Oregon State Women Accept WBIT Bid, Host Wisconsin in First Round
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The Oregon State women's basketball program announced Sunday night that the Beavers have accepted an at-large bid in the 2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT).
Oregon State will host their first-round matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers on Thursday, March 19 at Gill Coliseum. The contest will mark the first-ever meeting between the Beavers and the Badgers. Tipoff times for first-round matchups have yet to be announced. That contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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The 32-team WBIT bracket includes the regular-season champions of NCAA Division I conferences not selected to the NCAA Tournament, as well as at-large teams selected by the WBIT Selection committee.
First and second-round games, as well as the quarterfinals will be played at campus sites. The semifinals and championship game will be played at Charles Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State University. Those games will be broadcast on ESPNU and ESPN2, respectively.
Oregon State finished the season with an overall record of 23-11, posting a record of 13-5 in their West Coast Conference schedule. The Beavers reached the final of the WCC tournament, where they were dispatched by Gonzaga 76-66.
Wisconsin went 13-17 this season with a 5-13 record in Big Ten play. The Badgers have lost ten consecutive contests entering their bout with Oregon State. They won just two of 12 games away from their home court this season.
If the Beavers were to beat the Badgers, they would face the winner of a game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Georgia Southern Eagles.
The full bracket for the WBIT can be found here.
Oregon State's inclusion in the tournament makes three consecutive years of postseason basketball for the Beavers after playing in the NCAA Tournament in 2024 and 2025. Scott Rueck has now led a team to the postseason 19 times since 2000, across his time in Division I and Division III.
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Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.
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