic
There are 35 teams that won at least 20 games and 17 teams that either won or tied for first place in their conference’s regular-season slate. Here’s the schedule for the 2023 event:
Bracket released with matchups, Round 1 game times – Monday, March 13.
Round 1 – March 15-17
Round 2 – March 18-21
Round 3 – March 22-24
Quarterfinals – March 25-27
Semifinals – March 28-29
Championship – Saturday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m. ET (broadcast by CBS Sports Network)
