For the first time in nine seasons, the Hawkeye women’s basketball team will not compete in the NCAA Tournament.

Officials announced Monday night that Iowa (19-13) missed the cut for the Big Dance, remaining in the “First Four Out” category that the team had been placed in in recent weeks.  The 64-team field was announced shortly after the NCAA Tournament selection show.

Seeding for the tournament is yet to be decided.

Despite the NCAA Tournament snub, the NIT selection is still the Hawks’ 15th postseason appearance in the last 16 seasons.  This is the third time the team will participate in the NIT, with previous campaigns coming in 2003 and 2005.

In the first round of the tournament, the Hawkeyes will host Ball State (21-9) in Carver-Hawkeye on March 17. The winner of that game will face the winner of the St. Louis/Little Rock game taking place the same day.

The NIT selection comes on the heels of a late-season slide by the Hawkeyes in which they lost eight of their last 13 regular-season contests. In the Big Ten Tournament, Iowa defeated Michigan before falling to top-seeded Maryland.

During the 2015-16 season, the team was ranked as high as 19th in national polls before struggling.

Iowa’s résumé seemed impressive enough, with head coach Lisa Bluder’s squad going 11-2 in a difficult nonconference schedule while playing with the 27th-toughest schedule overall.

However, the numbers weren’t enough to convince the NCAA Tournament selection committee that the team was worthy of a ninth-straight appearance.

 – by Jake Mosbach