2022 NCAA Match groups exhibit the worth of the Ladies’s NIT

byMinorU
-April 2, 2022

Currently, when Seton Corridor and South Dakota State meet in the WNIT closure, the winner gets their first WNIT title, but not their only prize. In current seasons, the champions of this postseason match have often seen a direct leap into the success of this system, and often a stepping stone to NCAA success.

Just check out the remaining 4 from last season when the Arizona Wildcats made a Cinderella run to the statewide semifinals. The group’s match success didn’t come as a huge shock to the Wildcats themselves, however. Arizona clearly had more religion in its personal abilities than the rest of the nation, and some of that stemmed from the group’s success in a single-elimination game two years ago, the WNIT.

After the Wildcats’ win in 2019, their biggest contender, Aari McDonald, was clear on what the route of this system needed to be, as she told local media:

“It’s going to be scary for sure over the next 12 months,” McDonald said. “We have a full summer ahead of us to get higher. After that, with the know-how that comes in, we can build something special this year and hopefully do the NCAA match and just run and make some noise.

That NCAA game run was delayed a year because of the pandemic, but Arizona delivered on that promise — and some — in 2021. The Wildcats even snagged an opportunity to host game games in 2022 despite an injury-plagued end to the season.

Arizona is easily the latest group to build their WNIT success. A Candy 16 matchup in Wichita featured two current WNIT champions, the South Dakota Coyotes and the Michigan Wolverines.

The 2016 win was a program-defining win for the Coyotes as South Dakota was able to announce Daybreak Plitto far from northern Kentucky to tutor the group. Plittowide led the Coyotes to two additional WNIT berths before breaking through to the 2019 NCAA game. South Dakota has been a fixture of the game ever since, culminating in the college’s first win of the season.

Meanwhile, Michigan received the WNIT in 2017 and hasn’t returned to that invitation since. Coach Kim Barnes Arico led the Wolverines to their NCAA match for the first time alongside their personal recruits the following season, and Michigan has since blossomed into a Huge Ten powerhouse. The Wolverines made it to the college’s first Candy 16 in 2021 and the group’s first Elite Eight in 2022.

Though Arico thought her team would qualify for the 2017 Huge Dance, that failure was a blessing in disguise, as she told the Associated Press in March:

“It was one of the hardest nights of my life,” she said. “We held up a WNIT banner and that was a turning point for this system.”

Michigan’s Huge Ten compatriots have an identical history. 2018 champion Indiana Hoosiers has not missed the NCAA match since winning the WNIT title 4 years ago.

Jaelyn Penn, who performed in Indiana for 4 years before competing for UCLA this season, shared The next how that second was a turning point for the Hoosiers program. Penn hoped the Bruins’ WNIT successes this season could be an identical launch pad before the group was moved in Thursday’s semifinals.

“I just know from experience how much it helps this system, how much bigger it is than just ourselves,” Penn said. “We’ve got that, the inspiration is ready to move that system forward, the women are coming over the next 12 months and the way we’re holding our ground in the years following that win. It’s hugely important that we go forward and win that factor and just realize that it’s bigger than us.”

The Bruins even have their own expertise in turning a WNIT championship into an NCAA match success. In 2015, UCLA earned the WNIT with freshmen Jordin Canada and Monique Billings, and this duo made the match their next three seasons, culminating with an Elite Eight look as seniors.

Fifth-year senior Natalie Chou said coach Cori Close used a video from 2015 as motivation for that year’s Bruins, such as the inspiration a WNIT run can provide.

“We remembered that Coach Cori set up this group and made it successful [tournament] actually created momentum for the next few years. We just want to create and continue the momentum and create that form of legacy for the groups that follow.”

It’s worth noting that the WNIT isn’t owned by the NCAA, like the boys’ match (another example of the lack of equality between men’s and women’s basketball!). Colleges have to pay to play, so a group’s participation could be an indicator of support for their athletic department. Subsequently, it is tedious to determine whether the future program’s success is due to WNIT’s experience or the support of a faculty supporting their girls’ basketball group.

A reminder because the NCAA celebrates 68 teams in each of the NCAA boys’ and girls’ tournaments: The NCAA owns the boys’ NIT, so it also sponsors 32 additional postseason men’s alternates. It does not personalize the WNIT. Faculties then pay up to 1/4 of 1,000,000 to attend.

— Chantel Jennings (@ChantelJennings) March 31, 2022

In this WNIT chicken-or-egg situation, it may not matter whether the financial backing comes from post-season success or vice versa; the results are difficult to argue. After seeing the crowds that WNIT has drawn — even in Columbia, a program that has little basketball history, it’s clear that there are several postseason games of significance in the girls’ free time. Groups that choose not to participate, like Duke in 2022, lack a useful environment.

Also, they lack the ability to significantly develop their packages. If the current past is to be predictive, keep an eye on the Seton Corridor and the State of South Dakota for the following NCAA tournaments. Just like the champions that have preceded them, their time will come.