It’s here.
In most time zones on this planet, the NIT starts later today.
The National Invitation Tournament is the best thing humanity’s ever done. Let’s get that out of the way up front. Penicillin? Eyeglasses? Domesticated dogs? Impressive feats. Rewarding feats! But the NIT…it’s bewildering that our frail bodies and feeble minds could create something so divine. A tournament that resembles the heavens, birthed from dirty old humanity? Keep that light with you on your darkest days.
There are 32 teams in this year’s NIT, which is great, because 32 is the perfect number of teams for a postseason college basketball tournament. 68? Gaudy. 16? Lacking in substance. 32? Wholesome, yet invigorating. The tournament next door, if you will. Tim Miles at his halftime–speech best.
We’re here to guide you through each of those 32 teams, sharing their NIT history as well as what you should know to properly appreciate their moment. We’ll talk about each of the Day 1 games at the end.
SMU: The New Face of the ACC
SMU’s never won an NIT, but they did make the 2014 Championship, where they lost to Richard Pitino and Minnesota. As the top overall seed, the Mustangs bear the torch for the whole ACC, America’s greatest conference. They are the new face of the conference formerly centered around Tobacco Road.
Bearing the torch for the Mustangs? Hopefully Boopie Miller. SMU might have better players than Miller. But none of them are named Boopie.
We all remember Miller lighting up App State in last year’s NIT, when the guard still played for Wake Forest. He missed time this year down the stretch. I haven’t seen anything to indicate he’s not going to play, but judging by what we saw on Sunday, that doesn’t mean he’s going to play. Clearly, nobody is telling me who will and will not play in the NIT. If they were, I would not have so publicly pined for the Nebraska Cornhuskers to make my favorite tournament.
UNI: Ben Jacobson’s Eleventh-Best Team
Northern Iowa’s back in the spotlight after a few years away. They’re 2–2 all-time in NIT’s, having made the second round in both 2012 and 2022.
This season’s Panthers squad is…the Northern Iowa Panthers. They are what they always are. This year’s edition isn’t especially good or bad. They’re another Ben Jacobson team. They play clean ball. They cater to their strengths. They aren’t especially flashy but they aren’t wildly boring. When Jacobson’s approach goes well, it creates legendary teams, your old man’s favorite mid-majors. When it goes medium, it creates a fine team. Will a fine team be enough to make a run? Probably not, but we’ve seen way weirder things happen in the NIT.
Oklahoma State: Get to Know Steve Lutz
Here’s something other people might find impressive: This is the first time Steve Lutz has ever missed the NCAA T*urnament as a head coach. We, of course, think that’s a bad track record. But others might disagree.
Lutz worked as an assistant for a lot of years, the last eleven of which he spent under Greg McDermott at Creighton and Matt Painter at Purdue. He got the job at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, won there, went to Western Kentucky, won there too, and is now Oklahoma State’s first-year guy. The man is a winner, and his 15–17 Oklahoma State Cowboys enter the first round favored.
Oklahoma State’s got a snakebitten NIT past. They were in the original NIT, and they’ve made the field 13 different times. They’ve never, however, won three games in one tournament.
Wichita State: They Still Exist
It’s been a minute since we’ve seen the Shockers, but Wichita State won the 2011 NIT and made the Final Four in 2019. Good program. Has been going through it a little bit since Gregg Marshall got himself fired. They hired Paul Mills—the Oral Roberts guy—two seasons ago, and it’s too early to tell if it’s working. I wonder if Wichita misses the MVC. The AAC isn’t much better anymore, and the AAC does not have Arch Madness. Alas.
The guy you might remember here is Justin Hill, who dropped 21 for Georgia in last year’s NIT second round. He transferred to Wichita State last summer. It’s been going fine. But if that second round game in Winston-Salem taught us anything…Hill can go from fine to great as quickly as anyone.
Arkansas State: Gritty and Growing
What do you get when you cross Nate Oats’s adapted Moreyball with Sun Belt talent? A feisty defensive team that’s quietly one of the best mid-majors in the country. Bryan Hodgson, a former Oats assistant at Buffalo and Alabama, is on his way to being everybody’s favorite next head coach.
I don’t know that I’d describe this team as fun, but they’re really effective at what they do. That isn’t expected to be enough to get the Red Wolves to their first NIT Final Four, but we wouldn’t put it past them.
Saint Louis: Schertz & Avila & Swope & a Guy Named Gibson Jimerson
If you follow the NIT but not SLU, you don’t know Gibson Jimerson. He’s a prodigious shooter (something like nine three-point attempts per game) with a funny name, and he’s been in college for years and years and years. If you follow SLU but not the NIT, well, you do know Josh Schertz and Robbie Avila and Isaiah Swope, our good friends from last year. But while the Sycamores-turned-Billikens are recognizable, Avila doesn’t elicit the same fervor he did last spring. He’s got five games to try to regain that swagger.
Saint Louis has one NIT title to its name plus three losses in the championship, most recently a back-to-back pair in 1989 and 1990. 1990 was particularly cruel. That’s the one that made it back-to-back. In 1989? They didn’t know they’d lose again the next year. In 1990? They knew it was two in a row. That innocent, beneficent ignorance of 1989 is what led Taylor Swift to title her third-best album 1989. Swifties always look for Easter eggs about her personal life. They’re there, but they’re all about the Saint Louis Billikens.
North Texas: Defense Wins Championships?
Ross Hodge was the defensive coordinator on North Texas’s 2023 national championship team. I don’t know if that was his technical title, but I think that’s what his role was. Regardless of whether it came from him or someone else, that piece of the Mean Green identity has stuck around. They are mean and they are green. It’s a good name. (Also, in extremely typical UNT fashion, I believe Hodge was a musical theatre guy growing up. I forget the exact story there.)
Moulaye Sissoko and Matthew Stone are the only players left from the 2023 team, at least among those who get minutes. Even Stone doesn’t get many minutes. It’s really Sissoko tying Denton to the glorious past as UNT enters its fourth straight National Invitation Tournament.
Furman: Shooters Shoot
Furman was a hot name entering that 2019 NIT, but they lost their opener and remain 0–2 all-time in the meaningful college basketball postseason.
If you like big numbers, watch PJay Smith. The guy is active on the offensive end. He’s not alone, either. Furman’s all about moving the ball well and knocking down open looks. They have enough shortcomings to keep this from being a roaring success, but when it works, it’s a great time. That kind of team. Good Furman is pleasant, easy on the eyes. Bad Furman is just another mid-major.
UC Irvine: Third Time’s the Charm?
This is UC Irvine’s third straight NIT appearance, but they haven’t won a game in this thing since 1986. That should change. This year’s team is one of the best in this year’s NIT, at least on paper. They’re led by legitimate star Bent Leuchten, a seven-footer from Germany who might be the best player in this tournament. Imagine how tall he’d be if he wasn’t bent!
They’re the Anteaters, and they say Zot, and they’re probably the third-best UC school? Behind Berkeley and UCLA? UC Irvine intrigues me. I’m going to start calling these guys a sleeping giant and see if anyone calls me on it.
Northern Colorado: The Real UNC
They do go by UNC, to be clear.
The shotmaking display in the Big Sky Championship said it all. These guys are easy on the eyes. Breakthrough year for Steve Smiley in Greeley. This is UNC’s first ever NIT appearance.
Georgia Tech: Not Your 2017 Georgia Tech
Although…
Can the Yellow Jackets make a run? They’ve been beat up this year, but they’re young and fun. Watch the things Baye Ndongo gets up to in the paint. Presence.
Georgia Tech’s made the NIT Championship twice, and they’ve lost both times. One of those was 2017, when Josh Pastner lost to Jamie Dixon. The other was 1971, when Dean Smith beat Whack Hyder’s squad.
Whack Hyder.
What a name.
Jacksonville State: So There’s a Town in Alabama Named Jacksonville
It’s in northern Alabama, too. But Jax State is a separate institution from the University of North Alabama. Lot of misconceptions about these Gamecocks.
Ray Harper’s been at Jacksonville State for a long time. This might be his best team yet. It’s the first NIT bid for the school.
Jaron Pierre Jr.’s the man to watch, involved in a little bit of everything on the offensive end. If this tournament goes in a hyper-specific Conference USA-centric direction, you should know that Jacksonville State’s won two straight over MTSU, but that MTSU beat them in Murfreesboro. MTSU beats a lot of teams in Murfreesboro.
Saint Joseph’s: The Hawk, and What He Will and Will Not Do
Erik Reynolds and Xzayvier Brown are back for more after taking Seton Hall to the wire last year. People forget how consequential that game was. If Saint Joe’s wins that, maybe North Texas goes to the NIT Final Four. Maybe Saint Joe’s goes to the NIT Final Four!
The Hawks are volatile this year. They beat Texas Tech back in November, so the ceiling is high. Speaking of November, a good talking point: Saint Joe’s has beaten Villanova in back-to-back years. In case you encounter someone trying to talk College Basketball Crown and you’re not in international waters.
Saint Joe’s has somehow never won an NIT. That feels surprising. I thought northeastern Catholic schools were all born with at least one NIT championship. The Hawks have made two title games, losing to two legendary champions: Nebraska in 1996, then South Carolina in 2005.
UAB: Will Yaxel Lendeborg Play?
If Bent Leuchten isn’t the best player in this tournament, it could be Yaxel Lendeborg, who put up 30 and 20 in UAB’s AAC Tournament opener. Lendeborg’s been playing through a foot injury, though, and I haven’t seen whether or not he’ll be active.
If he isn’t, UAB does still have options. Tony Toney, for example, is still around from the 2023 NIT runner-up. Andy Kennedy runs a good ship.
UAB got third in the NIT twice about 35 years ago. They of course lost to North Texas in 2023. They’re still hunting that first NIT championship.
Santa Clara: Herb Sendek Lore
Herb Sendek’s been in college basketball a long time. Originally a Rick Pitino assistant, he’s coached at NC State, Arizona State, and now Santa Clara, lasting about ten years at each. Between those jobs and his time at Miami–Ohio, Sendek has coached 31 seasons and made 13 NIT’s. That’s got to be one of the higher hit rates for a coach who’s coached that long.
Still, for all that glory, Sendek’s only made the NIT Final Four once. The Broncos have never even made it that far. They did win a CBI and a CIT, but both of those were under Kerry Keating.
UC Riverside: Joe Kelly Town
Joe Kelly played at UC Riverside. Baseball, not basketball. But we have to lead with that. This is The Barking Crow, after all.
Under Mike Magpayo, UC Riverside’s been on the verge of a breakout for five years. It hasn’t come yet. The Big West is good, so that’s part of it, but this is a program looking to ascend to a new plane, and they keep not quite doing it.
UC Riverside was a D-II school until sometime around the turn of the millennium. This is their first ever NIT. And if you were wondering, yes, they’re as shocked as you are. UCR didn’t expect to make the NIT. They committed to the CBI. This led to a confusing chain of events which we won’t explain in full. Long story short, the NIT called South Alabama, told them they’d made it as UC Riverside’s replacement, then called South Alabama back and told them UCR was playing and that South Alabama was back out. Not good.
Dayton: What Happened?
Dayton started the year like a team with no NIT aspirations, beating UConn in Maui, nearly beating UNC in Maui, and taking down Marquette in December at UD Arena. Then, A-10 play started, and we mean A-10 play really started, with Dayton dropping three straight in January to the likes of George Washington, UMass, and George Mason. The Flyers recovered, but they were never quite the same.
Dayton’s an historic NIT player. They’ve made the championship game eight separate times, losing their first five (from 1951 to 1958) before winning the next three (from 1962 to 2010). They haven’t been strong in the event lately, winning just one game in five NIT’s since that 2010 triumph, but they keep putting themselves in positions to succeed. At some point, that’s all Dayton fans can ask for. Right? Right?? Why are you staring at me with such anger?
Florida Atlantic: Dusty May Not!
If you thought the Owls would go hootin’ on home once Dusty May returned to the Midwest, think again! You ever hear of a guy named Baba Miller? No? Well, Baba Miller. There.
FAU’s had a decent Year One post-May, playing a mostly fun brand of basketball under new coach John Jakus. This is their second NIT appearance ever and first since 2011. They’re already pushing May’s tenure to the shadows.
Middle Tennessee: Remember Nick King?
Middle Tennessee, or sometimes Middle Tennessee State, has made a little NIT noise through the years, reaching the quarterfinals twice and bringing a strong team to the 2018 edition, where the Blue Raiders lost to Louisville in the second round. This year’s squad arrives on the heels of a 12–6 Conference USA campaign, a Conference USA campaign paradoxically led by Egyptian big man Essam Mostafa.
Nick McDevitt, MTSU’s coach, was also part of that 2018 NIT, coaching the UNC Asheville team which almost took down USC in the opening round. Chimezie Metu was the USC guy whose name I couldn’t remember on today’s episode of Free Hoops.
Chattanooga: Honor, When the Champion Is Gone
Frank Champion was probably Chattanooga’s best player before he went down with a lower-body injury. I haven’t seen it confirmed that he’s out for the NIT, but in his absence, the SoCon Tournament featured even more Honor Huff for the Mocs. Huff is a 5’10” New Yorker who shoots a lot and shoots well. A menace offensively.
UTC made four straight NIT’s in the 80’s, but this is their first appearance in 38 years. Thank goodness human life expectancy has risen so much since medieval times. There are undoubtedly some Chattanooga fans who lived and died without seeing their Mocs back in the original postseason tournament, but there probably aren’t that many.
Bradley: The New GOAT?
St. John’s has won five NIT titles, if you don’t count the one they vacated. (We do, but work with us here.) Bradley has won four. Can the Braves match their archrival?
The title drought now stands 43 years, and while we still don’t think a lot of Bradley fans have lived and died without seeing their team win the big one, we’re starting to think about the possibility. If the Chuck Orsborn days seem far in the past, then you have a proper conception of time vis-à-vis Bradley basketball.
Much like Huff, Duke Deen is a smaller player with a great shot, one who looks like he’s floating through the air on jumpers. The Shreveport native had a rough day in Bradley’s second-round loss last year to Cincinnati. Does he erase those demons this week?
North Alabama: ASUN Rising
The North Alabama Lions are one of Division I’s newest teams, especially if you limit the designation to those who’ve been around long enough to be eligible for the postseason. Hailing from the Northwest corner of the state, UNA’s ascent hit the turbo boosters this year, leading to some packed crowds at CB&S Bank Arena from a fanbase that’s fired the hell up. (We heard more NIT Bracketology feedback from North Alabama fans than anybody, to offer one data point. They wanted this, and they got it.)
The Lions are led by Jacari Lane, a potent point guard from nearby Huntsville. In their ASUN Tournament opener, he dropped 31 on Austin Peay, getting the final word in a surprisingly nasty rivalry. A lot goes on in North Alabama. A lot goes on with this team. This is the program’s NIT debut.
George Mason: The 1990’s
On the first episode of Free Hoops, Tyler Cronin of 3 Bid League described George Mason like a team out of the 90’s: Big-focused, physical, and reluctant to shoot threes. After a terrible first two weeks, the Patriots have ridden that formula to a monster season in Fairfax, with Tony Skinn making it look like a very good thing that Providence came calling for Kim English.
This will be George Mason’s fifth NIT. They won two games in one of the previous ones, but that was back in the 40-team era. They’ve never reached the quarterfinals. They’ll be a seed-line favorite to get that far for the first time.
Samford: Bucky Ball Reaches a New Height
Bucky McMillan’s teams play fast and they shoot threes. It’s entertaining, and it also usually works. Behind Rylan Jones and Mississippi State import Trey Fort, this Samford team has built on the accomplishments of last year’s dreamers, the guys who couldn’t quite make an NIT but did at least play Kansas close in the consolation tournament.
This is the Bulldogs’ first NIT experience. They’ll need to learn the ropes fast if they want to stick around. (Not a ton of ropes to learn. Still basketball. Excited about the coach’s challenges, though. That might be the best experimental rule of all time.)
San Francisco: Will Marcus Williams Play?
San Francisco might still be an NIT title contender, but they’d definitely be one were Marcus Williams active. Instead, the guard is suspended over what’s been called an NCAA rules violation, leaving more in the hands of Malik Thomas in the backcourt and Carlton Linguard down low.
The Dons have an NIT title to their name from back in 1949, a few years before Bill Russell joined the program. Since that tournament, though, they’ve won just two NIT games—one in 1966, the other in 2005. Last year, they suffered a heartbreaking loss to Cincinnati in their opener. The Simas Lukosius shot, for those who remember.
Utah Valley: Not Trey Woodbury’s Wolverines
The 2023 Utah Valley Wolverines were loaded with signature talents: Trey Woodbury. Justin Harmon. Aziz Bandaogo. Le’Tre Darthard. They were an iconic team. This year’s? A little more Utah. They’re a good team, don’t get me wrong, but they’re more what you expect to see from a school in Orem that was recently a junior college. Both visually and in terms of how they play.
Todd Phillips was the stand-in coach during that NIT Final Four, with Mark Madsen’s wife giving birth to a child the week of that game. With Madsen at Cal, Phillips is now the full-time guy. How far will his men carry the banner for the WAC?
San Jose State: Tim Miles!
If you don’t know Tim Miles, get to know Tim Miles. The guy is a chocolate chip cookie. Wholesome and sweet.
San Jose State got in as the Mountain West’s exempt bid, and we’re thrilled to have them here. Miles hasn’t had a ton of NIT luck in the past, but his teams have been a lot of fun, especially his last one at Nebraska in 2019. This one had a terrible November, then lost UCLA transfer Will McClendon shortly after they started righting the ship. Mountain West teams tend to struggle in the postseason. Will that prove true for these Spartans?
Loyola Chicago: If You Don’t Like the Weather…
We’ve made our feelings known on the phrase, “If you don’t like the weather in [insert place with very normal weather], just wait a few minutes!” But it does apply well to Loyola basketball. One minute, Loyola looks talented and vicious. The next, their offense is in the muck and they’re airballing off-balance midrange looks.
Loyola once made an NIT Championship, back in 1949. The team who beat them? San Francisco. What a rematch that could be in the second round.
St. Bonaventure: All Is Right Again
After a bizarre declined bid last year, the Bonnies fired their athletic director and earned themselves a welcome do-over. We won’t see Jaren Holmes or Jalen Adaway or Osun Osunniyi or anyone else from that 2022 Final Four team (their whole deal was being old and united), but Melvin Council’s not a bad player. He’s not a bad player at all.
The Bonnies won an NIT in 1977, and they’ve reached a number of Final Fours, mostly in the tournament’s earlier years. The story in 2022 was the team being forced to play all three early-round games on the road. They’ll open this year at home.
Kent State: Senderoff?? I Hardly…
A slightly controversial inclusion to the field, Kent State had the stronger predictive metrics but worse résumé metrics compared to in-state rival Miami–Ohio, who beat them three times. The Golden Flashes go to Olean looking to prove they belong.
Kent State seems like a program that might have made a few NIT runs back in the day. They’re that kind of athletic department. That assumption is…half-right? What few runs they’ve made have ended in the quarterfinals, and it’s only been two: One in 2011, when they upset Saint Mary’s in the first round, and another in 2000, when they beat Rutgers and Villanova. This is their first appearance since 2011’s loss to Colorado.
Stanford: Maxime Raynaud and Kyle Smith
This is not intended to disrespect Jaylen Blakes, who’s been Stanford’s best player this year and hit that memorable shot to beat UNC in Chapel Hill, the one we thought sent the Tar Heels to the NIT. But if Stanford’s going to win this thing, it’ll need potential NBA talent Maxime Raynaud to make it happen.
We saw a lot of Kyle Smith in 2022, when Washington State made the NIT Final Four. He’s one of the best coaches in the game, a Nerd Ball devotee who’s found the perfect place for that in Palo Alto. It feels like this program is heading in the right direction. It feels like the ACC could work for them, even if they miss the Pac-12.
Stanford’s won three NIT titles, all since 1991. Looking to match Bradley at four. Could probably start calling themselves the Modern NIT GOAT. Weird that they haven’t been doing that.
Cal State Northridge: Division II Is Also on the Coasts
We’ve heard a lot about the D-II pasts of Ben McCollum (Northwest Missouri State) and Josh Schertz (Lincoln Memorial). But how about Andy Newman, CSUN’s head coach who spent nine of the last ten years at UT Permian Basin and Cal State San Bernardino? At that last stop, he took the Coyotes to a D-II Final Four. In his second year in Northridge, he’s already matched the program’s highest win total of all time.
CSUN’s never made an NIT before. If they’re going to make a run in this one, they’ll need to get to the hoop on fast breaks. When this CSUN team works best, they’re outrunning their opponents and getting putbacks as a result of it. Fun team to watch when the getting’s good.
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Opening NITe!
We’ve got seven games this evening, from the opening tips in Olean and Atlanta to the final buzzers around the San Francisco Bay.
7:00 PM EDT: Kent State at St. Bonaventure (ESPNU)
No easy openers in the NIT. These teams aren’t good enough for that. Bonnies fans have wanted an NIT home game for three years now. They’re finally getting it. The Reilly Center’s going to be rocking.
7:00 PM EDT: Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech (ESPN2)
Over on the deuce, Georgia Tech welcomes the Gamecocks to Midtown. The Yellow Jackets have the edge in size, skill, experience, and shooting. This is the NIT, though. Sometimes, you have to throw out your preconceptions concerning how basketball should work.
8:00 PM EDT: Chattanooga at Middle Tennessee (ESPN+)
I have to assume this is the biggest day of ESPN+ subscriptions all year. Huge one in Murfreesboro. We told you about Honor Huff and Essam Mostafa. We didn’t tell you that the Murphy Center grades out as one of the bigger home-court advantages in Division I, per Ken Pomeroy.
9:00 PM EDT: Saint Louis at Arkansas State (ESPNU)
Robbie Avila makes his NIT return in an unfamiliar position: As a road underdog down in Jonesboro. If Arkansas State handles business, expect to hear a lot of talk tomorrow at work about whether these Red Wolves can win it all. If they don’t, get ready for Billiken mania the likes of which we have never experienced. Cardinals fans are getting frustrated with ownership. It’s time for SLU to finally make that city its own.
9:00 PM EDT: Wichita State at Oklahoma State (ESPN2)
Gallagher-Iba! Great spot. Home courts are the best. And there’s something special about college hoops on the lower Plains. As for the game itself: Oklahoma State might be the real deal. Good chance they’re not, but they might be! Bookmark that.
11:00 PM EDT: Cal State Northridge at Stanford (ESPN2)
I love that the NIT’s almost solely on the same two channels all night. Nothing like watching game after game after game. The football Saturday phenomenon.
Stanford’s not the heaviest favorite here. CSUN’s no pushover. It might take some Maples Magic for NorCal to win this half of the in-state showdown.
11:00 PM EDT: UC Riverside at Santa Clara (ESPNU)
In the other half, Santa Clara’s the biggest favorite of the night. But don’t take UCR lightly. Barrington Hargress is well-known in the bucket-getting community. The guy dropped 40 when the Highlanders upset UC San Diego.
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Our NIT Bracket Challenge page will have the full scoreboard midway through tonight’s games, and at some point tomorrow morning our Day 1 Recaps/Day 2 Previews will be up on the homepage. A little bit from me. A little bit from Joe Stunardi. A lotta bit from your heart. It’s the NIT, friends and acquaintances. What could be better than this?
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