The National Invitational Tournament — our beloved NIT — rolls on after a chaotic opening round. As the nation tunes in for March Madness, let us not forget about the "other" tournament. There's a lot of quality basketball to enjoy this time of year.
Five seeded teams went down in the first round of NIT action, which means five teams lost on their home floors.
Jacksonville State knocked out Georgia Tech in Atlanta. UAB toppled St. Joseph's behind another dominant Yaxel Lendeborg performance. Chattanooga beat Middle Tennessee State in a fun in-state matchup. Plus, Loyola Chicago edged past San Jose State, while Adrian Wojnarowski's beloved Bonnies of St. Bonaventure lost to scrappy Kent State.
All four top seeds — Dayton, SMU, UC Irvine, and San Francisco — are still dancing. The expected heavyweights aren't going down without a fight, but just like the NCAA Tournament yields countless upsets each year, the NIT is a hotbed for unexpected W's and late March heroics. It's not the main show, but it's damn entertaining.
Here is how the bracket shapes up ahead of the second round, which starts on March 22.
Updated NIT Bracket with game times, locations after first round
Away Team | Home Team | Location | Game Time |
|---|---|---|---|
1. Dayton | Chattanooga | McKenzie Arena, Chattanooga, TN | 11:30 AM ET, March 22 |
3. Bradley | 2. George Mason | EagleBank Arena, Washington, DC | 2 PM ET, March 22 |
4. Oklahoma State | 1. SMU | Moody Coliseum, Dallas, TX | 3 PM E.T., March 23 |
3. Arkansas State | 2. North Texas | UNT Coliseum, Denton, TX | 7 PM ET, March 23 |
Loyola Chicago | 1. San Francisco | Sobrato Center, San Francisco, CA | 7 PM ET, March 23 |
Jacksonville State | 1. UC Irvine | Bren Events Center, Irvine, CA | 9 PM ET, March 23 |
UAB | 2. Santa Clara | Leavey Center, Santa Clara, CA | 9 PM ET, March 23 |
Kent State | 2. Stanford | Maples Pavilion, Stanford, CA | 9 PM ET, March 23 |
There are several quality matchups here.
SMU remains the overwhelming favorite to take home this year's NIT crown. After narrowly avoiding the postseason snub in college football, the Mustangs were left out of the NCAA Tournament despite ranking 48th in KenPom's net rating. Only three better-ranked teams missed out on March Madness: Ohio State, Northwestern, and Indiana.
The Mustangs cruised past UNI in the first round, but now face a more fearsome opponent in Oklahoma State (99th on KenPom). The Cowboys disappointed this season, finishing sub-.500 in the Big 12, but it's a sharp jump in competition all the same. Oklahoma State dispatched longtime Cinderella Wichita State to advance.
Stanford feels like a sleeping giant in the No. 2 seed — in no small part due to their own giant, Maxime Raynaud. The 7-footer led the ACC in scoring this season, emerging as one of the most impactful players in the nation. The Cardinal went 11-9 in conference play and notched quality wins over SMU and North Carolina (not to mention another fellow NIT threat, Santa Clara).
UAB, meanwhile, has what feels something like momentum. Yaxel Lendeborg has emerged as a bonafide first-round prospect in NBA Draft circles. He might just be a top-five player in college hoops right now, and he'd be getting a lot more love if not for the conspicuousness of UAB's circumstances. He dropped 16 points, 17 rebounds, and three assists in the Blazers' victory over St. Joe's on Wednesday. Much of Lendeborg's success came against another projected first-round pick and an NBA-level defender in Rasheer Fleming.
San Francisco (65th on KenPom), UC Irvine (67th), and Dayton (73rd) all put together tournament-level CVs this season. Betting chalk is not the worst idea here. There is a significant gap between the top seeds and those below them on the metrics front.