The Gophers women's basketball team (20-11) struggled down the stretch of the regular season, then lost to Washington in the first round of the Big Ten tournament, likely pushing Minnesota off the NCAA tournament bubble, though that officially remains to be seen.

The NCAA tournament bracket will be released Sunday at 7 p.m., on ESPN.

If the Gophers don't make the NCAA tournament, they could be headed to the nascent Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT), run by the NCAA, which will announce its 32-team field Sunday night after the 68-team NCAA field is named.

The WBIT was created last season to give women the same postseason opportunities afforded the men. The NCAA runs both its own tournament and the men's NIT, offering a total of 100 member schools a postseason chance. The 32-team WBIT was created last year to expand the women's side to 100 as well.

Last season, Dawn Plitzuweit's first with the Gophers, they made a run in the third-tier WNIT before losing to St. Louis to finish with a 20-15 record.

Automatic qualifiers for the tournament include any conference regular season champs who don't make the NCAA field as well as the top four teams, as determined by the selection committee, to miss out on the NCAA field. The Gophers could qualify this way or get an at-large bid.

Minnesota's net ranking remains high — it was No. 39 as of Saturday afternoon — which would indicate the Gophers would be in good position to play in the WBIT, which was won by Illinois last season.

The first three rounds of the WBIT are played at home sites, with games played March 20, 23 and 27. The semifinals (March 31) and the final (April 2) will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis.

Because Williams Arena is being used for the MSHSL boys basketball tournament next week, the Gophers would likely not be able to host a first-round game.

Gophers men likely finished

The Gophers men finished 15-17 after losing Wednesday in the Big Ten tournament opening round to Northwestern before Ben Johnson was fired as coach. They're unlikely to play or be selected in any postseason tournaments.