It was a busy day in the NIT world, and we’ll get to all of that, but the biggest name held strong. Duke might’ve been able to afford a win, but we didn’t have to find out, and while the Blue Devils are dangerously close to not making a 16-team field, they’re on a better bubble than the one they previously occupied.
Here’s the NIT Bracketology. Here’s the NITuation:
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song): Xavier, Kentucky, Georgia, Furman (auto-bid), Northeastern (auto-bid), Prairie View A&M (auto-bid)
Xavier’s victory over Creighton moves them off the bid thief seat. Georgia had a bad loss. Kentucky had a fine loss, but it was another one too many. Furman got beat by Wofford and lost the SoCon. Northeastern lost the CAA because of a tiebreaker we might’ve misunderstood? Gonna have to go back and look at that one. Prairie View A&M got nudged out by another auto-bid becoming more likely.
Moving In: Wichita State, UC-Santa Barbara (auto-bid), Marshall, Navy, UNC-Greensboro (auto-bid), James Madison (auto-bid)
Wichita State takes over the bid thief seat, with UCSB joining them on the top line after UC-Riverside got its revenge. Marshall moves in after beating North Texas, which finally (probably temporarily) sorted Conference USA out into a funny position in which North Texas is the tournament favorite but three teams are projected to finish seeded ahead of them nationally (all of them are in NIT-land). Navy moves back in with their latest victory—with a win today, the Mids would finish the regular season 15-2 overall. UNCG and JMU won their conference titles.
Teams on NIT Turf Who Are Too Likely to Win Their Conference Tournament
North Texas, who would be a 5-seed, and Winthrop, who would also be a 5-seed.
The Sixteen
Here’s the projected bracket if it’s 16 teams and they’re seeded without regard for conference or rematch or anything like that:
1. Wichita State
16. Louisiana Tech
8. Indiana
9. Saint Mary’s
5. Seton Hall
12. Memphis
4. UC-Santa Barbara
13. Utah State
3. Michigan State
14. Duke
6. Saint Louis
11. Minnesota
7. Western Kentucky
10. Toledo
2. Richmond
15. Penn State
MSU/Duke in the first round. Overshadowed by Big Red playing with Rockets, of course, but what are you gonna do.
Next in Line
Below the 16-team field, from closest to close:
Winthrop
Syracuse
Marshall
North Texas
Stanford
Mississippi
Navy
Providence
Belmont
St. John’s
Kentucky
Georgia
Next out of Line
Above the field, from closest to close:
SMU
Xavier
Drake
Colgate
Georgia Tech
UConn
Boise State
Colorado State
Virginia Tech
North Carolina
Maryland
Oregon
***
And that’s the NITuation. Today’s other notes:
- UNC beating FSU wasn’t great for UNC, who had so much momentum after that Marquette loss. All over the place right now. Moment seems to be getting to them.
- Georgia Tech beating Syracuse may have robbed us of getting both Josh Pastner and Jim Boeheim. Tragedy.
- Boise State keeps inching closer. Lost again to San Diego State. They need a bad loss badly.
- Mississippi losing to Vanderbilt was not a good look. It’s almost like these mediocre teams are mediocre or something.
- Saint Mary’s respectfully declined to beat BYU on the road, keeping themselves steady.
- Belmont continued its disintegration, losing at Morehead State.
- Drake’s getting closer. Lost to Bradley yesterday. Needed that.
- Louisiana Tech took care of Rice.
- Loyola again almost lost to SIU and again failed to pull it off.
- Maryland hosts Michigan State today. Sparty doesn’t need that W.
- Utah State hosts Nevada and Memphis visits Cincinnati. Good opportunity for each to shore up any uncertainty (though Memphis is in a trickier spot).
Have fun out there.
