It's not the destination they had planned for at the beginning of this season.

But members of the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team can take some solace in the fact that they're getting another chance to play in the postseason.

The Badgers, picked to finish second in the Big Ten Conference by the league's coaches and third by the media in the preseason, weren't one of the four Big Ten teams to land a spot in the NCAA tournament on Selection Monday.

In fact, they weren't even in the conversation.

Instead, UW (16-13) is headed to the Women's National Invitation Tournament for the second straight season, having lost to Wyoming in the tournament title game last year.

The Badgers landed one of the 17 at-large berths in the WNIT's 48-team field, the tournament announced late Monday night.

They also received a first-round bye, and will host the winner of Wednesday's game between American and Villanova Saturday night at the UW Field House.

UW put in bids to host games in each round of the WNIT, and all of those games will be played at the Field House because of scheduling conflicts at the Kohl Center.

The WNIT awards automatic bids to all 31 conferences, berths given to the top team in the league standings that did not earn an NCAA spot. Michigan State, which tied for fifth in the Big Ten at 10-8, received the conference's automatic bid.

Illinois, Indiana and Michigan also received at-large bids to give the Big Ten five teams in the WNIT, the most of any conference.

And despite the logjam of Big Ten teams seemingly in line for bids ahead of the Badgers — Michigan State, Indiana and Michigan were seeded above them in the Big Ten tournament, and Illinois beat them soundly in the first round of the conference tournament — UW coach Lisa Stone was confident her team would land a bid.

The Badgers were back at practice last week in anticipation of WNIT play.

"Our case for the WNIT is better this year than last year," Stone said late Monday night, pointing to UW's 9-9 record in Big Ten play and RPI (67 according to collegerpi.com).

Meanwhile, Purdue, Ohio State, Iowa and Minnesota were busy making plans for the NCAA tournament.

The Badgers certainly would rather be in that position.

But a second straight trip to the WNIT — it's the first time since the 2001-02 season, when UW qualified for its second straight NCAA tournament trip under then-coach Jane Albright, that the Badgers have played in the postseason in consecutive seasons — is better than nothing.

"We're excited," Stone said. "Our kids, I texted them and they're all getting back to us (saying), 'That's awesome, Coach. Let's go.' They're fired up, so we're going to make the best of this opportunity and finish strong."

And stringing together a few wins in the WNIT — the Badgers are 13-2 all-time in three trips to the tournament, having won the title in 2000 and finishing second in 1999 and last season — could help erase the memory of their 73-58 loss to Illinois on the first day of the Big Ten tournament.

"I'm happy that we've got some postseason experience in front of us, and our refocus is that we've got to make the best of this opportunity," Stone said. "Let's keep playing basketball and try to get the taste of our early exit in the Big Ten tournament out of our mouth. And the only way to do that is to get back on the court and play."