Clemson Tigers Women’s Basketball Wait for Potential Postseason Berth

The Clemson Tigers women’s basketball team are out of the ACC basketball tournament, but their season may not be over just yet.

Nov 4, 2024; Clemson, SC, USA; Clemson Coach Shawn Poppie communicates in the game with Jackson State University during the fourth quarter at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C. Monday, Nov 4, 2024. | Ken Ruinard/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers women’s basketball team certainly made strides toward getting back to the NCAA Tournament. It just won’t be this year.

The Tigers saw their ACC Tournament end on Thursday night with an overtime loss to Louisville, 70-68. Clemson (14-17) came so close to extending its stay in the event one more day and climbing a bit closer to the .500 mark.

Now, the Tigers head back to Clemson, and they wait. Not for an NCAA Tournament berth. But, potentially, another tournament berth.

The NCAA Tournament is out of the question. But both the WBIT and the WNIT may have a desire to invite the Tigers, and earlier this week coach Shawn Poppie expressed a desire to accept an invitation to either tournament, if it came.

So how would that work?

The WBIT is the event the NCAA created last year to serve as a companion the men’s postseason NIT, which it has owned for several years. That event includes 32 teams, all of which are seeded as at-large teams.

But, there are preferences. For instance, regular-season champions that don’t make it to the NCAA Tournament receive an automatic bid. Also, the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament, as selected by the women’s NCAA Tournament committee, will be the top four seeds.

There is nothing that precludes that selection committee from taking a team with a losing record as long as the committee agrees that it is among the 32 best teams that are not in the NCAA Tournament field.

The WNIT is the other postseason event, which invites 48 teams. It was the top non-NCAA event before it started the WBIT. Now, the WNIT must wait to see which teams the WBIT selects before it starts its selection process.

That’s a potential 80 spots for the Tigers to get some extra postseason play. Even with a losing record, Clemson carried an NCAA NET rating of 60 going into the Louisville game.

There is an additional consideration, one that has only become a consideration in the transfer portal era. Last year, several teams that had winning records and were invited to non-NCAA postseason events turned down invitations as they lost teams to the transfer portal as they didn’t have the numbers to support playing additional games.

The NCAA has moved the window for the transfer portal back to March 25 this year, but players may decide to declare their intention before the window opens. It could influence Clemson’s potential seeding — or whether the Tigers can play at all.