Cats, Irish head to NIT
NU draws Tulsa; ND hosts UAB; Illinois State, Penn State also in
INDIANAPOLIS -- Most seasons, any college basketball tournament bearing some of these storied names would have to be A-No. 1, top-of-the-heap.
But this March, it's ye olde National Invitation Tournament that landed a remarkable batch of brand-name leftovers courtesy of the NCAA selection committee.
Consider: Kentucky, Florida, Georgetown -- even Davidson, with dead-eye Stephen Curry the darling of last season's NCAA Elite Eight.
Added to the faux gold list this time around are such scurrying regional hopefuls as Northwestern, Illinois State and Notre Dame. The entire 32-team cast will begin assembling Tuesday night for the start of three rounds at campus sites before the semifinals and championship game on March 31 and April 2 at Madison Square Garden.
The No. 1 seeds include NCAA near-misses San Diego State (23-9) and Creighton (26-7), plus Florida (23-10) and Auburn (22-11).
Northwestern (17-13) is the No. 5 seed in the Auburn bracket and will open Wednesday night at Tulsa (24-10). The postseason appearance will be only the fourth in program history.
''I thought our team did enough this year to be able to continue to play,'' NU coach Bill Carmody said. ''I thought we won enough games and played pretty consistently at a nice level, so I thought we deserved it.''
Before losing to Minnesota in a first-round Big Ten tournament game Thursday, Carmody's upticking Wildcats dispatched an impressive array of conference foes during the regular season, including Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin.
Joining Northwestern in the NIT will be conference mate Penn State (22-11). The Nittany Lions -- reportedly one of the last teams left out of the NCAA field -- are the No. 2 seed in the Florida quad and will host George Mason (22-10) on Tuesday.
Illinois State (24-9) is also a No. 5 seed and drew an intriguing assignment at Kansas State (21-11) on Wednesday. It was at K-State that ISU coach Tim Jankovich was a key contributor as a playmaking guard on teams that reached the NCAA's Elite Eight (1981) and Sweet 16 (1982) under Jack Hartman.
''In this day and age, in the climate in which we live, it's still a great honor to be invited to the NIT,'' Jankovich said. ''Regardless of who we play or where we play, you just have to look at the field to understand how fortunate we are.''
Also notable about the Redbirds' seeding is that while they are a No. 5, they crunched Creighton -- a No. 1 -- 73-49 in a Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinal nine days ago in St. Louis.
Notre Dame (18-14) was tapped as the No. 2 seed in the Creighton bracket and will open in fine karmic fashion vs. UAB (22-11) on Tuesday -- St. Patrick's Day -- at the Joyce Center. The Blazers are coached by former Indiana chief Mike Davis.
Bradley (18-14) also will have another taste of postseason, but not in the NIT. The Braves will host Austin Peay (19-13) on Wednesday in Peoria in a first-round game of the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
Last March, Bradley lost the best-of-three championship series of the first College Basketball Invitational to Tulsa.
''This opportunity allows our seniors to put on a Bradley jersey at least one more time,'' coach Jim Les said. ''It also allows our younger players to gain some experience playing deeper into March. We're excited about it.''
* Davidson (26-7) at South Carolina (21-9), 6 p.m.
* Rhode Island (22-10) at Niagara (26-8), 6 p.m.
* George Mason (22-10) at Penn State (22-11), 7 p.m.
* UAB (22-11) at Notre Dame (18-14), 8 p.m.
* UNLV (21-10) at Kentucky (20-12), 8:30 p.m.
* Weber State (21-9) at San Diego State (23-9), 9 p.m.
* Nebraska (18-12) at New Mexico (21-11), 9 p.m.
* Washington State (17-15) at St. Mary's, Calif. (25-6), 10 p.m.
Wednesday's first-round games
* Duquesne (21-12) at Virginia Tech (18-14), 6 p.m.
* Miami (18-12) at Providence (19-13), 6 p.m.
* Illinois State (24-9) at Kansas State (21-11), 7 p.m.
* Bowling Green (19-13) at Creighton (26-7), 7 p.m.
* Tennessee-Martin (22-9) at Auburn (22-11), 7 p.m.
* Jacksonville (18-13) at Florida (23-10), 7 p.m.
* Northwestern (17-13) at Tulsa (24-10), 8 p.m.
* Georgetown (17-13) at Baylor (20-14), 8 p.m.
* Northeastern (18-12) vs. Wyoming (19-13), 8 p.m.
* UTEP (19-12) vs. Nevada (21-12), 10 p.m.
Wednesday's first-round games
* St. John's (16-17) at Richmond (18-15), 6 p.m.
* College of Charleston (26-8) vs. Troy (19-12), 7 p.m.
* Buffalo (21-11) vs. Wichita State (16-16), 7 p.m.
* Boise State (19-12) vs. Stanford (18-13), 9 p.m.
* Vermont (23-8) at Wisconsin-Green Bay (22-10), 7 p.m.
* Houston (21-11) at Oregon State (13-17), 9 p.m.
* Rider (19-12) at Liberty (22-11), 6 p.m.
* Kent State (19-14) at Oakland, Mich. (22-12), 6 p.m.
Wednesday's first-round games
* Belmont (19-12) at Evansville (17-13), 7 p.m.
* Austin Peay (19-13) at Bradley (18-14), 7:05 p.m.
* The Citadel (20-12) at Old Dominion (21-10), TBA
* Mount St. Marys (19-13) at James Madison (19-14), TBA
* Portland (19-12) at Pacific (19-11), TBA
* Drake (17-5) at Idaho (16-15), TBA