Stanford Women’s Basketball heading to the WBIT
On Sunday, Stanford women’s basketball was selected to play in the WBIT, which is the number two postseason tournament in women’s college basketball behind the NCAA tournament. After going 19-13 overall with an 8-10 record in the ACC, Stanford got a two seed and will open up against Loyola Marymount (LMU) at home on Thursday, March 19th. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM PT on ESPN+. The first three rounds of the tournament are on campus sites with Stanford (should they advance) guaranteed to host first and second round games. If the bracket holds true to form, they will face BYU on the road on Thursday, March 26th.
Via NCAA.com: 2026 WBIT Bracket and schedule
Of course, Stanford has to take this tournament one game at a time. They were a two seed last year and lost at home to Portland in the first round by a final score of 69-68. They do not want a repeat of last year. While they obviously would have liked to have made the NCAA tournament, Stanford has to turn lemons into lemonade and at least make a deep run in this tournament. Given the young roster they have, getting some wins in a tournament setting would do Stanford a lot of good as they look ahead to next season.
Touching more on next season, it’ll be year three of the Kate Paye era. She is yet to guide the Cardinal to the NCAA tournament as a head coach and while they are a young team as I wrote above, there was still an expectation that they make the tournament this year. Given that, all signs point to next season very likely being a make or break season for Paye. It’s hard seeing her keep her job if they miss the tournament for a third straight season.
But alas, next year isn’t what’s immediately in front of Stanford. It’s the WBIT. And if they want next year to be the kind of year they are hoping that it will be, in many ways Stanford has to view this tournament as the start of next year. If they approach this tournament with that mindset, good things could happen. They certainly have the pieces to seriously contend in this tournament.
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