Marquette Basketball: 5 reasons to be excited for an NIT run

Marquette Basketball is headed to the NIT as a No. 2 seed, giving the Golden Eagles an opportunity to boost their 2017-18 season heading into next year.

Marquette basketball fans should not be satisfied with an NIT berth. For a program with as much as history and financial support as MU, qualifying for the NCAA tournament is the clear goal every single season.

But here the Golden Eagles are, a No. 2 seed in the 2018 NIT, with a chance to win some additional games. This is not the ideal scenario, but it’s also not a surprising one. There is also potentially plenty of season left to play. That in and of itself is a plus for Marquette fans; more basketball equals more fun.

Now making its 16th NIT appearance, Marquette (19-13, 9-9) has a unique history with the tournament, going back to the days of legendary head coach Al McGuire. In 1970, after finishing 22-3 in the regular season, McGuire’s then-Warriors were seeded to play in Fort Worth, Texas in the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional. Outraged at his team’s seeding (he felt Marquette deserved to play closer to Milwaukee), McGuire turned down the NCAA bid and took his team to the NIT in his hometown New York.

Marquette went on to defeat Julius Erving’s UMass squad in the first round, Utah in the quarterfinals, Pete Maravich and LSU in the semis, and McGuire’s alma mater St. John’s in the finals. The 1970 NIT banner still waves in the rafters of the BMO Harris Bradley Center, a throwback to the days of a great coach, a talented team, and a tradition of excellence.

The 2018 iteration of the National Invitation Tournament may not mean quite as much as it did nearly 50 years ago, but it would still be a crowning achievement for one of Marquette’s more interesting teams in recent memory. Here are five reasons to get excited about a potential NIT run.