PEORIA — The Bradley Braves women’s basketball team earned an at-large bid to the 2026 Women’s National Invitation Tournament on Sunday night.
On Monday, the WNIT put the 48-team field into an official bracket and set the playoff path.
The Braves will travel to Washington, D.C., and face George Washington University in a 5 p.m. game Thursday in the tournament first round.
The winner moves on to the second round to face 21-10 Southern Indiana, which has a first-round bye.
This is the first postseason tournament for the Bradley women’s team since the 2020-21 season, when they won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title to gain an NCAA Tournament bid.
They lost in that NCAA Tournament to Texas, 81-62.
Bradley’s last win in a postseason tournament was a 74-71 decision over Tennessee Tech in the Women’s Basketball Invitational first-round at Renaissance Coliseum on March 14, 2012.
The 2026 WNIT bracket (printable version)
How to watch
The WNIT does not have a broadcast deal that covers all the games in its tournament. It delegates broadcast of the individual games to the host team.
George Washington does have a pre-existing deal with ESPN+ and says it will broadcast the game there. No link or other information is available as of Tuesday night.
Who is in the tournament?
Automatic Qualifiers*:
Abilene Christian (23-10) – WAC
Alcorn State (17-13) – SWAC
Florida International (20-11) – Conference USA
Lamar (20-10) – Southland Conference
Mercyhurst (15-16) – NEC
Montana State (25-7) – Big Sky
Radford (22-12) – Big South
Maryland Eastern Shore (19-14) – MEAC
Youngstown State (24-9) – Horizon League
*– Teams that were the 2-seed in their conference tournament that did not receive a bid into the NCAA Tournament or WBIT.
At-Large:
Air Force (16-18) – Mountain West
Arkansas State (24-9) – Sun Belt
Army (24-7) – Patriot League
Austin Peay (19-13) – ASUN
Binghamton (19-12) – America East
Bradley (20-12) – Missouri Valley
Cleveland State (24-9) – Horizon League
Drexel (21-10) – CAA
Florida Gulf Coast (16-15) – ASUN
George Washington (15-17) – Atlantic 10
Illinois State (20-13) – Missouri Valley
La Salle (18-13) – Atlantic 10
Lehigh (17-14) – Patriot League
Loyola Chicago (14-17) – Atlantic 10
Marshall (23-9) – Sun Belt
Merrimack (19-12) – MAAC
Middle Tennessee State (16-15) – Conference USA
Monmouth (20-11) – CAA
Morehead State (18-14) – OVC
NJIT (18-12) – America East
Norfolk State (18-14) – MEAC
Northern Colorado (22-10) – Big Sky
Ohio (18-13) – MAC
Pepperdine (19-12) – WCC
Portland (18-14) – WCC
Purdue Fort Wayne (20-13) – Horizon League
Sam Houston (18-12) – Conference USA
San Francisco (18-14) – WCC
South Alabama (16-18) – Sun Belt
South Dakota (23-9) – Summit League
Southern Indiana (21-10) – OVC
Southern Utah (19-12) – WAC
St. Bonaventure (16-15) – Atlantic 10
Stetson (20-11) – ASUN
UC Davis (23-10) – Big West
UMBC (16-14) – America East
Utah Valley (16-14) – WAC
UTRGV (20-13) – Southland
Wake Forest (14-17) – ACC
The tournament schedule
Round 1: March 19-21
Round 2: March 22-24
TBA
Super 16: March 25-27
TBA
Great 8: March 28-30, 2026
TBA
Fab 4: March 31-April 1
TBA
Championship: Saturday, April 4, 2 p.m. CT
TBA
How the tournament field is filled
Automatic Berths: One berth from each of the nation’s 31 conferences. A team that is offered an automatic berth by the WNIT shall be the team that is:
Should a conference’s automatic qualifier team decline the WNIT invitation, the spot will then be awarded to either the next highest-finishing team in the designated conference or reallocated to the At-Large berth consideration per the WNIT committee’s discretion.
At-large Berths: The remaining team slots will be filled by the top teams available at the discretion of the WNIT committee. Any team from Division I will be considered. Teams that are considered for at-large berths MUST have:
(This story has been updated with more information)
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Everything to know about Bradley Braves women’s basketball bid to WNIT
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
