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Home > Bison Media Zone > Bison women's basketball team will play another game, potentially at home
Podcast: Bison Media Zone
Episode:

Bison women's basketball team will play another game, potentially at home
Category: Sports & Recreation
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2024-03-15 19:22:24
Description: FARGO North Dakota State’s women’s basketball season will continue.

Head coach Jory Collins told WDAY’s Dom Izzo that the Bison will play in either the newly created Women’s Basketball Invitational or the Women’s NIT.



“We're going to play. It just depends on what tournament and where.” Collins said Friday morning.



The Bison lost in the Summit League championship game Tuesday to South Dakota State 67-54 in NDSU’s first trip to the title game. The Jackrabbits earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.



The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is set for Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The WBIT Selection Show follows at 8 on the NCAA’s website.




The WNIT, which NDSU played in last year, losing 96-57 to Oregon is a distinct possibility for the Bison.



And that may mean another home game inside the Scheels Center.



“I think there's a good chance. I don't know what is ‘good’ percentage wise. But I feel a lot better about it than I did last year.



Last year I thought there was very minimal to no chance about us hosting. This year, I think we do. That's all predicated on who's available, who's gonna play in the WNIT and who wants to travel.



This is all happening in a very short amount of time. You're going to play here and you got to get a flight and the travel and all that is happening very, very quickly. So how easy somebody can get into Fargo. I think teams are finding it's easier than maybe what they thought you to get to Fargo.



I think that helps our chances quite a bit. I'm hoping, best case scenario, next Wednesday or Thursday night that we're back in the SHAC for another game.” Collins said.




The newly created WBIT tournament is fully-funded by the NCAA, selecting the next 32 teams to a bracketed style tournament. How those 32 teams are selected is still a point of confusion, even for those in the game.



“I have no idea what their criteria is or what they're trying to do. It's a guessing game. And in my experience, just from talking to people, just bigger names, schools, Power Five schools that maybe just missed out, or were .500 and didn't make it to the NCAA Tournament. Numbers 7, 8, 9 or 10 in their league, it's going to be those teams. I'm going to be surprised if that's not them.”



The WBIT criteria that is widely known is that the tournament will take teams that do not make the NCAA Tournament that won their league during the regular season. Most of those bids, like SDSU, have gone unused so far during Championship Week.



Collins isn’t getting his hopes too high for that event, but knows his team is on the right trajectory to make more postseason trips.



“We're going to finish somewhere right around 100 in the NET rankings. That's a great jump for us. It's a great jump from last year. It's a huge jump from five years ago, we have to find a way to get to 75 to 60. Keep getting better and find ourselves in that mix. Where if we don't win the Summit League tournament then the WBIT is a place where we can see.”


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