BYU head women’s basketball coach Amber Whiting said she had players ask her what the team was going to do after the Cougars lost to Kansas in the Big 12 tournament earlier in March.

“I told them that we are playing,” Whiting said during Monday’s press conference. “That’s the goal, obviously. I feel like you have to have the postseason, have to have the mindset to work to get better and work to play in it every time.”

BYU freshman guard Amari Whiting — Amber Whiting’s daughter — knows that the main objective will always be the same but it’s not always attainable. When reaching the highest level became unlikely this season, the Cougars had to see what other options were available.

“Obviously we want to be in March Madness,” Amari Whiting said. “We were all kind of antsy, waiting to see who we would play, where we would play, if we would host so our friends and family could come.”

Sunday night, BYU got its answer as the Cougars accepted an invitation to play in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT). They learned they would be a No. 5 seed and would play at the 4th-seeded Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday.

“Once we found, our group chat was blowing up just talking about it,” Amari Whiting said. “It was really cool.”

Amber Whiting admitted to hoping that BYU would get a high-enough seed to be able to host a first-round game but knew that might not be the case. She said the Cougars are thrilled with the opportunity to be a part of the first WBIT.

“It’s the first ever and it parallels the men’s NIT with the NCAA doing the seeding,” Amber Whiting said. “We’re looking at the teams and it’s very, very competitive. It’s obviously more competitive than the other one (the WNIT), so we’re really excited.”

She said that she’s glad to see women’s basketball getting another opportunity to showcase the sport.

“If you look at women’s sports, it’s growing so fast,” Amber Whiting said. “More and more people are watching it and appreciating the game. I just feel like the opportunities that are there for us, we have to take advantage of them.”

Amari Whiting believes that women’s college basketball has plenty of good teams to flush out two tournaments.

“For us to have another tournament beside the NCAA tournament, I think it’s really cool,” Amari Whiting said. “We do have more than a handful of teams and we can play in a second competitive bracket.”

But the biggest benefit for the BYU players and coaches is getting to play the game they love with their teammates.

“They’re just excited to get out there and play again, to put the jersey back on again,” Amber Whiting said. “There are a lot of teams across the country who don’t have this opportunity. Getting in the gym every day for me is therapeutic and so I didn’t want to just stop.”

On a program level, BYU has a young team so as a head coach Amber Whiting values every opportunity it can get to grow.

“I feel like working on the chemistry and being able to put different lineups out there and game prep more are all valuable,” Amber Whiting said. “Any game reps that you can get makes it so much better for next year.”

Amari Whiting said that she is looking forward to both the physical and emotional benefits from having the season continue.

“The more games I can play, the better it is for me especially coming off of my ACL injury,” Amari Whiting said. “I feel like this first year was just kind of about getting through the season healthy, but I feel like I kind of have turned a corner. I know I’m going to be healthy so now let’s add things to my game, let’s actually play. I feel like the more games I can get, the better. And I just want to play with my seniors a couple more times.”

BYU is scheduled to take on the Broncos in the first round of the WBIT in Santa Clara on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on ESPN+.

Notes: BYU’s selection marks the 28th postseason appearance in program history and the first trip to the WBIT … The Cougars are 16-23 all-time in the postseason (NCAA & WNIT) and will travel to Santa Clara, California in search of win number 17 … Seniors Lauren Gustin and Kaylee Smiler will lead the Cougars into the postseason after finishing their first year in the Big 12 with six wins in what head coach Amber Whiting dubbed “the best conference in the country”.

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