Tonight’s the night. Tonight is the night when four teams will qualify themselves for the greatest of all semifinal rounds: the NIT Final Four. Tonight is the night four schools will make history. Tonight is the night four sets of young men (and their team’s support staff) will earn themselves a trip to New York City a continued stay in Frisco.
What a buzz.
No, the NIT Final Four won’t be the same this year. For one thing, I won’t be there (I’ll be at my friend’s wedding, meaning I get to celebrate my friend’s marriage AND watch an NIT champion get crowned all in one weekend, which I think makes this the best weekend ever). For another, it will be in Frisco, not New York City. But if there were ever a city to, for one year, replace New York as the host of the NIT Final Four, it’s hard to find a better one than Frisco, because Frisco is trying to brand itself as “Sports City, USA,” and we need that kind of enthusiasm around the NIT.
Tonight’s contests:
2. Richmond vs. 4. Mississippi State
6:00 PM EDT, ESPN2
Richmond’s banged up in a big way, but they were banged up in a big way when they beat Toledo. Mississippi State’s struggled to play well consistently on the year (to a greater extent than the standard inconsistency found in virtually every college basketball team, with the exception of possibly this year’s Gonzaga Bulldogs).
Richmond’s made it this far in three previous NIT’s this century, but they’re 0-3 in those games, with the most recent a 2017 blowout at the hands of demolition-course TCU. This would be their first NIT Final Four appearance.
Mississippi State’s made it to two NIT Final Fours—in 2007, they lost to West Virginia by a point; in 2018, the Quinndary Weatherspoon team got beat up by Penn State. In other words, the program’s familiar with the stakes. But that doesn’t make it any easier.
1. Colorado State vs. 3. North Carolina State
7:00 PM EDT, ESPN
Vegas has NC State a narrow favorite in this one, and while them being a favorite may be incorrect, the favorite being a narrow one makes sense. This is just about a complete and total tossup. Nobody knows what will occur.
You might think that given NC State’s wider college basketball prominence, they’d have a richer NIT history.
You’d be correct to think that.
NC State’s made the Final Four four times. Not a ton, but more than Colorado State. The Wolfpack have two third-place finishes to their credit in addition to being on the wrong end of Texas’s 1978 championship game victory. Needless to say, they’re looking for more this time around. This is why they hired Kevin Keatts.
Colorado State, meanwhile, has made the Final Four just once, back in 1988, when they lost by a bucket to Ohio State and had to settle for a third-place-game triumph over Boston College. They’re looking to make history.
1. Memphis vs. 2. Boise State
9:00 PM EDT, ESPN
The argument’s been made that if there’s a team the fates love in this year’s NIT, it’s Boise State, because Boise State took the most compelling path to get here. Memphis, though, is the favorite, which has some (not me, but some) calling this the true NIT Championship.
As I said in the parenthetical in the previous sentence, I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s fair to call it the game of the night.
People forget how new Boise State is to Division I, having entered in just the 80’s. So while this is the Broncos’ seventh all time NIT appearance, we should probably cut them some slack for having never made it this far before.
Memphis, meanwhile, has a championship to their name. In 2002, the Memphis Tigers took down South Carolina in NIT legend Dave Odom’s first year.
Beyond that, Memphis has a championship loss to their name (1957), a third-place finish in the trophy case (2001, and no, I’m not sure if there’s actually a trophy), and the memories of a 2005 Final Four appearance (lost to Saint Joe’s). The program went through a drought after ’05, but Penny Hardaway has them back in business.
Should be a great one.
3. Western Kentucky vs. 4. Louisiana Tech
10:00 PM EDT, ESPN2
Finally, the nightcap.
It’s a Conference USA rematch, and it’s the rubber match for this particular season of the LT/WKU showdown.
Back in January, the pair met in Bowling Green for a back-to-back weekend set. They split, with Western Kentucky withstanding a fierce Bulldog charge Friday night but failing to pull off their own comeback attempt 23 hours later.
Between the two, WKU has the broader NIT history, but it’s closer than you might think. While Western Kentucky first made the championship in 1942, they actually haven’t made it since, bowing out in three straight semifinal appearances (1948, 1954, 2018). Louisiana Tech, meanwhile, has a Final Four appearance to their name from 1986, and has made the NIT more since the millennium turned than their current conference rival, with their 2013-2015 appearance streak the headliner (they lost in the second round, the quarterfinals, and the quarterfinals again).
Any Final Four trip adds to the record books. The one awaiting this game’s winner may settle some C-USA debates (please alert me if you see anyone having these debates, because I can’t find them anywhere).
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Nothing else too big. If you want to keep an eye on your bracket, here’s where you can do that.
Bona NIT.
