Duquesne Women’s Basketball to Play in WNIT

Duquesne women’s basketball will continue on with their season, as they accepted a bid to play in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).

NOT DONE YET. pic.twitter.com/vv2r5ZkWox

— Duquesne Women's Basketball (@DuqWBB) March 18, 2024

The Dukes finished 20-13 overall on the season and 13-5 in the Atlantic-10. The 13 wins in conference play mark the most under head coach Dan Burt, doing so both in 2015-16 and 2017-18. The 20 wins overall are also the most for the Dukes since the 2019-20 season, when they won 21 games.

They made it to the Semifinals of the A-10 Tournament for the first time since 2019, defeating No. 13 UMass in the Second Round and No. 4 George Mason in the Quarterfinals, before losing to No. 1 Richmond in the Semifinals. 

This is the first WNIT appearance for Duquesne women’s basketball since 2018, when they made it to Round 3. They will also serve as the 11th season overall that Duquesne will play in the postseason and the 10th time in the WNIT.

Former head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio (2007-13) brought the Dukes to their first five consecutive WNIT appearances from 2009-13 and then Burt coached the Dukes to five straight postseason appearances, with four WNITs and one NCAA Tournament in 2016.

The WNIT is much different than the previous iterations that Duquesne played in previous years.

The NCAA now has their own secondary postseason tournament in the WBIT, which is secondary to the NCAA Tournament, giving out 32 bids to teams across the country.

Since they don’t own the rights to the WNIT, creating the WBIT allows the NCAA to make all the revenue they want. Essentially, the WNIT now is the third tournament, like the CBI and CIT in men’s basketball.

Duquesne is one of two teams from the A-10 in the WNIT along with Saint Louis, who had a 17-18 overall record and 9-9 in A-10 play. Like Duquesne, Saint Louis also made the A-10 Semifinals, before losing to No. 6 Rhode Island.

Richmond, who won the A-10 Tournament, will play in the NCAA Tournament, the only conference member to do so. Saint Joseph’s and George Mason both made the WBIT.

The Dukes don’t have an opponent yet, but the WBIT schedule comes out on Monday. The First Round takes place this Wednesday-Friday, the Second Round Saturday through next Tuesday, March 26, Round 3 from March 27-29, the Quarterfinals March 30-April, the Semifinals April 2-3 and the Final on Saturday, April 6.