By SEAN BOCK
Baylor, Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s (California) and Southern California highlight the 32-team National Invitation Tournament field released today. The field features 22 teams with at least 20 wins, 12 automatic qualifiers, and representation from 21 of the 32 Division I conferences.
First-round play is scheduled for Tuesday, March 13 and Wednesday, March 14, with the second round running March 16-19. Quarterfinals will be held onMarch 20 and 21 and four teams will advance to New York City for the semifinals on Tuesday, March 27. The NIT will conclude with the Championship game on Thursday, March 29. The semifinal and championship games will be played at New York’s historic Madison Square Garden for the 81st year.
First round action, on-campus sites, features number one seeds Baylor, Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Southern California hosting Wagner, Hampton, Southeastern Louisiana and UNC Asheville, respectively.
Other first-round games include Temple at Penn State, Rider at Oregon, Harvard at Marquette, Nebraska at Mississippi State, Vermont at Middle Tennessee, Northern Kentucky at Louisville, Boston College at Western Kentucky, BYU at Stanford, FGCU at Oklahoma State, Boise State at Washington, Louisiana at LSU, UC Davis at Utah.
Temple is making its 19th appearance in the National Invitation Tournament, the most of any school in the 2018 field. Only three of the teams in the 2018 field appeared in the NIT in 2017.
“Like every year, this was an extremely challenging process but we are extremely excited about the field we were able to put together,” said Reggie Minton, chair of the NIT Selection Committee. “We are excited about the tournament and we think it will be as competitive a field as we’ve ever had. We look forward to tipping things off on Tuesday.”
NIT games are being televised by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3.
| March 13 | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 | (8) Wagner at (1) Baylor |
| March 13 | 9 p.m. | ESPN | (8) Hampton at (1) Notre Dame |
| March 13 | 10 p.m. | ESPNU | (8) Southeastern Louisiana at (1) Saint Mary’s |
| March 13 | 11 p.m. | ESPN2 | (8) UNC Asheville at (1) Southern California |
| March 13 | 7 p.m. | ESPN | (7) Northern Kentucky at (2) Louisville |
| March 13 | 9 p.m. | ESPN2 | (7) Florida Gulf Coast at (2) Oklahoma State |
| March 13 | 10 p.m. | ESPN3 | (6) Rider at (3) Oregon |
| March 13 | 8 p.m. | ESPNU | (6) Vermont at (3) Middle Tennessee |
| March 13 | 8 p.m. | ESPN3 | (5) Boston College at (4) Western Kentucky |
| March 14 | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 | (7) Harvard at (2) Marquette |
| March 14 | 9 p.m. | ESPN3 | (7) UC Davis at (2) Utah |
| March 14 | 10 p.m. | ESPNU | (6) BYU at (3) Stanford |
| March 14 | 7 p.m. | ESPN3 | (6) Louisiana at (3) LSU |
| March 14 | 8 p.m. | ESPNU | (5) Temple at (4) Penn State |
| March 14 | 9 p.m. | ESPN2 | (5) Nebraska at (4) Mississippi State |
| March 14 | 10 p.m. | ESPN3 | (5) Washington at (4) Boise State |
