Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons to Face Ohio State in Preseason WNIT
July 15, 2004 | Women's Basketball
July 15, 2004
Preseason WNIT bracket in PDF Format
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The 16-team field for the 2004 Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament was announced Thursday (July 15), and the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team will be making a trip to Columbus. The Falcons will play a first-round game against The Ohio State University on Friday, Nov. 12.
The BGSU-OSU winner will return to action two days later (Nov. 14), facing the winner of the first-round game pitting Boston University at St. Joseph's.
BGSU will be competing in the Preseason WNIT for the first time in school history. The Falcons have made one Postseason WNIT appearance, losing a 95-90 home decision to Butler in the first round of the 1998 tourney.
The November 12 date marks the earliest start to a season in BGSU women's basketball history. The earliest regular-season opener had been on Nov. 14, 1997, an 81-72 win at Youngstown State. Ironically, that was the season in which BG advanced to the Postseason WNIT.
The Falcons finished the 2003-04 season with an overall record of 21-10, the team's most wins since that 1997-98 campaign. BGSU, one of the most improved teams in the nation, surpassed the previous season's win total by nine en route to a berth in the Mid-American Conference Tournament's championship game. Head coach Curt Miller's team went 11-5 in MAC regular-season play.
The Falcons will be meeting an OSU team that is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Buckeyes of head coach Jim Foster posted identical records to the Falcons in 2003-04, going 21-10 overall and 11-5 in Big Ten Conference play. OSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA tourney.
OSU holds a 12-1 lead in the all-time series with the Falcons, including a 5-0 advantage in games played in Columbus. The last meeting was a 95-49 Ohio State win at Anderson Arena on Dec. 12, 2000. In the teams' lone prior matchup in OSU's Value City Arena, the Buckeyes posted an 86-56 victory on Dec. 4, 1999. BGSU's lone win over OSU came in the 1974-75 season.
The Preseason WNIT is an annual tourney featuring 16 of the nation's top NCAA Division I women's basketball teams. A team may participate no more than once in a four-year period. Additionally, only one institution per conference may play in the tournament in the same year.
The eight first-round games of the single-elimination tournament are scheduled for Nov. 12, with the second round set for Nov. 14. Semifinal contests will be played on Wed., Nov. 17, with the championship game on either Saturday, Nov. 20, or Sunday, Nov. 21. All games, including the semifinals and championship, will be hosted by participating schools at their home facility, with sites determined after each round.
The 2004 event features nine teams that experienced national postseason play in 2003-04, including OSU, St. Joseph's, Arizona, Duke, Middle Tennessee State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Rice and South Florida.
Texas Tech defeated Rutgers in last year's Preseason WNIT final.
The complete first-round pairings follow, and also can be found in the attached pdf document.
2004 PRESEASON WNIT
First-round games (all game times to be determined):
Friday, Nov. 12
Illinois State at Notre Dame
Western Illinois at Nebraska
Davidson at Duke
South Florida at Middle Tennessee State
Bowling Green at Ohio State
Boston University at Saint Joseph's
Saint Mary's (CA) at Arizona
McNeese State at Rice
