🏀 NIT rescinds invitation to South Alabama basketball in embarrassing gaffe- USA Today

[Bama News]

NIT rescinds invitation to South Alabama basketball in embarrassing gaffe

The NCAA rescinded its NIT invitation to South Alabama men's basketball after the tournament made a mistake

www.tuscaloosanews.com

As much of the country was reacting to the reveal of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket on Sunday night — debating the merits of North Carolina making the field and overcoming the shock of West Virginia getting left out — something perhaps even more egregious was occurring with the NIT.

After winning a share of the Sun Belt regular-season title, South Alabama had its invitation to the NIT rescinded after a series of missteps by the event, which said it extended a bid to the Jaguars “prematurely.”

The NCAA, which runs the NIT, had reached out with an invitation to South Alabama Sunday night, but shortly after that, the Jaguars’ postseason plans were drastically and involuntarily altered.

UC Riverside had been among the teams originally invited to the NIT, but the Highlanders, after a 21-12 season, had already committed to play in the College Basketball Invitational, a less-prestigious tournament run by the Gazelle Group, a sports and entertainment company. In a statement released Monday, the NIT said it hadn’t been aware of that development until the brackets for both events were revealed.

In need of a team to take UC Riverside’s spot, South Alabama was brought in, but the Highlanders were able to get out of their CBI obligation and were available for the NIT. Because of that, the NCAA had to make a second call about an hour later to the Jaguars to inform them they were no longer invited.

“We understand the emotional impact this confusion created, and we sincerely apologize to South Alabama, Head Coach Richie Riley, and all the student-athletes for the error,” the NIT said in a statement Monday.



In the time between the calls from the NCAA, Riley had informed his team that it would be participating in the NIT. He then had to tell his players Monday morning about the unexpected change, which ended their season on a note few could have ever expected.

“A meaningless apology to the most meaningful group of players I’ve ever coached!” Riley wrote on social media Monday in response to the NIT’s statement. “What they did to us last night is inexcusable! These guys in our locker room don’t deserve this and it’s sad your idea of making it right is a copy and paste apology!”



Likely realizing the intense and widespread blowback it was about to receive, the statement that the NIT released on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, did not allow user to reply.

In their seventh season under Riley, the Jaguars went 21-11 after being picked to finish 11th in the 14-team Sun Belt in the league’s preseason poll. Riley earned conference coach of the year honors while junior forward Barry Dunning Jr., a Mobile native, was a first-team all-Sun Belt selection.