NEW YORK -- Maryland and Notre Dame faltered down the
stretch, and now they'll have to finish their seasons in the NIT.
"One of our goals was to win the national championship, and
right now we're not in the tournament," Maryland forward Nik Caner-Medley said Sunday. "As a team we didn't reach our goals, so
I'm disappointed."
Maryland (16-12) lost five of six, including the last four, and
was eliminated by Clemson in the first round of the ACC tournament.
The rough finish helped snap its school-record 11 straight trips to
the NCAA tournament. The Terrapins will play Wednesday against Oral
Roberts (25-7), which is making its first postseason appearance in
eight years.
"This is something our guys will be excited about, especially
playing Maryland and playing on national TV," Oral Roberts coach
Scott Sutton said. "We'll be playing in front of the entire
country."
Notre Dame is making its second straight trip to the NIT after
losing four of its last five, including an embarrassing 72-65 loss
to last-place Rutgers in the first-round of the Big East
tournament. Coach Mike Brey felt one more win probably would have
clinched an NCAA berth.
"You can say all you want, we had opportunities," Brey said.
"You had chances to nail it and you didn't nail it."
Instead, the Fighting Irish will face Holy Cross (24-6) Tuesday
in South Bend.
The 68th National Invitation Tournament starts Monday with
Western Michigan (19-12) traveling to Marquette (19-11). The final
is on March 31 at Madison Square Garden.
Conference USA had five schools selected for the 68th NIT, the
ACC and Mid-American Conference each had four teams chosen, and the
Colonial Athletic Association had three. America East is sending
two teams -- Northeastern and Boston University -- to the tournament
for the first time. The Big East, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern
Conference each had two.
There are 11 teams with at least 20 wins, down from 13 last
year. Indiana (15-13) was one of three teams with 15 victories --
the fewest wins by selected teams. Missouri (16-16), the only .500
team in the tournament, hosts DePaul (19-10).
Saint Joseph's (19-11) made it to the NCAA regional finals a
year ago, but is one of two Atlantic 10 teams in the NIT. The
other, Temple (16-13), will have coach John Chaney back on the
bench for its first-round game Tuesday against the ACC's Virginia
Tech (15-13), the school said Monday. Chaney missed the final five
games of the season as punishment for ordering rough play from one
of his players that resulted in an injury to senior John Bryant of
Saint Joseph's.
With an opportunity to show up a former boss, Frank Haith will
lead Miami (16-12) against South Carolina (15-13). South Carolina
coach Dave Odom, when he was at Wake Forest, gave Haith his first
job.
"The NIT is all about matchups, and they looked at Dave Odom,
myself and our relationship when they put this together," Haith
said.
Buffalo (22-9) will host Drexel (17-11) of the Colonial on
Wednesday in its first postseason appearance since moving up to
Division I 14 years ago. Losers in overtime to Ohio University in
the Mid-American Conference championship game, the Bulls took
little solace in their invitation.
"There won't be any consolation," coach Reggie Witherspoon
said. "But we'll show up and give everything we've got. That will
be separate from the NCAA tournament. We'll play as hard as we
absolutely can for as long as we have to play."
Two other Mid-American Conference schools play Wednesday: Miami
(Ohio, 19-10) hosts Texas Christian (19-13), and Kent State (20-12)
faces Western Kentucky (21-8).
Joining Drexel from the Colonial is Hofstra (21-8), facing Saint
Joseph's on Wednesday; and Virginia Commonwealth (19-12) hosts
Davidson (21-8), which went 16-0 to win the Southern Conference
regular season.
Georgetown (17-12), the other Big East team, will host Boston
University (20-8).
Other first-round matchups are Cal-State Fullerton (19-10) at
Oregon State (17-14); Rice (19-11) at Southwest Missouri State
(18-12); Denver (20-10) at San Francisco (16-13); Houston (18-13)
at Wichita State (20-9); Vanderbilt (18-13) at Indiana (15-13);
Clemson (16-15) at Texas A&M (19-9); Northeastern (21-9) at Memphis
(19-15); and Arizona State (18-13) at UNLV (16-13).