Nebraska Basketball: Huskers are projected to make the NIT
Nebraska basketball is waiting to hear if its going to be invited to the NIT but if the latest projections are correct, the Huskers should get into the tournament.
The Nebraska basketball team put together an exciting run during the Big Ten tournament, but unfortunately, it came to an end Friday in the quarterfinals against Wisconsin.
With the loss, Nebraska basketball finished with an overall record of 18-16, which certainly isn’t good enough to get an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.
Yet, with wins over Iowa and Maryland in their last three games, the Huskers beat two teams that were ranked in the top 50 of the NET rankings and that should help the team get into the NIT if it is willing to accept an invitation as athletic director Bill Moos indicated earlier this week.
Moos decided to put off any decision about the future of head coach Tim Miles until after the announcement and it seems like if the Huskers get a berth, Miles will coach the tournament and the decision would be announced after.
With 14 automatic bids on the line Saturday, the NIT at-large field may be about to shrink. Here’s @nybuckets’ latest update: https://t.co/ZVxD2U4ZMQ
— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) March 16, 2019
As I said Friday, this team should get a chance to continue playing and according to the blog midmajormadness.com Nebraska should get into the field and currently, the site projects the Huskers to be a No. 3 seed.
If that winds up being correct, it would be hard for Nebraska basketball to turn that down. For one, it would give the team a chance to compete in one of the two major postseason tournaments and on top of that, the extra home game and chance to possibly play on TV would be silly to waste.
The Huskers also have a solid resume and are over .500 so they deserve to be playing in the postseason. They should easily be among the 100 teams taking part in the NCAA and NIT tournaments.
Obviously, Nebraska was probably hoping it would hear its name called by the NCAA tournament selection committee. Instead, the Huskers are sitting around and wondering if they will get a berth to the NIT.
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But with their talent and experience, there’s a chance Nebraska could make a run in that tournament. NIT championships aren’t national titles or even a conference title, but it’s a great way to end a season and it would be fun to see James Palmer, Glynn Watson Jr. and Isaiah Roby get a chance to chase that.