March Madness: Who made the 2023 NIT Tournament?

These Teams will still get a Postseason Opportunity despite missing NCAA Tournament in the NIT.

Top Left Region

The Oklahoma State Cowboys will take their place as the top overall seed in the NIT after just barely missing the NCAA Tournament. The Cowboys, who went 18-15, will have home-court advantage throughout the first three games of the tournament before a potential trip to Vegas.

Joining Oklahoma State in the top left is some interesting mid-major teams. Defensive-minded teams in Sam Houston State and North Texas are the other top seeds in the region. Grant McCasland for North Texas could be due for a high-major job in the very near future. Washington State, who finished the regular season hot, rounds out the top four seeds.

In the mid-major category, Santa Clara, Alcorn State, Eastern Washington, and Youngstown State are the bottom seeds of this bracket. Santa Clara could definitely upset someone as they are led by Bradin Podziemski. This is a good opportunity for Podziemski to show off his NBA potential. Elsewhere, Youngstown State could pose as an interesting giant killer. The Penguins, led by Dwayne Cohill, can flat-out score.

Bottom Left Region

In my opinion the strongest region of the tournament. From intriguing players to great defenses, this region has all you could ask for in an NIT. Oregon got the number 1 seed after what some would say is a disappointing season. Will Richardson and N’Faly Dante lead a talented group against UC Irvine out of the Big West.

Liberty-Villanova will be an extremely interesting matchup as Liberty all year as tremendous metrics but struggled to beat the top teams they played. Villanova on the other hand played great basketball down the stretch and is healthy now with Justin Moore back.

Wisconsin-Bradley at the Kohl Center will be a “first to 50 wins” kind of game. Tyler Wahl vs Rienk Mast is one the best individual matchups to watch in the entire tournament. Malevy Leons on Steven Crowl could also be intriguing. You also have the in-state matchup between Florida and UCF. Both teams have some real talent.

Top Right Region

The top-right region is also filled with talent especially considering there are only two mid-majors in the region. Rutgers leads the way as the consensus NCAA Tournament snub and they’ll take on Aaron Estrada and Hofstra in round 1.

Utah Valley is an interesting team as many thought they were the best team in the WAC and had upset potential in the NCAA’s. They’ll take on a New Mexico team that was pretty miserable after non-conference play. The other two matchups will be between non-mid-major programs as Colorado will host Shaheen Holloway and Seton Hall and then Virginia Tech will travel to Cincinnati.

Bottom Right

Michigan and Vanderbilt both in the same region might be as must-see as the NIT can get. Those two would meet in a regional semifinal if they could knock off Yale and Toledo respectively. Toledo with its’ high-powered offense could certainly scare a Michigan team that might not be all that motivated.

Clemson is the number 1 seed in this region and boy were their fans mad yesterday and pretty much the entire week about the selection process surrounding the Tigers. Clemson took down a bubble team in North Carolina State three times and didn’t get in. As a result, they’ll take on Morehead State.

The NIT will also get a second Conference USA team as Jelly Walker and UAB will play Southern Miss. Many wanted to see UAB in the tournament, but it was still a good season for Andy Kennedy’s squad despite not making it.