Villanova accepts men’s NIT bid, opens on the road at Liberty University Tuesday night
Villanova is playing in the NIT for the first time since 2004, and the Wildcats are opening up on the road at Liberty.
Kyle Neptune’s first season as Villanova men’s basketball coach is not over just yet. The Wildcats, who did not make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012, accepted an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament.
The Wildcats are unseeded and open their NIT campaign on the road against Liberty University at 9 p.m. Tuesday in Lynchburg, Va.
Villanova (17-16, 10-10 Big East) was bounced from the Big East tournament Thursday night in a 87-74 loss to Creighton. The Wildcats entered the conference tournament needing to run the table and win four games in four nights to avoid missing out on the NCAA Tournament.
Instead, they’re in the NIT for the first time since 2004 after being in last season’s Final Four.
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A lot has changed for Villanova since that Final Four. Jay Wright retired in April. Neptune, a longtime Villanova assistant, took over the program. Then the Wildcats dealt with other adversity. Justin Moore, who would’ve had a strong argument for preseason player of the year in the Big East, missed the first 20 games while recovering from Achilles surgery. Star freshman Cam Whitmore missed crucial practice time in the summer and then suffered a thumb injury that required surgery and kept him out the first seven games.
The Wildcats played nine games with what would amount to their full rotation. They went 6-3 in those games, including wins over Xavier and Creighton, two teams in the NCAA Tournament.
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But injuries aside, Villanova sealed its tournament fate when it suffered early-season losses to Temple and Portland and then lost on the road at Butler and DePaul in the same week in January. Reverse those four games, and things may have turned out a bit different. Even still, the Wildcats were just 2-11 vs. Quad 1 opponents and did not have a strong case for an at-large bid.
As ESPN’s Joe Lunardi told The Inquirer two weeks ago: “it is a textbook NIT resumé.” So to the NIT they go.
Playing in the NIT extends the playing careers of Caleb Daniels and Brandon Slater, Villanova’s two fifth-year players, for at least one more game.
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Liberty was the second seed in the Atlantic Sun tournament and lost in the conference championship to Kennesaw State. This marked the seventh consecutive 20-plus win season for the Flames, who finished the season 44th in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Liberty is 48th in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric. The Flames did not have a strong schedule in 2022-23. They built their 26-8 record by going 16-0 against Quad 4 opponents and 6-3 against Quad 3.
Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Oregon, and Clemson are the four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team NIT field. The winner of Villanova-Liberty faces the winner of Bradley and Wisconsin.
The NIT Final Four is no longer at Madison Square Garden. This year, it is in Las Vegas March 28 and 30.
In a somewhat surprising move, North Carolina, which was in last year’s Final Four like Villanova, opted to not accept a NIT invitation.
Drexel, Penn, St. Joseph’s to play in WNIT
While the Villanova women’s team is the only of the 12 City 6 men’s and women’s teams participating in the main NCAA Tournament, there will be three City 6 squads in the women’s NIT.
Drexel, Penn, and St. Joe’s were all at-large selections to the 64-team field announced Sunday night. The full bracket and first-round matchups will be released Monday.