Yes, there's a Women's NIT - for that matter, there's a women's basketball tournament below that as well, but that's beside the point. On Sunday, West Virginia was announced as one of the teams in the Women's NIT. On Monday, its AD announced that it
was declining the bid, because of injuries and "athletes set to enter the transfer portal" - in other words, "Why the hell should I play in some meaningless tournament and risk what's left of my career before I can transfer to another school?"
'Transfer portal?'
I haven't thought lower-tier sports, especially non-revenue, would have much interaction with the transfer portal. Does cross country, diving etc. have many people navigating the portal?
I don't know about "many," but there are quite a few transfers, and not just in Division I. Just because it's not a "money sport" doesn't mean somebody wouldn't switch schools to compete for a better coach if they had the opportunity. I remember a story
about a Division II women's basketball (IIRC) player from one of the Alaska schools being denied a transfer to a school in Hawaii. (Until now, a school could "veto" a transfer; the player could still transfer, but the one-year sit-out rule applied.) You
didn't hear about it much for women's basketball as it had the same "one year sit-out, no exceptions" rule as for football and men's basketball.
There are plenty of opportunities for women to make money playing pro basketball, but they have to be seen first - and women's basketball has always been a case of "the usual suspects."
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