By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK – A year removed from the program’s eighth national championship and six players off that team being chosen in the NBA Draft, the University of Kentucky is heading to the NIT.
The field of 32 was announced Sunday evening and at 21-11, the Wildcats will travel to Northeast Conference regular season champion Robert Morris for a first-round game. Despite Kentucky being a No. 1 seed and the Colonials a No. 8, the 3,000-seat Sewall Center will host thanks to staffing issues at Rupp Arena.
“I feel like Rocky in Rocky I who just got his shot against the champion in our home city,” Robert Morris head coach Andy Toole said Sunday evening during the ESPNU telecast of the NIT field.
“I’m really disappointed we didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, but we are going to use this time to make us better,” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said via his Twitter account. “We had our chances, but I’m not going to stop. It’s a great lesson for the future of our program & a humbling experience for me as a coach.”
This is only the second time since coming off sanctions in 1991-92 in the wake of the Eddie Sutton Era that Kentucky has not received an NCAA Tournament bid. The other instance came in 2009 when the Wildcats went 20-13 prior to Selection Sunday in the second and final season for then-head coach Billy Gillispie. The Wildcats advanced to the NIT quarterfinals to finish 22-14.
“Since (Noel) went down, they really struggled away from home,” Division I Men’s Basketball Committee Chairman and Xavier Athletic Director Mike Boninski said via conference call on Sunday evening. “They just weren’t there.”
At 16-15, St. John’s headlines the local contingent playing in the NIT. The Red Storm will travel to St. Joesph’s, which fell to VCU in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic-10 Tournament on Friday to finish 19-12 overall. That game is set for Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.
Once appearing to be in the NCAA Tournament mix following a 71-65 home win over UConn on Feb. 6 to move to 15-8 overall and 7-4 in the Big East, the Red Storm dropped seven of their final eight games. That includes a 66-53 decision to Villanova in the first round of the Big East Tournament.
“We are grateful to have the opportunity to extend our season with the opportunity to participate in the NIT,” Red Storm head coach Steve Lavin said. “We will gain valuable experience from this postseason tournament. Making the NIT is another step forward for our program. Our focus now is preparing for a tough road game against St. Joseph’s.”
St. John’s will be appearing in the postseason for the second time in three seasons under Lavin, having gone to the NCAA Tournament in 2011. This is the first time the Red Storm will play in the NIT since 2010 under ex-head coach Norm Roberts. That year, they lost in the first round at Memphis, 73-71.
St. John’s holds NIT records with 27 appearances, 40 victories, 15 semifinal appearances and five championships. All of those numbers have been reduced by one after the program’s 2003 NIT crown was vacated due to an ineligible player.
America East regular season champion Stony Brook is the only other metropolitan area team in the field. The Seawolves will head to Massachusetts in the first round.
Besides Kentucky, the other No. 1 seeds are Southern Mississippi, Alabama and Virginia. First-round play will be Tuesday and Wednesday, with the second round running March 21-25. Quarterfinals will be held on March 26-27 and the semifinals and final are scheduled for April 2 and 4, respectively, at Madison Square Garden for the 76th time.
