2011 WNIT Bracket
MSU Game Notes
BALTIMORE, Md. (March 15, 2011)-What a difference a year makes. Just a year ago the Lady Bears were invited to the 2010 Preseason Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) and had to decline. The WNIT committee replaced Morgan State with then three-time defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular season champion, North Carolina A&T. The Lady Aggies would later earn the MEAC automatic bid into the Postseason WNIT, where it made a historical run, winning two games and advancing to the Round of 16.
This time there will be no declining, as the Lady Bears, who earned the automatic berth for the MEAC, found out Monday night they will head to Charlottesville, Va. to face host University of Virginia in Round 1 action of the WNIT on Thursday, March 17. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.
The game will air locally in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM. That broadcast will be available on the Internet at VirginiaSports.com with a subscription to Virginia Sports Online Radio.
The winner of Thursday's contest will face the winner of Old Dominion vs. Loyola (Md.) in the second round.
This will be the fourth meeting between Morgan State and Virginia with the Cavaliers winning the previous three contests. Of the 63 remaining teams in the field, Morgan State has faced three others this season, going 1-2 with a 74-65 home victory over Saint Bonaventure (11/20). The Lady Bears dropped a 60-44 loss to UC Riverside (11/26) in the opener of the DePaul Maggie Dixon Classic and a 66-39 home loss to Missouri State (12/21).
The Lady Bears (17-14), who are making their first-ever postseason appearance on the Division I level, enter Thursday's contest having gone 5-6 in their last 11 games. Morgan State, which was the No. 2 seed last week in the MEAC Tournament, is coming off a 55-51 semifinal loss to No. 6 Howard.
Virginia (16-15) is making its 29th overall postseason appearance and fourth WNIT appearance. The Cavaliers advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals in 2006 and 2007.
Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $6 for youth, students and seniors. All tickets will be sold as general admission. Gates to John Paul Jones Arena will open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale Tuesday (March 15) at 9 a.m. Tickets can be purchases online at VirginiaSports.com, by calling the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 542-UVA1 or in person at the John Paul Jones Arena box office beginning 90 minutes prior to tip-off.
The WNIT kicks off postseason action Wednesday with first-round games. All games are held on the campuses of participating schools. All 64 teams will play in the first round, featuring 32 games. That will be followed by 16 games in Round 2, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games and the championship. The WNIT championship game will be played Saturday, April 2, and will be hosted by one of the two final participating schools.
This year's field features five (5) teams from each of the Southeastern, Colonial and Atlantic 10 Conferences and four (4) from the Missouri Valley and Mid-American. The Pacific 10, Conference USA, Big 10, Mountain West, Big West and Big 12 all have three (3) teams. Other conferences represented in the field include: West Coast (2), Atlantic Coast (2), WAC (2), American East (1), SWAC (1), Big East (1), Ohio Valley (1), Big South (1), Ivy (1), Southern (1), MAAC (1), Horizon (1), Northeastern (1), MEAC (1), Southland (1), Sun Belt (1), Atlantic Sun (1), Summit (1), Patriot (1) and Big Sky (1).
Game times will be announced Tuesday, March 15, by the WNIT. For more information, visit the website at www.womensnit.com. The WNIT is operated by Triple Crown Sports, a nationwide grassroots sports event marketing company based in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The WNIT awards an automatic berth to each of the nation's 31 conferences. The spot goes to the team that finishes the highest in the regular-season conference standings that does not advance to the NCAA Tournament. If there is a tie, the WNIT abides by the conference tiebreaker. A team earns the Automatic Qualifying berth regardless of its overall record. However, to be considered for a WNIT at-large berth, a team must have an overall record of .500 or better.
Portions of this release are credited to the WNIT website.
Here are the first-round pairings:
Wednesday, March 16
Pepperdine at Oklahoma State
Portland State at Wyoming
Butler at Wisconsin
Wichita State at Kansas
Delaware at Toledo
Loyola-Maryland at Old Dominion
Liberty at Charlotte
Appalachian State at South Carolina
Thursday, March 17
UC Riverside at Colorado
California at Cal Poly
UC Santa Barbara at Southern Cal
Nevada at St. Mary's CA
Arizona at Utah State
Denver at BYU
Central Michigan at Illinois State
Kent State at Duquesne
Rice at Missouri State
Lamar at Arkansas
Southern at Tulane
Oral Roberts at TCU
Lehigh at St. Bonaventure
Monmouth at Syracuse
Michigan at Eastern Michigan
UNC Wilmington at Richmond
Creighton at Northwestern
Alabama at Memphis
Auburn at Tennessee Tech
Boston College at Yale
VCU at St. Joseph's
Morgan State at Virginia
Friday, March 18
UMBC at Florida
Drexel at FGCU
Here are the 64 teams in the tournament:
31 Automatic Berths with team record
Appalachian State (25-6), Southern
Arizona (21-10), Pac 10
Boston College (18-12), ACC
Butler (20-13), Horizon
BYU (23-8), MWC
Cal Poly SLO (18-12), Big West
Denver (19-11), Sun Belt
Duquesne (22-8), Atlantic 10
Florida Gulf Coast (27-3), Atlantic Sun
Illinois State (20-10), Missouri Valley
Kansas (20-12), Big 12
Lamar (25-7), Southland
Lehigh (21-10), Patriot
Liberty (22-10), Big South
Loyola-Maryland (20-12), MAAC
Michigan (17-12), Big 10
Monmouth NJ (23-9), Northeast
Morgan State (17-14), MEAC
Old Dominion (20-10), Colonial
Oral Roberts (21-10), Summit
Portland State (20-11), Big Sky
Rice (18-13), Conference USA
South Carolina (17-14), SEC
Southern (20-11), SWAC
St. Mary's CA (19-12), West Coast
Syracuse (22-9), Big East
Tennessee Tech (23-7), Ohio Valley
Toledo (23-8), MAC
UMBC (20-11), American East
Utah State (17-14), WAC
Yale (14-14), Ivy League
33 At-large Berths with team record
Alabama (16-14), SEC
Arkansas (19-11), SEC
Auburn (15-15, SEC
Central Michigan (20-10), MAC
California (17-15), Pac 10
Charlotte (23-9), Atlantic 10
Colorado (15-15), Big 12
Creighton (18-12), Missouri Valley
Delaware (20-13), Colonial
Drexel (19-11), Colonial
Eastern Michigan (22-12), MAC
Florida (18-14), SEC
Kent State (20-9), MAC
Memphis (21-11), Conference USA
Missouri State (23-10), Missouri Valley
Nevada (21-10), WAC
Northwestern (18-13), Big 10
Oklahoma State (16-14), Big 12
Pepperdine (18-11), West Coast
Richmond (18-11), Atlantic 10
Southern Cal (19-12), Pac 10
St. Bonaventure (20-11), Atlantic 10
St. Joseph's PA (19-11), Atlantic 10
TCU (22-10), Mountain West
Tulane (22-10), Conference USA
UC Riverside (19-12), Big West
UC Santa Barbara (19-11), Big West
UNC Wilmington (23-8), Colonial
VCU (19-11), Colonial
Virginia (16-15), ACC
Wichita State (17-14), Missouri Valley
Wisconsin (15-14), Big 10
Wyoming (22-8), Mountain West
