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2023 NIT

Wisconsin hangs on at home over Liberty 75-71.
Zac Cleveland of Normal, Illinois played for the Flames.

Remember the original bracket had Liberty as the 2 seed, thus this would have been a home game. Can't believe they are happy right now.
 
Conference USA is having a really strong postseason. FAU in the NCAA Sweet 16 and North Texas and UAB in the NIT Final 4. That’s just about as good as it gets for a (true) mid major conference.
 
Conference USA is having a really strong postseason. FAU in the NCAA Sweet 16 and North Texas and UAB in the NIT Final 4. That’s just about as good as it gets for a (true) mid major conference.

Definitely, and Utah Valley looked good last night as well as a mid-major. I hope one of the 3 wins it.
 
Definitely, and Utah Valley looked good last night as well as a mid-major. I hope one of the 3 wins it.

Thank goodness one mid-major conference is looking good. Most of the other mid-majors bombed out, other than the couple that were expected to do well (Houston & Gonzaga).
Btw, Houston will not be a mid-major for much longer. They join the Big 12 on July 1, 2023, along with Cincinnati, UCF, and BYU.
And Gonzaga's days as a mid-major may also be limited. There are rumors that the Big 12 is "aggressively pursuing Gonzaga"-
https://www.si.com/college/gonzaga/...-the-wcc-after-byus-departure-big-12-meetings

There had previously been reports that the Pac-12 was interested in Gonzaga as a basketball-only member, but those seem to have faded now with the Big 12 rumors.--
https://superwestsports.com/mclaughlin-is-gonzaga-hoops-a-good-fit-for-the-pac-12/
 
2 NIT semifinal games tonight at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ype/3/group/98

North Texas came back from a 12 point halftime deficit to beat Wisconsin 56-54 in the first semifinal game of the NIT in Las Vegas.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401526930

Wisconsin appeared to be in control of the low-scoring game well into the 2nd half, and lead 54-48 with 9 minutes left in the game. But Wisconsin never scored another point over the final 9:08 of the game. They went 0-10 from the field in that stretch, and they totalled just 13 points in the 2nd half. North Texas slowly came back and went ahead with 2 minutes left to win 56-54.

Wisconsin 3-point phenom Steven Crowl did not even attempt a 3-pointer in the game, and finished with 10 points. UNT's second-leading scorer is Kai Huntsberry, a former Bradley recruit a year ago from the portal. So the CUSA has one team into the final on Thursday night.


In the other semifinal, UAB leads Utah Valley University of the WAC at halftime 41-37-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401526927

If UAB wins, the Championship game Thursday will feature two CUSA teams.
 
UAB wins in overtime, beating Utah Valley 88-86 to advance to Thursday's final in an All-CUSA match with North Texas.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401526927

Reportedly, Cal was just waiting for Utah Valley's season to end to make UVU's head coach Mark Madsen their new coach. Madsen, who grew up just a few miles from Berkley, played and was an All-American for Stanford in 1996-2000.
 
Anyone remember when NT was in the Valley? Playing them was an almost guaranteed win and oftentimes a mismatch, even on their court. Now, they're the 69th best team in the country.

North Texas State was in the MVC from the the late 1950s through the 1974-75 season. At that time their home floor was similar to a high school gym and called The Snake Pit. Their nickname was the Eagles and changed to the Mean Green after the football career of standout “Mean” Joe Greene. They did have some decent basketball teams however it wasn’t reflected in the standings because the MVC was one of the best if not the best basketball conference in the country. Those were the days of Cincinnati, Louisville, St.Louis, Wichita, Bradley, Drake, Memphis and Tulsa. They left the MVC, as Cincinnati, Louisville and Memphis did, to make a commitment to improve football, something the MVC was not willing to do. When Versace took BU from last to first in the MVC, in I believe his second year, they played their first round game of the NCAA Tournament in Denton, Texas on the campus of North Texas State in their new arena known as the “Super Pit”, against Texas A&M. It is now called the University of North Texas.
 
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