photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

The Kansas women's basketball team huddles prior to its game against Houston on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.

After a year of highs and lows, the Kansas women’s basketball team finally learned its postseason fate on Sunday when it was announced that the Jayhawks did not make the NCAA Tournament.

While KU fans may be disappointed that the Jayhawks will not be dancing, the season is not over yet. The Jayhawks have accepted a bid as a No. 2 seed in the WBIT and will host Troy in the first round of the tournament on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, or WBIT, is a 32-team postseason tournament operated by the NCAA that includes teams that were left out of the NCAA Tournament. The top four overall seeds are the first four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament. The WBIT began in 2024, and an eight-person committee of former coaches and current and former administrators selects the teams that make up the field.

Troy finished the season 25-7 and advanced to the Sun Belt tournament championship before it fell to James Madison 69-52 on March 9. If the Jayhawks defeat the Trojans in their first round matchup, they would take on the winner of Rice and Louisiana Tech at Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday.

Kansas was led in scoring this season by freshman forward Jaliya Davis, who averaged 19.9 points across 22 games but missed most of the nonconference schedule with lower leg pain. Junior guard S’Mya Nichols added onto her stellar KU career, averaging 17.3 points through 32 games for the Jayhawks this season. Nichols also struggled with an ankle injury that saw her leave multiple games in the heart of conference play, but she never missed a game.

Davis became a national story for Kansas when she collected nine consecutive Big 12 freshman of the week awards, breaking the previous Big 12 record and national power-conference record for the accolade. Davis also received All-Big 12 first-team honors and unanimously claimed the Big 12 freshman of the year award at the conclusion of the regular season, while Nichols also earned a spot on the All-Big 12 first team.

Senior guard Elle Evans finished the regular season second in 3-point percentage at the NCAA Division I level, connecting on 47.6% of her attempts from downtown. Senior forward Lilly Meister joined the Jayhawks after spending three seasons at Indiana and immediately made an impact, starting all 32 games for the Jayhawks and averaging 8.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

Another senior, guard Sania Copeland, didn’t light up the box score but established herself as a premier defender for Kansas this season. Senior forward Nadira Eltayeb appeared in 24 games for the Jayhawks in her final year.

Kansas added four freshmen to its program this season, with forwards Davis and Tatyonna Brown and guard Libby Fandel and Keeley Parks joining the Jayhawks this season. Davis and Fandel were the only two players to receive substantial playing time, with both establishing themselves as starters.

Davis started in all 22 games she played while Fandel got the nod in 20 of her 32 games. Brown saw some playing time in nonconference matchups, but her playing time faded as she logged limited minutes in Big 12 play. Parks appeared in all but one of Kansas’ first 17 games but an injury kept her on the bench for the final 15 contests of the regular season.

KU experienced some early success in nonconference play, even when Davis was absent, headlined by a victory over Minnesota, which ended up being a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, the Jayhawks stumbled at their Thanksgiving tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, as Nichols scored 40 points but barely anyone else contributed in a loss to Georgia, and then Nichols was held to four as KU lost to mid-major Dayton by a point the next day.

After losing at Iowa State on a buzzer-beater, the Jayhawks got off to a poor start to conference play in the new year that resulted in a 1-6 league record. KU brought back sophomore forward Regan Williams from an injury of her own and picked up some speed, but still suffered close losses to eventual tournament teams like Colorado and TCU. The Jayhawks played themselves back into fringe tournament consideration with a 5-1 stretch that included a senior-night upset against Texas Tech, but lost at Oklahoma State and remained a long shot entering the Big 12 tournament.

KU shut down UCF in the first round but fell to Colorado again in the second, making a WBIT appearance clearly the most likely result for its postseason.

If Kansas wins three games and claims its region, which includes No. 1 seed Texas A&M, the semifinals and championship game will be played at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita beginning on March 30. KU is three years removed from winning a title in another alternative tournament, the WNIT.