The NC State and Kansas State women's basketball programs will be host schools for the Preseason WNIT Classic, which will have a modified format with eight teams this coming season.
The event will have two four-team pods and a three-game guarantee for each team. No champions will be crowned, but each pod will have an all-tournament team.
The teams playing at NC State in Raleigh, North Carolina, are Florida, Towson and Wofford. The teams playing at Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas, are Western Kentucky, North Carolina A&T and UT Martin. Games will be on Nov. 12, 14 and 15 at both sites.
Then on Nov. 19, Kansas State will play at NC State. The Wolfpack won the ACC tournament last season and were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but fell in the Sweet 16 to Indiana. NC State was ranked No. 8 in ESPN's way-too-early Top 25 for 2021-22 by ESPN's Charlie Creme in April.
This will be the 27th preseason WNIT event. The 2020 preseason WNIT was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We appreciate these eight programs working through the hurdles of pandemic-era scheduling and bringing their competitive energy to the event," said Jared Rudiger, executive director of the WNIT. "With the return of the Preseason WNIT, the women's basketball calendar is starting to look familiar again, and this event will once again be a valuable experience for teams as they prepare for their conference schedules."