For the sixth consecutive season, Cleveland State will experience life beyond the Horizon League Tournament.
The Vikings have received and accepted a bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). CSU’s first action in the event is slated for the second round, played between March 22nd and 24th, when Chris Kielsmeier’s squad will meet the winner of Thursday’s first-round matchup between Lehigh and Monmouth. Should Cleveland State win that second-round matchup, possible Super 16 opponents include Middle Tennessee State, Drexel, and St. Bonaventure.
The full bracket is available here.
Horizon League rivals Youngstown State and Purdue Fort Wayne are also in the field, with the Mastodons occupying the same quadrant as the Vikings. Should both CSU and PFW advance far enough, they could end up in a rematch of last year’s Great 8 round, won by the Vikings. A fourth green and white meeting with YSU this season isn’t possible before the Fab 4 semifinals.
Originally established in 1998, the WNIT spent its initial quarter-century as the first-choice tournament for teams that failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. However, the NCAA created the 32-team Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) in 2024, a move specifically intended to bring each of the top two postseason events under the organization’s control, and one that essentially bumped the WNIT down to third-tier status.
CSU has been to the WNIT twice before. The first trip came at the end of the 2014-15 season, when the Vikings dropped a first-round contest at Michigan to close a 19-13 campaign. Then, last year, wins over Coppin State, Duquesne, and PFW produced a trip to the tournament’s Fab 4, before a loss at eventual champion Buffalo ended the run.
With a return engagement in the WNIT now secure, Cleveland State will make its sixth straight postseason appearance. That streak began with a title at the defunct Women’s Basketball Invitational, and also includes trips to the 2023 NCAA Tournament, as well as the inaugural 2024 WBIT. The latter two bids were secured with CSU’s third HL Tournament title and first conference regular season crown, respectively.
Elsewhere on Selection Sunday, current Horizon League champion Green Bay was given a 13th seed in the NCAA Tournament, and will open its run at fourth-seeded Minnesota on Friday. Between the Phoenix and College of Charleston, which similarly qualified for the field of 68 by winning the CAA Tournament, the Vikings will end the season 2-1 against March Madness participants.
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