This just in : Columbia to host St John’s in round one of 2026 WBIT Tournament on Thursday 3/19. Winner to play #1 North Dakota State/Chattanooga winner. Lions were seeded #4.
The NCAA has done a great job of elevating the status of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament so that the WBIT is in many ways on par with the NCAA Tournament. The Columbia-St. Johns Game should be a tremendous contest between two very good teams. It should generate significant publicity locally given the excellent sports coverage of college basketball by the New York Post.
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It’s not on par with the NCAA tournament.
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Regardless whether that’s true,I suspect that from a marketing standpoint the NCAA is thrilled to have a Columbia-St. John’s match-up in the first round of the revamped Women’s Invitational Basketball Tournament. The game should be a sell-out wherever it is held and no matter which team wins, a team from New York City will advance to the second game.
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I like our bracket a lot. No matchup is easy, but we will face a St. John’s team at home, clearly worse than the Seaton Hall team we beat back in december, and then potentially a NDSU team that lost twice to SDSU, who we beat back in november. Then, we should face Kansas St in the quarterfinals, a team that we lost to back in November after they had their best game of the season, and who we already know.
After that, a tougher final four will determine if we are able to take home what we almost got back in 2023. The semifinal should probably be the winner of a potential Utah-Harvard match (I think Harvard is the potential underdog of the tournament). A potential final should have Texas A&M as the most likely opponent.
We will see how the team responds to the Harvard loss. From my side, I would want to start seeing more olaytime for the Sophomore class, in particular Broom as the main PG. I think this is crucial for next year success
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The hardest thing to predict in these “other” tournaments is how motivated any given team is
I really like Kreeker’s comments this morning. In particular, Broom has clearly outplayed Henderson in the last couple of games and deserves the starting role at point guard. Broom is a far better ball handler than Henderson and a much better outside shooter. Henderson is a stronger rebounder than Broom, but she needs to improve her offense in the off-season. At this time, the obvious starting five is Weiss, Broom, Rafiu, Page and and Feldrappe. Averlijas and Henderson should be first up at the guard position for offense and Simmons first up for defense. Feldrappe appears ready to score in double figures in the Tournament. Tor and Arrebola could help also. I would like to see the Columbia Athletic Department to do the necessary to get a greater number of student athletes in all sports to attend the games. How about some Levien Lunatics similar to Duke’s Cameron Crazies.
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Unfortunately it’s spring break and most students are away.
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I do like Henderson as a starter. I think she does a lot of valuable things. But I don’t think she is a ball handlerer for the level we want to achieve. I think she is very valuable as a 3 (small forward) and can get a ton of assists and rebounds there. She needs to improve scoring wise, but having Broom and Riley on the floor, her lack of 3-point shooting shouldn’t be a problem.
I have recently seen the football team come to a bunch of basketball games. A huge part of the women athletes at columbia come to the wbb games. I hope spring break does not affect that much the attendance to thursday’s game
If the Columbia Athletic Department doesn’t fill our gymnasium to capacity for the Columbia-St. Johns Game Thursday, then it needs new leadership. You cannot use an institutional “spring break” as an excuse for not easily selling out a 2,700 seat arena in anywhere New York City for any decent sporting event. It just means that your marketing stinks.
You’re suggesting Peter Pilling should lose his job if Thursday’s game isn’t a sellout? The same guy who hired Meg, Hovde and Poppe? Are you going to the game and bringing 3-4 people?
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Seems over-the-top, Jack
Just suggesting that whomever is in charge of sports marketing under the A.D. should be able to get a great turnout tonight, Close one tonight with Columbia prevailing by seven points 72-65
Will you be there?
Doesn’t look like many are.
So far, a completely one sided affair, 15-2 Lions, even though Weiss not sharp at all from the field.
Different lineup tonite. No Fliss or Maria Avlias in Q1.
Are they injured?
In the doghouse?
Columbia up 20-4 after Q1.
If this lineup is better, it’s on the coach for not realizing this until this point in this season. As great as Meg has been, she hasn’t done a terrific job using her entire bench.
Broadcast saying any number of Columbia players are “not available” tonight.
Columbia is up 31-10, and frankly, St. Johns is fortunate it’s not trailing by 30+. Already 8 steals by Columbia and 11 turnovers by St Johns but relatively few points off of them.
Not exactly.
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Looking at some IG clips and both appear to be in boots.
They should just cancel the 4th quarter. Lions up 58-22 with under 2 to go in the 3rd quarter. Weiss all over the court this quarter, really taking over.