Lady Raiders accept invitation to play in women's NIT
After a 102-98 triple overtime loss to UAB in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament last week, there was a good chance the Middle Tennessee state men's basketball team's season was over.
However, the Blue Raiders will be playing postseason basketball after they accepted an invitation to play at the 2022 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The first two rounds of CBI will be broadcast on Flowhoops, while the semi-finals and tournament championship will be broadcast on ESPN2.
MTSU (23-10) earned the No. 2 seed behind No. 1 Drake (24-10), with the Blue Raiders playing No. 15 California Baptists (18-15) at 4 p.m. CST 19 March.
This is the 16th time in the school's history that MTSU is playing in a post-season tournament, the program's first appearance in CBI. It is also the Blue Raiders' first postseason appearance since the 2018 NITs when they defeated Vermont and lost to Louisville as the No. 3 seed.
MTSU is 0–2 against teams in the CBI region, including an 87–74 loss to No. 4 Stephen F. Austin on 19 November and a 65–61 loss to No. 14 Rice on 6 January.
The MTSU women's team (23–7) is also tied after the season after accepting bids for the Women's National Invitational Tournament (NIT). This is the second consecutive season MTSU will play in the post season after making it to the NCAA Tournament last season.
The Lady Raiders, who fell 80-72 to Louisiana Tech in the Conference USA semifinals on Friday, will make their fourth WNIT appearance in the past six seasons. This is the 16th time in 17 seasons under head coach Rick Insel that MTSU will play in a post-season tournament.
The WNIT bracket will be unveiled at 2 pm. on Monday.