Huskers Headed to Postseason – University of Nebraska

The Nebraska women’s basketball team earned a bid to the 32-team Postseason WNIT, when selections for the field were announced on Monday, March 15.

The Huskers finished the regular season with 12-12 overall record that included a 9-10 Big Ten Conference mark. Nebraska, which posted five wins over NCAA Tournament teams (Rutgers, Northwestern-2, Michigan State, Idaho State) will be the Big Ten’s lone representative in the Postseason WNIT.

This year’s tourament will start with eight teams at each of four regional sites — Charlotte, N.C.; Fort Worth, Texas; Memphis, Tenn.; and Rockford, Ill. First-round play begins Friday, March 19; Round 2 is March 20, and Round 3 is March 22. The four regional champions will advance to the Memphis site, with the semifinals tipping off March 26 and the championship game set for March 28.

 

All games will be available via streaming through FloHoops. Every team will get at least two games in this year’s event.

 

Nebraska Coach Amy Williams said the Huskers were excited to continue their season in the WNIT.

“We are heading into the postseason looking at the WNIT as a great opportunity,” Williams said. “We think we have a team that had a season worthy of NCAA Tournament selection, but we weren’t chosen. Now we have another chance to prove ourselves while getting our young players some invaluable experience. We are excited to keep playing, and we are going to try and make the most of it.” 

Nebraska features second-team All-Big Ten guard Sam Haiby, along with honorable-mention All-Big Ten selections Isabelle Bourne and Kate Cain. Haiby, a junior from Moorhead, Minn., led the Huskers in scoring (17.3 ppg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals (1.2 spg) while adding 6.9 rebounds per contest. She is the only Big Ten player to rank among the top 12 players in the conference in scoring, rebounding and assists.

Bourne, a 6-2 sophomore forward from Canberra, Australia, ranked second among the Huskers in scoring (13.9 ppg) while leading the Big Red in rebounding (7.8 rpg). 

Cain, a 6-5 senior center from Middletown, N.Y., averaged 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and a Big Ten-best 2.9 blocks per contest. Nebraska’s school record holder with 350 career blocks, which ranks No. 2 among all active NCAA Division I players, Cain is a three-time Big Ten All-Defensive selection and was one of 15 candidates for the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Nebraska is one of eight Big Ten Conference teams to advance to the postseason, joining NCAA Tournament qualifiers Maryland, Indiana, Rutgers, Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern and Michigan State among the 96 overall postseason qualifiers around the nation.

The 2021 Postseason WNIT marks the 23rd year of the event and marks the first time it has featured a 32-team bracket since 2006, as tournament officials pared the event back because of COVID-19 issues. Scheduling restrictions this season made it impossible for teams to play their normal number of games, but four squads still notched 20 or more victories (Bowling Green, California Baptist, Delaware, UT Martin).

This year’s tournament features four teams from the Atlantic 10 and three teams each from the Big East, Missouri Valley and SEC. Five conferences placed two teams – the American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Pac-12. The ACC, Colonial, Horizon, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Western Athletic all added single representatives in the tournament.

A complete tournament bracket with match-ups and locations will be announced as soon as possible.

Automatic Qualifiers (9)

Bowling Green (20-6), Mid-American

California Baptist (24-0), Western Athletic

Dayton (14-3), Atlantic 10

Delaware (21-4), Colonial

Louisiana (16-6), Sun Belt

New Mexico (15-4), Mountain West

Rice (18-4), Conference USA

Samford (14-9), Southern

UT Martin (20-5), Ohio Valley

 

At-Large (23)

Arizona State (11-10), Pac-12

Charlotte (10-10), Conference USA

Clemson (11-13), Atlantic Coast

Colorado (10-10), Pac-12

Creighton (9-11), Big East

DePaul (14-8), Big East

Drake (16-11), Missouri Valley

Florida (11-13), SEC

Fordham (12-4), Atlantic 10

Fresno State (16-10), Mountain West

Houston (16-7), American 

Illinois State (15-7), Missouri Valley

Milwaukee (19-7), Horizon

Missouri (9-11), SEC

Nebraska (12-12), Big Ten

Northern Iowa (14-12), Missouri Valley

Ohio (14-8), Mid-American

Ole Miss (11-11), SEC

Saint Louis (12-4), Atlantic 10

San Francisco (15-10), West Coast

Tulane (17-8), American

UMass (14-7), Atlantic 10

Villanova (15-6), Big East