WNIT vs NCAA Tournament

In this episode of The MidMajors Podcast, we break down the real value of postseason tournaments like the Women's National Invitation Tournament and the WBI/WBIT compared to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

As former Division I players, we give an unfiltered perspective on how mid-major programs and Power Five schools view postseason opportunities, and why these tournaments can mean everything—or nothing—depending on the situation.

We also dive into how NIL, the transfer portal, and coaching incentives are changing how teams approach postseason play.

If you’re into women’s college basketball, mid-major basketball, NCAA tournament talk, and real behind-the-scenes insights, this episode is for you.

🎯 What We Discuss

• WNIT, WBI, and WBIT: history and evolution
• Mid-major vs Power Five perspectives on postseason tournaments
• Why some teams accept or decline postseason invitations
• Exposure, publicity, and recruiting benefits for programs
• Coaching incentives and financial motivations
• Player experiences and mindset in postseason play
• NIL and transfer portal impact on postseason decisions
• Using postseason games for development and evaluation
• The future of postseason tournaments in women’s college basketball

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Postseason play if you don't make it to the NCAA tournament. Is it important? Let's talk about it. Welcome to the Mid Majors Podcast where the real hoop talk happens, unfiltered and unapologetic. I am one of your hosts, Takara, and with me I got my girl Courtney. And we are the Mid Majors. Thank you for joining us. If this is your first time here, go ahead and subscribe. If you've been lurking about three, four times, go ahead and subscribe. If you're unsubscribed and you want to come back just to watch the video, subscribe again.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

I had to say I had to say it. If you're unsubstantiated, God's working on me, man. God's working on me.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Subscribe again. Listen to Takara. You know how you sometimes you gotta hit that button. You know how you turn off the TV. That's how they had to hit that unsubscribe button.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

They did. Hold on, and they're gonna hit it the same way to subscribe to subscribe back. I hated y'all last week. Damn it. But I love y'all this week.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Yeah. Damn it. I'm back. But anywho, so um this was a somebody had asked us to talk about postseason play, which I think is a great topic. Um, just kind of talk about just like how you see from a player perspective if these other postseason tournaments are just as important. So this isn't gonna be like a long video. I can just speak from my my experience. Um I've played in the WNIT. So I want to say, Courtney, the we called it the WBI. It was now WBIT is what they call it now. I want to say my senior year was the first time that they did that in 2012.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

We played in something, my freshman year. I want to say it was that WB yeah. Was it okay? So, okay, cool, cool, cool. Let's see. Let's look it up. Because I'm like, I I I think so. We played in something. But I had never heard, I don't know what tournament it was. Because I was kind of like, uh, after my senior year, once we lost in a tournament, I was like, okay, like that's it. I'm about to drive home for the summer when school's out, blah, blah, blah. You know? And then they were like, nah, we got postseason. I'm like, postseason? We didn't win a tournament. Like, what is this? You know what I mean? And we played at home. Um, so I don't know. Like uh Moorhead, they they just got invited to the WB, uh, what is it, WBIT?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

It's WBIT. So it this is they're saying this one started in 2024. I won, it was the same thing. I'm pretty sure because we called it, let's I'm saying we called it the WBI.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

It was something unless it was something that we played in my freshman year. Don't remember what it was, though.

unknown 3:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

For postseason.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

It started with a DB.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

But I I couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

I had to go back and look, to be honest with you. Um, let me see. So, no, no, you're right. You must have been the first year then. It says 20 uh 2009. Yeah. So the duck do they still even do this? Like, yeah. So WBI. So it's look now it is called the WBI. They changed it. So that's the same thing. That's what I thought. It's the same as what? Same thing. Same. So the WBI is what it was called when we were there. Okay. Now it's called WBIT. So that's for what I'm reading. Okay, cool. Okay. Um, so what do you think about as far as are they just as important just as the NCAA tournament?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

So my my perspective is I think I think those tournaments are important to mid-majors. Yes. Um, I think they're important to mid-majors. Um, for the bigger schools, I don't, I personally I'm talking about big schools, like power five type schools. You know what I'm saying? Um, I'm not even talking about like low, like mid D1. I'm talking about like those high ones. No, I don't, I mean, for me, I think it's about money. 100%. It's about money to get money. 100%. And I think for me, for those bigger schools, that's what it's about. Now, I don't, I'm not saying that the coach and the players feel that way. But I'm saying come out for the university um or whatever. I think it's more so about money. Um, and but I do think it means a lot to the mid-major schools to like be in that tournament and to like, you know, possibly come home with um a championship from that tournament. I think that's great publicity for a mid-major school. Yeah. Um now, me as a player, when I played in that tournament, uh, my freshman year, I had no idea the magnitude of it at the time. You know what I mean? I'm 18. I don't know. Like, to me, I felt like what like why are we planning this? It's just something else for us to do. Like, why are we planning this? We didn't, we didn't win the the tournament championship.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

We didn't make it to the big dance. So what is this? Like a second place, like whatever. Like, what is this? I don't want to play in this. I don't want to go on vacation. I'm ready to go home. Facts. You know what I'm saying? Um, but actually, you know, hindsight's 2020. I think if we would have done well in that tournament, it would have been great for more head. It would have been great for the for the school. I think those tournaments are great for mid-majors for the bigger schools. I'm just like, eh. That's why I I don't I guess maybe because that's why I don't really pay attention to it too much.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Yeah, yeah. I mean, a lot of them. So you got people who decline. Exactly. You have teams who decline to do it. And with that, I don't I don't un I don't know. I would love I'm curious to see the reason of why they do decline. Um, especially you don't, I don't, I don't get that. So like for me, I see it differently. So like me playing in the WNIT, that was an honor. Yes. That's that's an honor. That was okay, if you go win that, that's some noise. That's a good exposure for your team. If you go, and then you know what's so crazy? So for us, we hosted. We did too. Yeah, did you? Okay, yeah. So the uh we hosted Auburn. Oh, did y'all? For the W NIT. Like, that was like a big thing. Like, they had paid for us to host the WNIT. I don't even remember who he played. Um gosh. It was my it was my senior year. It was my senior year. Like, I just remember like it was a that was when I knew, like, I had played SCC before, but that was when like I knew, like, okay, this is a different league. Now I still had a good game. You know what I'm saying? But I had to work my ass off for that game. Like, most times it was that's when I knew, like, okay, even at that time, they were still didn't even make the tournaments, Auburn. You get what I'm saying? Like at the bottom, they were, it was still a certain level of physicality that I just said. Yeah. Okay. You get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Like, physicality, athleticism, height, all of it. All of that.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Everybody sky in the air, you in the air, you get fouled. The guards think the guards are 6'2. They're guarding you as soon as you throw the ball in. Yeah, like so.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Hey, I always think about when we had to play Louisville and we I'm guarding Angel McCarthy. It's just like, what, what?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Bruh.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Is she the point guard?

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Bruh. Pulling down the floor, and she like 6'3. Bruh. If y'all haven't went, y'all go watch my welcome to college basketball moment. Because Angel was that Angel was mine. And that Joker, I thought she was finna dunk on me. Like that. That was, and I I loved every minute of it.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

And we played, well, who else do we play? We played Notre Dame when Skylar Diggins was there, too.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Did you? Okay.

unknown 8:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

And that girl right there. Yeah. Skylar.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

I don't, I feel like people underestimate her IQ. Oh, I'm sure. How smart she is. Jayla played against her in high school. Yeah. She is very smart. She almost, even like on defense, and I feel like Hannah does this too. They almost let you go around them. Right. And then they let you do it. You think like you like, oh, okay, I'm gone. Pass you. It's gone. Cherry pick. I'm gonna lay up. Yeah. And then they they ran this, uh, they what did they do? They did like a three, like a half court, uh, like a three-two type of thing. Yeah. Three up front, like one up front, one went, whatever. Yeah. Bro, they so big. I'm trying. You couldn't even like so like a zone, like a three-two. Yes. Gotcha. And they would trap a long time. And they would trap you at half. And they all like six, three, six, four. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's crazy. Um, so I think we scored 25 points. For the whole game? The whole game. Oh, child. I think we might have had like like 25, 30 points. Ooh, ooh, child. Yeah, that's that's when that's when China was like, just work on your game. Facts.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

25's crazy. Um what? We uh so the WNIT, that was an honor. So like that's something I was like, okay, cool. You know what I'm saying? But we played the preseason WNIT, my junior year, the preseason one, and which that was we didn't host that, but we had played, we had beat a team, and then we got to go to LA. So we was hyped to go to LA that when we played UCLA. That's cool. And that's when they had damn the girl who's still in the league, Rebecca Gardner. And let me tell you something, she could play. She could play. She was like a, she was like, I want to say sis might have been a, she might have been a sophomore, a freshman, sophomore. Hey, she could play. Rebecca Gardner could play.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

It's so funny because I love these reactions because you know, we see these reactions like when you're watching like a for me, I like watching these videos. I love when seeing like NBA players, like retired NBA players, talk about people that they've guarded or had to play. Yeah. You know, and especially if they're talking about Jordan or you know what I mean? Like they just be like, bruh, like they face be like facts, bruh. Like what there's nothing you could do. He was like, well, one guy, he was like, I went to sleep at nine o'clock. I was in my room at nine o'clock to get some sleep because I knew I had to play MJ because I had to guard him the next day. Hey, he was like, I had to go to bed early.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

But you know what? I was one of them people. If somebody like did you in, I'ma like talk about how you got did in. You feel what I was like the person to put a little hey man, that that crossover she gave you was nasty.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And this would have been me. It sure was. Man. It'd be too. It'd be like that. Like me too. I'd be like, I'd be like, you, you right. Bruh. That was me too. Me too. I was like, me, hey, y'all only scored 30 points. Yup. No joke.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

And it's so crazy because it's like when I be getting caught like a hater, it's so funny. Cause it's like back then, you know how you get people like, I mean, she wasn't that good. I be like, you sleep. She was cold. She was cold. You ain't seen, you didn't see that jumper. You, she's cold. I was the main one. Be like, she was cold. You sleep. Somebody probably done busted our ass. I was like, shoot, you crazy. She was cold.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

She gave us monkeys. I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

That was me. That was me. But that was me. But on topic. Um, so the WBI, I ain't gonna lie. So my senior year, I was hurt at the end of the year. I knew that I was done with basketball. And I've said it for. So when I found out that we were doing it, I was done with basketball. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. So for me, I I wanna, I didn't want to play. I didn't want to. But when they tipped the ball up, what I do? I played. You get what I'm saying? And I still play competitive, but it's like I think You didn't really care if you won or lost. To be no, to keep it a buck. Right. To keep it above. It was just, it was just another thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

That's how I felt my freshman year too. Like, yeah, I mean, I'm gonna play, but I don't really care.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

It ain't that deep. Like, I didn't shed one tear. And I was the person, y'all. I was the person who cried at the every loss. You can ask somebody. I was your annoying teammate, like, girl, was it's just one I was that was me. I was the most. Um, but I will say this about it. If you like a senior and you done, you'd banged up and you done, especially like for us, like we underachieved. We should have won the conference. You know what I'm saying? So for us, it was like a let down with the NIT. Like, you know what I'm saying? Both years. We went to the final, my junior, senior year, we both put in the finals, got beat. But it was like, you know what I'm saying? Like, dang. But it's like my senior year, it hurt worse because we didn't at least make the NIT because we didn't win the regular season. So I was really, really done. Especially I knew I wasn't gonna play no further, I was done. So for me, it was just kind of like that. But I will say this, like now, I think for coaches, if you take that opportunity, and I'm not mad at this, if you take that opportunity to let your seniors go and don't invite your seniors, unless you got you got to some people who got hoop dreams to this day. Hold on, what you mean? If you want to go and because I think it's about getting better. If you want to see what your next squad look like, your younger classmen, if you want to see your juniors, your sophomore, if you want, if you want to do that, take that team. But I think give it them seniors an option because you got some people who's on some. Ah, I just want to keep playing. You got some people still to this day who's uh 35 and still got hoop dreams. I just wasn't one of them. Ain't nothing wrong. I just wasn't one of them people. Yeah, but I think that they should probably use it to that advantage and give that option if the seniors don't want to do it. You get what I'm saying? But it could be when we see people declining, it could be if they asked. We got asked, do y'all want to play? But you know, we weren't gonna say no. But right kids, kids today saying no.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Not at a mid-major, they not. But but see, that's a thing too, though. I think does NIL and the portal and all those things play a factor in schools declining? Is that time that could be spent in the portal? Is that time that could be spent recruiting? You know what I'm saying? Is that time, you know what I mean? Like maybe it's something like that. Um, I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

But end of the day, I think it's all about how you use it. Now, I the way I see it, when it comes to like the WBIT, I'm gonna be honest with you. If you don't, a lot of these coaches get incentives for getting post-game play, just like a bowl game in football. And that's why a lot of these play, because it's all about the money, it's all about a little extra to get something out. The coaches get like a little bonus money if they get postseason play. And that's what I think about football. But if you're using it to me to like, okay, my seniors, this person ain't got no hopes of playing ball. Let get your get your uh younger classmen, get them together, let them play a game by themselves, like get better that way.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

So there's another like uh, or say I'm a I'm an inspiring coach. I'm trying to leave. You know what I mean? Like, and this is an opportunity to kind of like show off my like coaching skills, you know what I mean? Especially if I'm coming from a you know, a lower like division one school. Yeah, you know what I mean? If if we can come in this tournament and make some noise and like beat some of these like bigger schools, you know, shoot, that put me on the map for coaching. That's that's something I can add to my resume.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

But then again, like I'm the same point. It's about who? The coaches and what the coach is getting. So you know what I'm saying? A lot and it be like that, and that just is what it is. You get what I'm saying? I'm built my resume because at the end of the day, I won the WBI. What do we get for it? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Like, we get a trophy, we get an alternative, maybe because I think when we went to the W BIT, my freshman year, that was the first time I think Moorehead had been invited to a postgame, postseason. And um I think our my freshman year and my sophomore year was like one of the best records in Moorhead, like history. And then my coach, they was gone my junior year. Damn.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Right. Had to had to build it up, had to get a little extra, had to get the extra two and a half percent that I just saw for the race. Yeah, you know, yeah. So I think it for me, WNIT I think is definitely like absolutely go go try to win that bit. Cause like with that one, that it's history shown, like people who have gone all the way through and won that one, they have done better the next season and they got better. Like, you get what I'm saying? But it's other stuff because they start creating a whole bunch of extra tournaments and all this stuff just to get you to play. But I think it just depends on how you use it. If you got your seniors who wanna, I want I want to play one more game. That was not me. I was done, I played enough. But then I think some of them just use it to take your underclassmen and let them get better. So that's what I gotta say about it. That's just how I saw it. Same. But um, yeah. Uh if y'all have any questions about that, let us know. Um, put it in the comments. Y'all have a good night. Bye, guys. Bye.