Women to NIT

[Brad]

Courtesy USF SID

USF Gets First Round Bye In WNIT; Face Winner of St. Joe’s-Coppin State

Tampa, FL (March 12, 2007) – The University of South Florida women’s basketball team will take part in its fourth straight postseason tournament when it begins play in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

USF has received a first round bye in the event and will face the winner of the Saint Joseph’s (PA)-Coppin State game which will be played on Thursday in Philadelphia. The date and site of the second round game is still to be determined, however the contest will take place between March 16-19.

St. Joe’s recorded a 19-13 record and an 8-6 slate in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Hawks defeated No. 8 George Washington, 57-55, in the semifinals of the A-10 Tournament before losing to Xavier, 65-59, in the tournament title game.  

A meeting with the Bulls and Hawks would mark the second time this season that the two schools would meet. USF defeated St. Joe’s on Dec. 29, 80-76 in overtime, in the championship game of the Saint Joseph’s Hawk Classic. The Bulls are 1-0 all-time against St. Joe’s.

Coppin State turned in a 24-7 record this season to go along with a perfect 18-0 record in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They come into the WNIT by way of an automatic bid after winning the MEAC regular season championship. The Eagles were defeated by Morgan State in the MEAC Tournament semifinals, 69-67 in overtime. This would be the first meeting between USF and Coppin State.

This will be the Bulls third appearance in the WNIT. USF previously took part in the event during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. The Bulls’ best showing was a second round appearance in the 2005 tourney when they defeated in-state rival Florida, 61-56, before losing to Wake Forest, 78-63, in Winston Salem, NC. USF is 1-2 all-time in the postseason WNIT.  

The Bulls turned in a 20-11 record (9-7 BIG EAST) this season and was eliminated in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament by No. 3/3 - and No. 1 seed Connecticut, 74-54, on March 4.

WNIT Bracket

[Jewbull]

Why is the site to be determined, if you look at the bracket every 2nd round site is set but ours and one more, shouldn't be a given that it will be played at the sundome.

http://www.womensnit.com/Bracket%203-8-07.pdf

[Max_plays_Music]

Well, there is an event at the Sun Dome the 17th and 18th all day both days

[Jewbull]

Well, there is an event at the Sun Dome the 17th and 18th all day both days

Fantastic, every more reason to give coaches to not want to come to USF. We get an opportunity to host something and we cannot because of an outside event taking place, what a joke that is. Is there another Big East school that this would happen to?

[Velcro]

How about the forum?  is that booked up for that day?

(i know attendance  :   how about the IM basketball court?)

[The Sheriff]

It's the NIT Jewbull... who cares! We need to take La Tech's stance and tell them to kiss off. We wouldn't even sell out the Corral for this game. And to think I was booking a flight to LA to see us play in the NCAA's.

[Joe]

What event is that day? I'm sure something will be worked out.

[80mins]

Well, there is an event at the Sun Dome the 17th and 18th all day both days

Fantastic, every more reason to give coaches to not want to come to USF. We get an opportunity to host something and we cannot because of an outside event taking place, what a joke that is. Is there another Big East school that this would happen to?

Roughly half of the arenas in the Big East host outside events or share their facilities with someone else. Whether the rest of these arenas hold every possible hosting opportunity (which in basketball is pretty much limited to the NIT since NCAA sites are predetermined) I have no way of knowing. It's possible the Sun Dome folks operated under the (unfortunately erroneous) assumption that we'd be NCAA bound and made no point to hold NIT dates.

[Max_plays_Music]

these dates for the event we anounced like almost a year ago