Today is the day, and these 32 teams are the 32 teams. The world’s greatest tournament starts toNITe.
Before we get too deep into the individual transfer portal histories of every single player in the field, along with what exactly each one has ever posted on their Instagram story in any topic vaguely related to politics, we should talk briefly about the NIT, this year, in its whole. It’s a big year for the NIT.
Loyal NIT fans know that the NIT has been going on longer than any other postseason college basketball tournament. It’s older than the CBI. It’s older than the WNIT. It was older than the Vegas 16 at the time of the Vegas 16’s passing. It is older than the tournament whose name we do not speak aloud. It is the OG—the original gamble. (There was a point-shaving scandal loosely related to the tournament back in the 50s.)
Loyal NIT fans also know that contrary to the prevailing narrative, the NIT is the most selective college basketball tournament run by the NCAA. It’s simple math: A 32-team field is smaller than a 68-team field, and therefore more difficult to make. Add in the precision required from teams to fit in the NIT’s window (imagine golf if there was not a hole and there was instead simply a line to hit the ball across—such is qualifying for the NCA* *********t), and the difficulty magnifies. There’s a reason so many of the alleged “great” coaches in the game have made so few NITs.
History continues, of course, and the year is no longer 1938. The NIT has grown. The NIT has changed. The NIT has grown and changed and the country has grown and changed along with it. This year, for the first time ever, the NIT Final Four will be held in Las Vegas, finally having become too big for Madison Square Garden. Our destiny is westward, America. And then Midwestward next year, when the Final Four’s in Indy.
To answer other popular questions: I’m aware of no experimental rules this year, but the NIT is full of surprises. UNC is a soft coward school for soft pampered kids, but they can keep telling themselves they somehow aren’t just Public Duke, because it isn’t my job to make them reckon with their true identity. That should cover the questions. Let’s hit the chosen 32 teams.
Oklahoma State
From Stillwater, Oklahoma…the overall number one seed, the original number one seed way back in 1938: Oklahoma State leads us into the field.
Plenty of the talk around the Pokes concerns Avery Anderson’s injury status, the fact they have to play Youngstown State on the road in the first round, and the kinship the program feels with the NIT as a fellow victim of the ongoing NCAA occupation. Less of the talk hits on the key point here, which is that I had a pair of Oklahoma State socks when I was six years old.
Youngstown State
From Youngstown, Ohio…the Horizon League champions, the recent home of Jim Tressel, the only school cold enough to name its athletic teams the Penguins: Youngstown State hosts Oklahoma State tomorrow NITe in their first ever NIT game.
Youngstown State has that dog in ‘em. We cannot express enough that Youngstown State has got that dog. Gritty, tough defenders? No. I think I just happened to watch a game of theirs that got chippy. Might not have even been this year. Keep an eye out, though. Dwayne Cohill can ball. (We still have no proof that Youngstown head coach Jerrod Calhoun is or isn’t related to Jim Calhoun.)
Washington State
From Pullman, Washington…a Final Four team last year with dreams of being one again: Washington State is into the party.
Washington State is known for its head coach Kyle Smith, who is known for being a gigantic nerd. Moneyball for basketball is what they call it, further indicating that the public never really understood what that book and that approach were about, which was firstly refusing to accept orthodoxy for the sake of orthodoxy and secondly the aggressive desire to find undervalued baseball players (necessarily) on the cheap. I guess the first part plays. Smith does reject the consensus a lot. Maybe the second part plays, too. Washington State is one of the lowest revenued athletic departments in the Power Five. Maybe I picked the wrong blurb in which to hash out my grievances with the culturally accepted impressions of a book published in 2003.
Eastern Washington
From Cheney, Washington, which as I understand it is a suburb of Spokane but I misunderstand things so somebody please correct me if I’m wrong: Eastern Washington will face Washington State in a late one this evening.
Eastern Washington won the Big Sky this year, opening conference play 16–0 and let’s not talk about what happened after that. They’re led by a shooter named Steele Venters, and he’s joined by a shooter named Angelo Allegri, and the roster also houses names like Dane Erikstrup, Ellis Magnuson, and Cedric Coward (incoming UNC transfer once the tournament is over). A friend suggested we put out an “all-name team” starting five for the NIT, but then told us Eastern Washington already did that.
North Texas
From Denton, Texas, where 35W meets 35E and you recently drove past the speedway if you were coming north through Fort Worth: The Mean Green are an NIT machine.
North Texas graced us with two overtime games in last year’s tournament, each in the Super Pit, not to be confused with the Pit, where New Mexico plays. (The NIT: It’s the Pits!) To show our gratitude, we will grace North Texas with an explanation to the rest of you of what North Texas is, since I think a lot of people see a directional Texas school playing the slowest basketball in the country and assume this place is just churning out cowboys and civil engineers. It’s actually known for its music school, and a Mean Greenie (is that the singular?) once told me it’s got hippie vibes. Put otherwise: It’s the kind of school disaffected UT alums from the 90s wish Texas was.
Alcorn State
From Lorman, Mississippi…the little school which brought us Medgar Evers and Donald Driver and Michael Clarke Duncan and Steve McNair: Alcorn State will take on UNT tomorrow evening in Texas.
Alcorn State also journeyed to Texas for the first round of last year’s NIT, playing Texas A&M and giving the Aggies the closest game they faced until Xavier topped them in the national championship. Back to back champions of the SWAC, they’re a significant underdog, but they return most of their roster from last year and they beat Wichita State on the road in November, so this team’s got something. To our knowledge, the Sounds of Dyn-O-mite will not be making the trip. Possibly because marching bands do not usually perform at basketball games.
Sam Houston State
From Huntsville, Texas…named for the man who lived among the Cherokee in his younger years, won Texas its independence from Mexico in the Battle of San Jacinto, and was ousted from office as governor due to his opposition to secession though he did own slaves (governor of Texas, not Tennessee, where he was also governor but earlier in his life): Sam Houston State has earned itself a home game.
Sam Houston State opened the season by beating Oklahoma and Utah on the road in its first two games against Division I opposition. This, along with an odd abundance of non-D-I foes, led to an outrageous early ranking by the NET, which will now be proved correct and infallible should Sam Houston State win the national title, especially with the AP Poll proving itself a profoundly stupid mess of groupthink in the wake of UNC’s untimely demise.
Santa Clara
From—you guessed it—Santa Clara, California…the biggest story in Silicon Valley right now: Santa Clara will host Sam Houston State tomorrow NITe (another scheduling conflict, same as Oklahoma State).
Santa Clara is the current home of longtime college basketball supporting character Herb Sendek. Jalen Williams moved on from last year’s team which lost to Washington State in its NIT opener, but Brandin Podziemski—Illinois transfer from the faraway nation of Wisconsin—gets buckets in his stead. They never beat Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s this year, but like we talked about at the top: Precision.
Oregon
From Eugene, Oregon…the school of a famous basketball Knight (not that one) and a famous football Kelly (not that one) and a famous track & field Prefontaine (ok there was only one of those): The Oregon Ducks lead off the Oregon region.
Oregon grabbed a 1-seed on the back of the University of North Carolina being a scared school for undeservedly arrogant children whose parents didn’t teach them about the concept of honor, sliding up to fill the spot vacated by the program that managed to—in less than a calendar year— entirely undo the goodwill it earned by exterminating Coach K’s career, now sitting as the laughingstock of society amid the sad, washed-up embers of a once deservingly proud tradition. They’re a pretty good team, these Ducks. Lot of talent. Inconsistent, haven’t been very good in recent NITs (and we have a solid sample), but they don’t have to play in either Marquette’s cool gym or in front of a way–too–energetic–for–9–AM–PDT Texas A&M student body, and with the Final Four out west? Oregon could be described as the favorite.
UC Irvine
From Irvine, California…the coolest thing to come out of Orange County since the infant Joe Kelly made Carlos Correa noises in a hospital in Anaheim: UC Irvine will visit Oregon in the final game of the first round.
UC Irvine is a good low-major who won the Big West. Ok. Now let’s tell you about Anteaters and Zot.
The deal with UC Irvine being named the Anteaters is that there was this comic strip called B.C. back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. (The artist—Johnny Hart—is said to have literally died at his drawing board, and if you are wondering if that’s how I plan to go as an NIT blogger…why are you thinking about my death? Who are you? Bubba Cunningham?) Two UC Irvine waterpolo players liked it. When UC Irvine ran a vote to determine its new nickname, these players were inspired by The Anteater, a character within the strip. They successfully campaigned on its behalf, and voila! That’s how change occurs. Successfully campaigning for silly things. That anteater’s catchphrase, more or less (the sound he made when he ate ants, if I’m understanding correctly), was “ZOT!” So that’s what UCI students now say. When they eat ants, and at other times as well. I adore it.
Florida
From Gainesville, Florida…back for more after losing to the champs last year: The Florida Gators held on.
Left for dead after Colin Castleton broke his hand in February, the Gators skidded, but they skidded to a stop. And where did that stop leave them? Right in our waiting arms.
Florida’s got plenty of pedigree, with Kyle Lofton transferring over from St. Bonaventure after hitting the free throws which sent the Bonnies to last year’s Final Four. They’re coached by Todd Golden, a Kyle Smith apostle who worked under Smith at Columbia and San Francisco before Smith made the move to Pullman and Golden took over the USF job. If these two and Yale make the Final Four we’re gonna count cards. Kyle, Todd, myself, and the entire Yale basketball program are going to reenact the card-counting scheme from Rain Man, right down to someone having a brief, awkward date with a woman implied to be a prostitute.
UCF
From Orlando, Florida…the school known for one thing and one thing only and that thing is Tacko Fall: UCF will play the Gators in the first round.
The thing about this game is that certain UCF people are mortally joyed about it and certain Florida people (they’re fewer, but they do exist) are mortally afraid. “It’s only the NIT,” you say. “That’s a dangerous thing to say to me,” I reply.
Really, though: This is a big game to some people. UCF’s always Gator hunting. When they get to take a shot, it matters.
Credit to UCF for helping me fall in love with the NIT by way of Tacko Fall, in a game that was suddenly all those years ago. It is possible this helped you fall in love with the NIT as well, directly or indirectly or some combination of the two. We would not be here together now if not for UCF. (In this blog post, I mean. We would still be alive.)
Wisconsin
From Madison, Wisconsin…our personal Christmas on the Isthmus: Welcome, Wisconsin.
We’ve had our eye on the Badgers, with an outsized portion of our original readership having attended the school. They teased us this year, but we got ‘em in the end.
It’s not a particularly likable iteration of Wisconsin, by which I mean way too many of the players have that Moritz Wagner thing going where they look like they’re about to tattle on the Dead Poets Society. But hey. They’re Wisconsin. Give us a Chucky Hepburn banked-in three to survive the second round.
Bradley
From Peoria, Illinois…the sleeping power your parents didn’t tell you about: Bradley will visit the Badgers.
Bradley won the Missouri Valley this year, but they might’ve gotten in anyway. The second-winningest program in NIT history (that’s championships, I don’t have the numbers at hand on individual games) is surging anew, and at the perfect water level.
A thing about Bradley is that I just found out they’re private and nowhere near as big as I thought they were. I really thought they were an alternate Illinois State. For all these years. The first 28 years of my life. I pride myself on knowing the identities of most schools, and I clearly need to learn about Bradley. Yikes. My apologies to the room. This is embarrassing.
Still a sleeping power, though. All that history! And Peoria doesn’t get enough credit for its natural beauty. I am saying that earnestly. Someone is scoffing at this and I will fight them. I do know Peorian topography, dammit. That’s not something I’m missing here.
Liberty
From Lynchburg, Virginia, a very uncomfortably named place: Liberty is into the NIT.
Let’s get it over with and share our opinion on a divisive entity, something you always want from your NIT bloggers: We disagree with Liberty on a lot of things, morally and theologically. We don’t have much respect for a certain Liberty ex-president. But we also don’t think Liberty’s the devil or anything. Some good folks, some folks not doing good. Sports love and sports hate is one thing, but the culture war hate is another. We don’t think any university deserves our real life hate.
Unless that university is UNC.
Darius McGhee is electric. He’s Jelly Walker with less hype. And Liberty is a good team. Among the favorites.
Villanova
From Villanova, Pennsylvania (my sister in law will kill me if I say Nova’s from Philly)…the NIT champions in the year of my birth: Villanova’s heading to Lynchburg.
The story on Villanova is that they’re a good team with a bad injury who got through that injury but ran out of time.
That is a disrespectful narrative.
For one thing, they’re only 7–6 with Justin Moore in the lineup. For another? They earned this. I don’t care whose Achilles you tear to get to the NIT. You do what it takes, and you hope all parties have insurance.
Rutgers
From Piscataway, New Jersey…the school that brought you the 2006 football Rutgers Scarlet Knights: The Rutgers Scarlet Knights!
One of the funniest things the NCA* *********t committee did to Rutgers was say that they weren’t even the first team out. It was like they were covering their bases. “Surely, no one will be upset with us if we make clear Oklahoma State was above them!”
And so it is that Rutgers gets the second overall seed in the 2023 NIT. I don’t know if I’d want to play these guys in the first round or not. I feel like so much of Rutgers’s success comes from them playing with an edge. Will the edge be there tonight? Because if it is, these guys might tear someone’s bones out. But if it isn’t, Hofstra’s definitely good enough to beat Sad Rutgers.
Hofstra
From Hempstead, New York…the literal Pride of Long Island: Hofstra will cross the Verrazzano Narrows.
I don’t get Long Island. At what point does New York City end? Is there a convenient way to get off the island without going through the city? Which county is the cake eater one? The one whose kids try to go to UNC to pretend they’re something that they aren’t, I mean.
What I do get, I hope, is Hofstra basketball. Hofstra—formerly known as the Flying Dutchmen, we’re all still pissed about that change—took what they were given in the CAA. The CAA—long ravaged by other East Coast conferences—was a four-team league this year with thirteen teams in its standings. That meant Hofstra won a lot of games by more than 25 points.
Is Hofstra good? I don’t know. Speedy Claxton’s a legend, and would be for his name alone, but I really don’t know if Hofstra’s any good. “Wait,” you say, “this clown said he gets Hofstra!” I do get them, I think. A free-cookie-eating unknown is what they are.
Cincinnati
From Cincinnati, Ohio…last year’s champion’s archrival, chip on their shoulder and fire in their gut: It’s the Cincinnati Bearcats!
Bearcats head coach Wes Miller played at UNC, back when it was coached by Roy Williams and was an institution of honor. He’s recently distanced himself from the school, opting to play in the NIT and enjoy the fruits of his team’s hard-earned labor.
Cincy is one of two AAC schools in the bracket, and both are heading to the Big 12 next year. The AAC is toast.
Virginia Tech
From Blacksburg, Virginia, where the bricks are red and the hills are a lush, simmering green: Virginia Tech will visit Cincinnati.
Virginia Tech is a shooters’ team. The Eastern Washington of the East. They were a bit of a darling last year in that other tournament, which reminds us of something important: When looking for next year’s big thing, look no further than the ones appearing better than they are on the junior circuit. This would’ve revealed UNC to us. It also would’ve revealed Virginia Tech.
New Mexico
From Albuquerque, New Mexico, where basketball might be the only hope to oust the immediate thought of the city being “Meth Town” after an AMC show took the mantle from Bugs Bunny: The New Mexico Lobos!
New Mexico has a rich NIT history, said to have often drawn bids in the ESPN-run era because of their loyally attendant fanbase (in person and on television). They’ve never won one, though, which is why they went and got themselves a champion in Richard Pitino. He’ll look for his second NITle this year, bringing in a Lobos squad that stayed unbeaten longer than any other Division I men’s team and yet hardly ever wavered from its NIT course. A beeline for our bonnet. We howl with you, UNM.
Utah Valley
From Orem, Utah…filling what seems to be the demand for a BYU-adjacent public school next to Provo: It’s Utah Valley, heading to the land of the Zia sun.
The WAC champions, Utah Valley’s been on the upswing for years. Entering Division I in 2005 as an independent, they won 22 games one year under Dick Hunsaker in 2007, then worked their way up through the Great West Conference (RIP) into the WAC. Under Mark Pope, they peaked, and now under Mark Madsen, they’re rushing past that peak. The only direction you can go in a valley is up.
Colorado
From Boulder, Colorado…a participant in the inaugural NIT and an appearer in four of the last six: Colorado, stamp those hooves!
Colorado’s in a weird spot right now, its best player reportedly sick with mono but its bracket offering a favorable enough draw, given its seed and its home game at altitude. Also, Colorado didn’t play half bad in the Pac-12 Tournament. Or maybe they did play half bad? But that was good for them? Colorado beat Tennessee back when beating Tennessee was cool, and beat Texas A&M before beating Texas A&M was cool, and beat Yale technically before beating Yale was cool because I don’t think beating Yale is cool yet. That comes this week.
Seton Hall
From South Orange, New Jersey, but they play their home games in Newark: Seton Hall is headed to the mountains.
It’s been a wild few weeks for the Pirates. They were a safe NIT team until Xavier beat the daylights out of them in their first full game without Kadary Richmond. They were then a likely non-NIT crew until they beat the daylights out of Providence up in Rhode Island. Finally? They landed on the bubble with a Big East Tournament-opening loss to DePaul.
What to expect this week? Shaheen Holloway’s won in March. But can he win the big one?
Clemson
From Clemson, South Carolina…the school where Brad Brownell remains on the hot seat for the 13th straight year: The Clemson Tigers are an NIT 1-seed.
This is Clemson’s fourth NIT under Brownell, and the results have gotten progressively worse, more or less. They made the Final Four in 2014, but they fell in the first two rounds in both 2017 and 2019. Definitely a legacy tournament for the large man who always looks like something is befuddling him. They almost pulled the ACC wool over everyone’s eyes, but even that schedule couldn’t save them from us in the end. Well done.
Morehead State
From Morehead, Kentucky, where the Rowan County War once killed at least twenty in the Martin–Tolliver–Logan Feud: Morehead State will head down South.
Morehead State might not have as much in the way of basketball history as it does in the way of blood feud history, but you have to start somewhere, and the 2016 CBI runners-up get a big opportunity to make that somewhere here. It’s their first NIT, and they’re trying to make the Ohio Valley proud.
The whole thing.
Not just the conference.
UAB
From Birmingham, Alabama…the only Division I school with a team named for a member of the Globo Gym dodgeball team: The UAB Blazers are in the field.
This UAB team is primarily known for Jelly Walker, and that is primarily fair. The man can shoot. On the list of great shooters with great names in this NIT, he’s at the top (and with Darius McGhee and Steele Venters explained above and Toledo explained below, it’s a great NIT for great shooters with great names). Walker has attempted eleven or more threes in each of his last four games, and he’s still shooting nearly 40% on the year. Just an incredible scorer. The kind you only see in the NIT.
Southern Miss
From Hattiesburg, Mississippi…the school with the best volleyball facilities around: The Southern Miss Golden Eagles will visit UAB.
I saw a UAB fan label Southern Miss the “Mustard Buzzers,” and I had never heard this phrase before, and I hope Hattiesburg doesn’t have a minor league baseball team because they should get one and name it this.
Southern Miss won the Sun Belt this year, and it wasn’t an easy Sun Belt to win. Was looking like a two-bid league for a minute there. Didn’t turn into a two-bid league, but it was looking like it.
Vanderbilt
From Nashville, Tennessee…the strangest cultural fit in the SEC: The Vanderbilt Commodores are into their second straight NIT.
We know what you’re all wondering, and yes, Vanderbilt hosts in the first round, so we get to see the court. What a court that thing is. Elevated, theatrical in its lighting…you can tell this is a city that likes itself a stage. It’s like somebody hired a local architect and explained the concept of a basketball court to them but just didn’t quite explain it accurately enough.
Very fun. Looking to get to the Final Four after last year’s quarterfinal heartbreak.
Yale
From New Haven, Connecticut, which may or may not be the capital and/or largest city in that state because God knows I have trouble keeping it and Hartford and Bridgeport(‘s population) straight: Yale will visit Vanderbilt.
First, yes, hilarious move by the committee to get Yale playing Vandy. Nerd fight. We love it. Second, this is Yale’s second ever NIT but they should be viewed as a sleeper. Very narrow underdog in their opener, and capable of beating anyone in it. Young team, but sometimes it pays to not be scared. If the Ivy League’s ever going to win another national championship (Princeton, ’75), this Yale program might be the best bet. Next year’s likelier, but watch them closely this NIT.
Michigan
From Ann Arbor, Michigan…the villain until UNC showed up at which point they quite willingly acquiesced: Michigan is an NIT team.
Credit to Michigan. We like to dump on them, and specifically on their basketball team, and specifically on one of their basketball players, but they have conducted themselves with honor, and throughout this tournament we will do the same (as it pertains to them—I’m gonna call someone on the UNC Board of Regents a 9/11-denier). Welcome, Michigan, and best of luck.
Toledo
And last but certainly (probably) not least: From Toledo, Ohio, the city so great it sparked a war between two states: Toledo will drive up to the Lower P.
Toledo is all offense, all the time, with RayJ Dennis, Setric Millner, JT Shumate, and Dante Maddox an absolutely stacked team of shooters. It’s a shooters’ tournament, folks. Really is this year. Probably means North Texas will win the championship without cracking 40 in the Final Four.
There’s a chance, with this Toledo/Michigan game, that the Rockets could bury the Wolverines early. Watch out for that. It’s easy to come out flat in the NIT, and it’s easy for Toledo to light the net on fire (unlike UNC, who would like to light the NET on fire for exposing how poorly they played against strong competition).
Toledo, Michigan, all the rest of you: Good luck. It’s going to be a great NIT.
Because you’re in it.
