Barring a miraculous run in next week’s Mountain West Tournament, the Nevada men’s basketball team’s NCAA Tournament berth streak is expected to end at two o’clock.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Wolf Pack will be out of the playoffs.
After its 71-67 loss to New Mexico on Tuesday night, the Wolf Pack sits at 16-14 overall and 8-11 in the MW, although its advanced metrics of 74 in the NET and 76 in KenPom could put it in line for a playoff spot.
Nevada athletic director Stephanie Rempe said the Wolf Pack plans to bid for an NIT home game if it doesn’t reach the NCAA Tournament. And if it doesn’t make that tournament, Nevada would also accept an invitation to the inaugural College Basketball Crown, a 16-team event in Las Vegas and hosted by Fox Sports and Anschutz Entertainment Group.
“We want to play in the playoffs if we can,” Rempe said.
The Wolf Pack have played in the NIT five times, including in 1979, 1997, 2003, 2010 and 2012. They are 5-5 all-time in the tournament and reached the quarterfinals in 2012. The NIT is considered the second-best postseason tournament in college basketball behind the 68-team NCAA Tournament, but the NIT has tightened its criteria of automatic offers to try to improve the level of competition in the field with more power conference schools.
Ranked seventh in the MW, Nevada would not automatically qualify for the NIT but could earn an at-large bid into the 32-team field. With Nevada hovering around .500 with one regular season game remaining, a berth in the NIT could be a long shot.
Another option this year is the College Basketball Crown, which will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena with games televised on Fox and FS1. Rempe said the tournament has already contacted Nevada to gauge interest. The tournament will run from March 31 to April 6 and will feature schools from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East in addition to general participants.
“The Crown is pretty cool,” Rempe said. “They pay all your expenses. There’s 16 teams. It’s a great time of year. All that. It’s all on Fox. And it seems like it’s mostly A4 schools, but there are a few basketball brands and ours is one of them, which I thought was pretty cool.”
Rempe said the College Basketball Crown would be a money-neutral event for Nevada, while the NIT would be a moderate money maker, with that tournament giving $10,000 to participants and taking 70 percent of ticket revenue pledged by host schools. During its Division I history, Nevada has appeared in 19 postseason events, including 11 NCAA tournaments, five NITs and three CBIs.
