After failing to earn an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, it was announced Tuesday that Ball State University's women's basketball team will host a game in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
The Cardinals earned a first-round bye in the WNIT and will play their second-round game on in Worthen Arena on Monday, March 19 at 7 p.m. against the winner of the first-round matchup of University of Kentucky and Oakland University.
It's the third time Ball State has been invited to the WNIT and the first appearance in the tournament since 2003. Corbin said the team is excited for the opportunity, even if it isn't the NCAA Tournament bid it had been hoping for.
"There's nothing wrong with the NIT," Corbin said. "Obviously, we wanted to go and be one of those top 64 teams. But I was sitting with Audrey [McDonald] and Becca [Bajorek] and we kind of looked at each other and said, 'you know what. Now it's time for us to make some noise in the NIT."
Despite a solid 24-6 record and runner-up finish in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, the NCAA Tournament selection committee overlooked the Ball State Monday night.
The Cardinals beat Xavier University, winners of the Atlantic 10 Conference, earlier in the season. The Musketeers received a strong No. 6 seed in the Fresno Region.
However, Ball State coach Tracy Roller said things started to turn negative for her team when Bowling Green State University was awarded a poor No. 7 seed in the Greensboro Region. The Falcons beat Ball State twice during the season, including a 67-53 victory in the MAC Tournament championship game.
Bowling Green's poor seeding mixed in with seeing a couple other bubble teams make it into the field was enough for Roller to realize it wasn't going to be her team's night.
"When Bowling Green got a seven [seed] I though, 'Ugh'," Roller said. "I though that, being [ranked] in the top 25 for most of the year and playing the teams that they were supposed to play, they were going to be a five seed. That kind of concerned me-what the selection committee thought about the MAC when they gave them a seven seed."
Ball State was No. 41 in the RPI, according to rpiratings.com, and was 13-3 in the MAC season.
However, senior point guard Kelsey Corbin pointed to a couple key losses as to why her team wasn't included in the field of 64.
"Looking over the season, it think our loss to [Ohio University] and the loss to Western [Michigan University] stick out in my head as two games where we didn't really play up to par," Corbin said. "That probably hurt us in the long run, but there's nothing we can do about it now."
Looking at the women's NCAA bracket, Roller said she believes a strong run in the NIT will help pave the way for a appearance in the NCAA Tournament next season. Marquette University, which received a No. 6 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, made it to the final four of the WNIT last season.
Roller said she feels her team is ready to make a deep post-season run.
"I looked into the eyes of this team in the locker room today and there is just so much anxiousness," Roller said. "You can tell there's a hunger there still. With this group and these [players], if there's hunger nothing stands in their way. I can't imagine this group's not going to give it their all."
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