Looking At BYU’s Path Towards An NIT Championship
Mar 21, 2022, 11:49 AM | Updated: Mar 23, 2022, 5:52 pm
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 24: Wilson basketball with the NIT logo before the NIT Season Tip-off at Barclays Center on November 24, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images)
(Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – The NIT bracket is heading into the final rounds and BYU basketball is in the last eight teams.
All of these wanted to be in the NCAA Tournament, but now that a trip to New York City and basketball’s mecca, Madison Square Garden, is within reach, the stakes are growing for the NIT.
Greatest city in the world 🤝 The world's most famous arena
📸: bilalhassank pic.twitter.com/dVutGfTxxV
— MSG (@TheGarden) March 20, 2022
After taking down Long Beach State and then Northern Iowa in the first two rounds of the NIT, BYU now gears up for a matchup against a Pac-12 foe Washington State on Wednesday night.
BYU is one of two teams from conferences outside of the Power 6 leagues in college basketball. The other is St. Bonaventure from the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Bonnies took down Colorado and No. 1 seed Oklahoma in Norman to advance to the Quarterfinals against Virginia from the ACC.
Only one number-one seed remains in the NIT. That would be Texas A&M from the SEC. The Aggies, coached by Buzz Williams, will host Wake Forest from the ACC on Wednesday night in College Station. The winner of BYU/Washington State will face the winner of A&M/Wake Forest in the NIT Semifinals in New York City on Tuesday, March 29.
Then finally, four-seed Vanderbilt will travel to Cincinnati to take on two-seed Xavier, who hired former Arizona head coach Sean Miller to be their next head coach after parting ways with Travis Steele.
The 2022 NIT is BYU’s 17th appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. BYU has made two runs to Madison Square Garden over the past decade under former head coach Dave Rose in 2013 and 2016. The Cougars have won two NIT Championships back in 1951 and 1966.
All BYU basketball games can be heard on KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM), your legacy home of the BYU Cougars.
NIT Bracket
The NIT bracket for the Quarterfinals round.https://t.co/I0lJBT4Syl#BYU #BYUHoops @kslsports pic.twitter.com/lQ8VEkLFxt
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) March 21, 2022
2022 NIT Schedule
Quarterfinals | March 22-23
St. Bonaventure 52, Virginia 51
(2) Xavier 75, (4) Vanderbilt 73
(2) Wake Forest at (1) Texas A&M, March 23, 5 p.m., ESPN2
(4) Washington State at (2) BYU, March 23, 7 p.m., ESPN2 & KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM)
Semifinals | March 29 | Madison Square Garden
St. Bonaventure vs. (2) Xavier
Semifinal #1, 5 p.m., ESPN
Semifinal #2, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
Championship | March 31 | Madison Square Garden
NIT Championship, 5 p.m., ESPN2
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
