Joe McKeown, Candy Cage, Natasha Oakes and Bonnie Henrickson join 8-member group
Four members have been appointed to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament Selection Committee. They are Joe McKeown, former Northwestern women’s basketball head coach; Candy Cage, Atlantic 10 Conference associate commissioner for women’s basketball; Natasha Oakes, West Virginia deputy athletics director and senior woman administrator; and Bonnie Henrickson, former women’s basketball coach.
McKeown retired from Northwestern following the 2025-26 season after 40 years total as a head coach. One of the winningest coaches in Division I women’s basketball history, he led programs at New Mexico State, George Washington and Northwestern to 19 NCAA tournament appearances. The Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2020, McKeown guided Northwestern to its first Big Ten regular-season championship in 30 years and led George Washington to 15 NCAA tournament appearances and an Elite Eight appearance during his tenure there.
Cage serves as associate commissioner for women’s basketball at the Atlantic 10 Conference, where she oversees all aspects of the conference’s women’s basketball operations, including scheduling, officiating, championship administration and strategic growth initiatives. Before joining the Atlantic 10 in 2023, Cage served as interim commissioner of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and spent 18 years at Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg, Maryland, including a lengthy tenure as athletics director. Her experience also includes roles as head coach at Loyola Maryland, associate head coach at Georgia Tech and assistant coach at Mount St. Mary’s.
Oakes is deputy athletics director and senior woman administrator at West Virginia, where she oversees governance, compliance and strategic initiatives while serving as the sport administrator for women’s basketball and several other programs. Oakes represents West Virginia on Big 12 and NCAA governance groups and has served on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Competition Committee. Before joining West Virginia, she held senior leadership positions at North Texas, Missouri Western and the NCAA national office.
Henrickson, a former head women’s college basketball coach, retired in March 2024 after 38 years in the sport and 27 years as a head coach. She began her coaching career as an assistant at Virginia Tech from 1988 to 1997 and later served as head coach there from 1997 to 2004, compiling a 158-62 record. She then led Kansas from 2004 to 2015, guiding the Jayhawks to two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, five Women’s National Invitation Tournament berths, including a WNIT finals appearance in 2008-09, and a 186-171 record. In 2015, she became head coach at UC Santa Barbara, where she spent nine seasons from 2015 to 2024 and amassed 121 wins, ranking third all-time in program history. Her career head coaching record across three major programs stands at 465-376 (.553), with seven NCAA tournament appearances and multiple conference championships. She also earned national recognition, including the 2005 Carol Eckman Award, and coached USA Basketball to a gold medal at the 2000 R. William Jones Cup.
The eight-member WBIT Selection Committee is made up of former women’s basketball head coaches and current or former administrators. The other committee members include former head coaches Cindy Fisher (San Diego), Harry Perretta (Villanova) and Lisa Stockton (Tulane). Also on the committee is former administrator Barbara Burke (Iowa, Tulane, Eastern Illinois, Wyoming), who currently serves as the committee chair. Burke is also an alumni of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.
Columbia claimed the 2026 WBIT championship by defeating Brigham Young in the title game at Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State in Wichita, Kansas. The WBIT semifinals and final will once again be held at Koch Arena in 2027. The 32-team WBIT postseason tournament is owned and funded by the NCAA. Selections, pairings and the bracket for the 2027 WBIT will be announced Sunday, March 14. Preliminary-round games will begin March 18 at the higher seed’s home court. The semifinals and finals will be March 29 and 31. ESPN platforms once again will broadcast all WBIT games, while Westwood One Sports will provide radio coverage of the semifinals and finals nationwide.
For more information on the WBIT, please visit ncaa.com/wbit or sign up to receive ticket offers, news and updates.
