SMU lands NIT bid, faces No. 1 seed Indiana State
SMU Basketball will face No. 1 seed Indiana State in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). First round games begin Tuesday and Wednesday, the NIT announced on Selection Sunday.
SMU and Indiana State will play Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT. The winner of SMU and Indiana State will take on the winner of No. 4 seed Butler and Minnesota in the second round of the NIT.
Indiana State, the regular season Missouri Valley Conference champions were left out of the NCAA Tournament, despite a 28-6 record. Drake beat Indiana State to win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, stealing Indiana State’s bid.
The Mustangs, which finished sixth in the American Athletic Conference in Rob Lanier’s second year, were 20-12 overall and 11-7 in league play. SMU has lost five of its last six contests.
The NIT semifinals and championship will be played April 2 and 4 at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis. All NIT games can be found exclusively on ESPN platforms.
After dropping its opening matchup of the AAC Tournament, SMU awaited a decision from the NIT selection committee. After it concludes play in the tournament, Rob Lanier’s Mustangs will head to the ACC.
Lanier spoke after SMU’s loss to 11-seed Temple about how the AAC prepared the Mustangs for a major set up.
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“Top to bottom, what’s happened at USF, the job that Aaron’s done at Charlotte, the impact that Florida Atlantic has made on the league, the leadership in the league has really done a good job creating a situation where the league is really formidable,” Lanier said after SMU’s loss to Temple. “It’s a great conference. We played a tough schedule. We played a good Big Ten team that was ranked in the Top 25. We played a good Florida State team that’s well-coached, has got length and athleticism. We played a ranked team in Dayton. Those games were tough.
“I didn’t feel like they were tougher than playing at North Texas or at Florida Atlantic. So I think going forward, this league has certainly prepared us for what lies ahead, at least to the point where we won’t go forward with any delusions.”
For the 2024 NIT, conference regular season champions that do not win their conference tournament or are not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will not receive an automatic bid to the NIT. Instead, the NIT will guarantee two teams (based on the NET rankings) from each of six conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern).
The top two teams in the NET rankings not qualifying for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament from each conference, regardless of won-loss record, will be selected. Additionally, the 12 teams automatically selected will be guaranteed the opportunity to host a game in the first round of the NIT. Once the 12 automatic qualifying schools have been selected, the NIT Committee will select the 20 best teams available to complete the tournament’s 32-team field.
