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The 64-team field for the 2015 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament will be announced tonight at 6:00pm on ESPN. The TCU Horned Frogs are securely on the bubble after finishing the regular season with a 17-13 overall record and a 9-9 finish in Big 12 play. The Frogs finished third in the Big 12 Conference, after the tiebreaker rules were put into effect. Texas, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State also finished with 9-9 conference records. The Big 12 had the #1 Conference RPI this season.
Unlike the Men's Tournament, the Women's version of the event only has 64 teams in the field, thus no play-in games. The 32 conference champions are awarded automatic bids, while remaining 32 are seeded as at-large teams. The entire event is broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2.
Even if the Frogs fail to advance to the NCAA Tournament, they are guaranteed a spot in the Women's NIT. Unlike the Men's NIT, the WNIT invites 64 teams. The highest remaining teams in each conference are awarded an automatic bid to the Tournament. With #1 Baylor having already secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and with #2 Oklahoma a lock to join the field, TCU will at worst be going to the WNIT as the third-best Big 12 team. The field for the WNIT will be announced at 7:30pm and the bracket will be revealed at approximately 10:30pm.
With a postseason in TCU's future, Head Coach Raegan Pebley will become the just the second coach in TCU Women's Basketball history to lead the Frogs to the postseason. She will become the first head coach in program history to accomplish that feat in their first season at the helm.
The Frogs have quite the history in the postseason. TCU has participated in a postseason tournament in 12 of the last 14 seasons, including nine NCAA Tournament appearances and three WNIT appearances. Most recently, the Frogs fell to Colorado in the First Round of last year's WNIT.
As we wait, check these two great features on the team: this one by Travis Brown of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and this one by ESPN's Kate Fagan.
Come chat with us as we go on Bubble Watch for the second consecutive night!