Savannah State makes NIT field; pairings announced

COACH HORACE BROADNAX
SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY TIGERS
MEAC REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS

INDIANAPOLIS — The 75th edition of the National Invitation Tournament was released Sunday and the 32-team field features 25 teams with 20 or more wins, 11 automatic qualifiers and four teams out of the Atlantic 10 Conference, including the 2010 NIT champion, Dayton.

First-round play kicks off on March 13 and 14, with the second round taking place March 15 through the 19. Quarterfinals follow on March 20 and 21, and for the 75th time, the NIT semifinals and final game will take place in New York’s Madison Square Garden on March 27 and 29.

First-round action on campus sites features number one seeds Washington, Seton Hall, Arizona and Tennessee hosting, respectively, four automatic qualifiers, Texas-Arlington, Stony Brook, Bucknell and Savannah State.

The 8th seed SSU Tigers  (21-11) will travel to Knoville and face the  #1 seed Tennessee Volunteers (18-14) on Tuesday, March 13 at 8:00 PM ET. The game will be televised live by ESPNU.

Other first-round games include Northwestern hosting Akron, LSU visiting Oregon, Dayton travelling (due to arena unavailability) to Iowa, Middle Tennessee State at home against Marshall, La Salle hosting Minnesota, while Valparaiso visits Miami (Fla.).

Rounding out first-round play is UMass at Mississippi State, UCF at Drexel, UNI visiting Saint Joseph’s, Oral Roberts hosting Nevada, Cleveland State traveling to Stanford and Ole Miss at home against Illinois State.

“Once again, the committee has come up with an outstanding field, filled with strong teams with outstanding credentials. In addition to the at-large bids we handed out, we rewarded 11 regular season conference champions with an opportunity to play in the NIT,” commented C.M. Newton, now in his seventh year as chair of the NIT Selection Committee.

The seven remaining automatic qualifiers, regular season conference champions include: Washington, Akron, Middle Tennessee, Valparaiso, Drexel, Oral Roberts and Nevada.

2012 NIT MEN'S BRACKET (.pdf)

VISIT: NCCA.COM FOR MORE INFO