(yahoosports) Women’s college basketball is getting a second postseason tournament.
The NCAA announced Monday it is launching a second women’s college basketball tournament this coming season. The Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament will begin this spring, and it will operate like the NIT on the men’s side. The tournament will feature 32 teams that just missed the cut for the NCAA tournament.
It’s unclear what will happen to the women’s NIT. That 64-team tournament was run independently of the NCAA, and teams had to bid to host games and pay for most expenses. Kansas beat Columbia to win the women’s NIT last season, which marked the 25th year for the event.
The NCAA is planning to create a selection committee, host sites, bracket rules, and more later this summer. It will likely run similar to how the NCAA tournament is set up, where teams host early rounds of the tournament before moving to a central location for later rounds.
