Hokies women's basketball was the first team out of the NCAA Tournament, which was revealed on Sunday, and will instead be a No. 1 seed in the WBIT (Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament).
Virginia Tech (18-12, 9-9 ACC) had some quality wins at Georgia Tech, vs. Louisville and vs. Cal in the regular season but dropped five of its final eight games to end the year, three of which were against non-NCAA Tournament teams — vs. Syracuse, vs. Stanford (OT) and at Boston College (OT).
As a result, Tech just missed the cut for the Big Dance in Megan Duffy's inaugural campaign. Columbia and Princeton, two at-large Ivy League teams, received bids instead. The Hokies finished 1-8 in Quadrant 1 games and were 3-8 against NCAA Tournament squads. They had made it the last four years, which included a run to the Final Four in 2023.
Tech is the overall No. 1 seed in the WBIT and will host North Carolina A&T, the CAA regular-season champions, in the first round on Thursday, March 20, at 6 p.m. ET. All first, second and third round games are on ESPN+.
No. 2 seed UNLV, No. 3 seed Florida and No. 4 seed Wyoming are in the Hokies' region and will host first-round contests against Hawaii, Northern Iowa and Texas Tech, respectively.
Here's a full look at the WBIT bracket:
The winner of Virginia Tech and North Carolina A&T will play the Wyoming/Texas Tech winner. The first three rounds of the WBIT are on campus sites, meaning the Hokies could play a total of three postseason games in Cassell Coliseum.
The Aggies (19-11, 15-3 CAA, No. 151 in NET) are an interesting matchup. They're paced by two-time All-CAA performer Jordyn Dorsey, the school's all-time assist leader (398) and a member of the league's all-defensive team. She's averaging 15.6 points per game in 2024-25.
Led by CAA Coach of the Year Tarrell Robinson, who is in his 13th season (248-142, .636), A&T looked to be on pace to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021. However, as the No. 1 in the CAA Tournament, it fell to No. 9 seed and eventual champion William & Mary in the the quarterfinals (74-66 OT). The Tribe had a miracle run through the CAA Tournament and beat three of the top-four seeds to advance to the Big Dance for the first time ever.
Tech is the Aggies' third ACC foe of the year. They opened the season at SMU before hosting North Carolina the following week — 77-64 and 66-47 losses, respectively. They had an impressive response after starting the season 2-7, though, winning 17 of their next 21 games to finish 19-11.
North Carolina A&T was 0-6 in games against Quadrant 1-3 opponents and 16-5 against Quadrant 4 foes. It played three D-II schools in Winston-Salem State, IU Indy and Mount Olive.
It'll be the third all-time meeting between the Hokies and Aggies. The squads met twice in Blacksburg in 2007 and 2012 — both Tech wins.
The Hokies could face either Wyoming or Texas Tech on Sunday. The Cowgirls (22-11, 14-4 Mountain West, No. 80 in NET) finished second in the league in the regular season but fell to eventual champion San Diego State 57-45 in triple overtime in the conference tournament title game. One of their notable wins: 71-66 over Virginia on Nov. 30 in Puerto Rico.
The Red Raiders (17-17, 4-14 Big 12, No. 77 in NET) were 14th in their league this year. They lost 70-62 to Florida State in the U.S. Virgin Islands in November and 61-57 at SMU in December. They also dropped nine straight games before closing their regular season with an overtime win over Colorado, which they followed up with victories over Kansas and Utah in the Big 12 Tournament.
It's the second year of the WBIT, which is the second-tier postseason event below the NCAA Tournament. The WNIT once filled that role but is unaffiliated with the NCAA. Virginia Tech is 16-7 all-time in the WNIT and advanced to the championship game in 2018, where it lost to Indiana.