June 28, 2006 – The 16-team field for the 2006 Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament was announced today.

The field for the prestigious women’s college basketball tournament includes 11 teams that played in the postseason last season.  Baylor, BYU, Dartmouth, Hartford, North Carolina State, Purdue, St. John’s and Stanford played in the NCAA Tournament, and Belmont, Hofstra and Idaho State qualified for the Postseason WNIT field.  They will be joined by High Point, Iona, Loyola-Marymount, North Texas and Wichita State in this fall’s Preseason WNIT.

The single-elimination tournament opens Nov. 9 and Nov. 10 with first-round games. Second-round games will be played on Nov. 12-13, semifinals on Nov. 15-16 and the championship is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 19.  All games are played on home campuses, which are determined after each round.

In last year’s Preseason WNIT, Connecticut defeated Oklahoma and went on to a 32-5 season, advancing to the NCAA’s Elite Eight round.

First-round games:
All 2005-2006 team records in parentheses
Thursday, Nov. 9
Belmont (22-8) at Purdue (26-7), 7 p.m. ET
Iona (17-12) at St. John’s (22-8), 7 p.m. ET
High Point (20-10) at N.C. State (19-12), 7 p.m. ET
Loyola-Marymount (17-12) at Stanford (26-8), 7 p.m. PT

Friday, Nov. 10
Dartmouth (23-7) at Hartford (27-4), 7 p.m. ET
North Texas (19-8) at Baylor (26-7), 7 p.m. CT
Hofstra (19-12) at Wichita State (15-13), 7 p.m. CT
Idaho State (17-13) at BYU (26-6), 7 p.m. MT

It's deinitely a good thing for the Ladies program, even if the ink doesn't match the Men's Pre-season NIT.  I'm really not sure how the squad will be this year, as we lost a huge portion of our team from last year.