INDIANAPOLIS – There was no room in the NCAA Tournament for these men or women. But they have come here with fire in their game because all you need are two hoops, a ball and maybe a trophy to win and the blood gets pumping in March and April.
This is the headquarters of those left out. The inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, the men’s NIT, both in hallowed Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Big Dance, it ain’t. But it’s a week of hard and honest labor to win something in a place that cherishes the game. There are worse ways for teams to spend the early days of April.
“Any postseason’s great,” said Villanova guard Lucy Olsen of the Wildcats trying to win the inaugural WBIT. “You can only be the first once, so I think it would be awesome.”
While the men’s and women’s Final Fours will soon be making thunder, here are two days on a less glitzy stage. But it’s still April in college basketball.
MONDAY
The men’s teams practice in the morning. That includes Seton Hall, who some believe was the most unjust victim of Selection Sunday. With each passing Connecticut rout in the NCAA Tournament, one of the Pirates’ season victories grows more glorious. They beat the Huskies by 15 points. That wasn’t enough to get them in the door.
“Talking about the NIT, we said if we were going to partake in this that we were going to go far with it and give it our best shot,” says guard Al-Amir Dawes. “And now that we’re here, we’re truly blessed. We are all just taking it a step at a time, trying to bring the hardware home.”
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Seton Hall will meet Georgia, a team that finished 11th in the SEC with a 17-16 regular-season record but perked up to defeat Xavier, Wake Forest and Ohio State in the NIT, the last two on the road. Bulldogs coach Mike White mentions how “Seton Hall had a really strong argument to play in that other tournament.” Like all coaches still busy in the NIT or that other tournament, White is keeping at least part of one eye on the transfer portal as he prepares his team. “We are all multi-tasking,” he says.
The other game will have Utah against Indiana State, whose campus is under 90 minutes away. Once the Sycamores qualified for Indianapolis, Tuesday night was sold out in hours. But coach Josh Schertz is guessing Indiana State’s most famous alum, Larry Bird, will not be in attendance. “I think it’s just he’s a very private…
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