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NIT- Bradley gets NIT bid- will play Dayton in Carver Arena, Wed. March 18, 8:00 pm on ESPNU

There will be no TV coverage of the NIT bracket announcements.

The 2026 NIT bracket will be released on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET, following the NCAA Tournament selection. According to Sporting News, there is no television broadcast for the 2026 selection; it will be released exclusively on the NIT's social media channels (X/Twitter and Instagram).
Release Time: ~9:30 p.m. ET, Sunday, March 15, 2026.
  • Where to Find: NIT social media channels (not on TV).
  • Tournament Coverage: While the selection show is not on TV, the NIT games themselves (starting March 18-19) will be carried by ESPN platforms.
 
Da Coach said:
Wow, what a stroke of good luck. Maybe Bradley's history of drawing great crowds for NIT games did help Bradley a little, by getting assigned a 1st round home game with Dayton.
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No Dayton just can’t host. They have the play in games playing at their arena.
 
Dayton is from the A10 and was 23-11, losing to VCU in their tournament final 70-62. They were 4th in the conference and they beat St Louis in the conference semis and have won 8 of their last 10 games. They have 3 guys in double figures with 5' 10" guard Javon Bennett leading the way with 16.3 a game. In fact 5 of their top 6 scorers are guards. They have a 7' 1" center, Amael L'Etang, who averages 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds a game. They average 74.7 points a game and are 34.1% from 3.
 
Da Coach said:
Wow, what a stroke of good luck. Maybe Bradley's history of drawing great crowds for NIT games did help Bradley a little, by getting assigned a 1st round home game with Dayton.
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That is probably it. I think they saw the strong attendance last year and have us the home game.
 
Illinois State is the only one of the 4 MVC teams to get seeded, and get a guaranteed home game.
NIT Brackets- www.x.com/NITMBB/status/2033355756964081732

Here are the other MVC games-
Auburn region- Murray State at #2 seed Nevada- Wednesday, 3/18, 9:00 pm Central, ESPN+
Albuquerque region- UIC at #2 seed California- Wednesday, 3/18, 10:00 pm Central, ESPN2
Winston-Salem region- Kent State at #4 seed Illinois State- Wednesday, 7:00 pm Central, ESPN+
Winston-Salem region- #2 seed Dayton at Bradley- Wednesday, 8:00 pm, ESPNU

Bradley (ESPNU) and UIC (ESPN2) get prime TV network broadcasts. Illinois State and Murray State banished to ESPN+.
Bradley and Illinois State are in the same Winston-Salem Region. They could play each other for the Regional Final (quarterfinal game).
 
Possible Braves vs Redbirds for the regional championship in Winston-Salem at Wake Forest? We plan to make the trip from SC. We were extremely fortunate to see them play the Bonnies in Rock Hill to start the season. A second time in one season would be phenomenal!!
 
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I'll be doing a long preview for this one but one thing of note I noticed early:

Dayton is the #1 team in the country in free throw rate. So, let's hope we don't some whistle happy "MVC-like" refs because these guys know how to get to the line.
 
NIT News release with more details about the 2026 NIT-

NIT RELEASE 2026 NIT Pairings (PDF) - Bradley University Athletics

NIT RELEASE 2026 NIT Pairings (PDF)
bradleybraves.com bradleybraves.com

This will be Bradley's 25th NIT appearance, but it will be Dayton's 29th appearance, the most of any team in the field.
This year, the semifinal games will again be at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, on April 2, 2026, at 7:pm and 9:00 pm ET.
The Championship game this year will be Sunday, April 5, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, at 8:00 pm ET.
 
Da Coach said:
Yes, I know, but the committee had to pick a team to match against them, knowing they couldn't host, and they could have picked any of the 16 unseeded teams, but they picked Bradley.
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I don’t think that was taken into account until after the pairings. They do the auto bids, then they choose the teams for At Larges, then they pair them up, then they make the calls (For invitations) and check if they can do a home game. If not then they switch to the other opponent. If that opponent can’t host then I would assume they swap with a different opponent.
 
Da Coach said:
Yes, I know, but the committee had to pick a team to match against them, knowing they couldn't host, and they could have picked any of the 16 unseeded teams, but they picked Bradley.
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I'm gonna guess that maybe the NIT committee gave Dayton a choice: play at either Kent or Bradley... and they chose Bradley.
 
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