Last night, ten of the sixteen first-round NIT games were played on the ESPN family of networks. The night started out like it might be chaotic with St. Francis-PA leading Indiana by 4 at halftime as well as Hofstra and Wright State being withing striking distance of road upsets. At the end of the night, the only road teams that won were Lipscomb against Davidson and Arkansas against Providence. Only the Arkansas win was surprising to the extent that they controlled that game from tip to buzzer. The storied careers of Chris Clemons and Mike Daum came to an end last night as well when Campbell and South Dakota State lost their games.
In the CBI, one game was played – Utah Valley held off Cal State-Northridge 92-84 thanks to 21 points from Jake Toolson. In the CIT, Robert Morris made a late comeback and beat Cornell 98-89 in overtime. Marshall also beat IUPUI 78-73 in the Jim Phelan Classic (CIT); Jon Elmore was the MVP of the game with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
(all times Eastern Daylight Time)
(8) NORFOLK STATE AT (1) ALABAMA (7:00 PM, ESPNU). If not for the bid thievery in the conference tournaments, Alabama would have been the last team selected in the NCAA Tournament. As it is, they will host a Norfolk State team that got an NIT auto-bid by winning the MEAC regular season crown.
(6) HARVARD AT (3) GEORGETOWN (7:00 PM, ESPN2). Georgetown is making their first postseason appearance since the 2015 NCAA Tournament when they were a #4 seed; they will be hosting a Harvard team that lost at archrival Yale in the Ivy League championship.
(6) TOLEDO AT (3) XAVIER (7:00 PM, ESPN3). Toledo was the last at-large team selected in the NIT; they will make a 3-hour trip to take on a Xavier team that got hot late in the year. As long as the Musketeers don’t mail it in for the NIT, they could be a potential favorite to win the NIT.
(6) WICHITA STATE AT (3) FURMAN (7:00 PM, ESPN3). Furman was another sentimental pick by bracketologists most of the year to get a 2nd bid out of the SoCon, but a loss to UNC-Greensboro ended those hopes and put them behind UNC-G in the pecking order. The Shockers also improved as the year went on, but they will be facing a fired-up crowd in Greenville that doesn’t normally see power teams visit their home arena.
(8) SAM HOUSTON STATE AT (1) TCU (9:00 PM, ESPNU). TCU’s exclusion from the NCAA Tournament field was probably the biggest surprise from Selection Sunday, although not necessarily an unfair one. They’ll host a Sam Houston State team that won the Southland Conference regular season title but failed to win any game in their conference tournament.
(5) BUTLER AT (4) NEBRASKA (9:00 PM, ESPN2). Nebraska finally showed some life at the end of the year with a win against Iowa and wins against Rutgers and Maryland in the Big 10 Conference Tournament, but all signs say that it will be too late to save Tim Miles’ job as Nebraska head coach. They will be hosting a Butler team that, interestingly enough, will be the only Big East team to play on the road in the 1st round of the NIT.
GRAND CANYON AT WEST VIRGINIA (7:00 PM). They may have been inspired to do so by virtue of two wins in the Big 12 Tournament that included a win against Texas Tech, but West Virginia will be in the postseason despite a 14-20 record. Interesting question here is whether or not there will be more GCU or WVU fans in attendance for this game.
HOWARD AT COASTAL CAROLINA (7:00 PM, ESPN+). Howard actually has a 9-7 record away from home, so Coastal Carolina should not treat this game like your normal buy game in November/December.
STONY BROOK AT SOUTH FLORIDA (7:00 PM). For the first time since 2012, the South Florida Bulls will be appearing in the postseason after a much-improved second season under head coach Brian Gregory. Geno Ford will serve as interim head coach for Stony Brook since Jeff Boals moved on to Ohio University to replace Saul Phillips.
SOUTHERN MISS AT LONGWOOD (7:00 PM, ESPN+). Longwood started out the year much improved before falling back towards the bottom half of the Big South. They will be taking on a Southern Miss team that finished third in Conference USA.
UAB AT BROWN (7:00 PM, ESPN+). Brown was another team that, despite finishing in the bottom half of the Ivy League, was in the hunt for finishing in the top half of the league until the final week of the season. They will be hosting a UAB team that lost in the C-USA semifinals to eventual champion Old Dominion.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN AT DEPAUL (8:00 PM). With DePaul’s appearance in the postseason for the first time since the 2007 NIT, every single team in the Big East will be making a postseason appearance. They will be hosting a Central Michigan team that has at least one familiar face for the Blue Demons – that would be their leading scorer Larry Austin Jr. (who transferred from Xavier and Vanderbilt).
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT AT CAL BAPTIST (10:30 PM). Cal Baptist had a great first season in Division I with a 16-14 record that included New Mexico State’s only loss in the WAC this season. The Lancers will host an LMU team that showed signs of promise in November and December (including a win against Georgetown in the Bahamas) before falling to the middle of the pack in the WCC this season.
GREEN BAY AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE (7:00 PM, WatchCIT.com). This will be the Hugh Durham Classic – the Bucs were one of four power teams in the SoCon this season. They are a potential favorite to win the tournament, but must also find an answer for a Green Bay team that also beat Belmont and Wright State during the season.
TEXAS SOUTHERN AT NEW ORLEANS (8:00 PM, WatchCIT.com). We’ve gotten so used to seeing Texas Southern in the NCAA Tournament that it seems strange to see them down here in the CIT, but their 2nd-place finish in the SWAC regular season also meant that they could not get the NIT auto bid, either. They go on the road to a New Orleans team that lost the Southland championship game to Abilene Christian.
GRAMBLING AT TEXAS-RIO GRANDE VALLEY (8:00 PM, WatchCIT.com). The Vaqueros are assured of their first winning season in eleven years and are making their 2nd straight postseason appearance after breaking a 37-year postseason drought last season with their appearance in the CBI last season. They will host a Grambling team that lost in the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament against eventual champion Prairie View.
PRESBYTERIAN AT SEATTLE (10:00 PM, WatchCIT.com). Seattle had a decent nonconference portion of their schedule that included wins against Washington State and Omaha, but they struggled mightily with injuries in conference play and ended up finishing 6th in the WAC. They will host Presbyterian – the Blue Hose tied for 5th in the Big South this season.