Saint Thomas Breaks Ground in NCAA Tournament Odyssey!
In its first year of eligibility, the St. Thomas men’s basketball team earned the opportunity to compete in a Division I postseason basketball tournament. Spurned in their efforts to reach “March Madness” after a semifinal loss in the Summit League conference tourney, the Tommies were invited to compete in the NIT.
St. Thomas was one of the 32 teams not picked for the NCAA tournament to be invited to what has traditionally been the second-rung season-ending competition. The Tommies are scheduled to travel west to face Seattle at 9 p.
m. Tuesday. The winner of that game is slated to face either Auburn or South Alabama in the second round.
St. Thomas earned an invitation to the tournament after closing the Summit tournament with a NET ranking of 103. The Tommies were the highest-ranked Summit League team in the NET and finished two places behind NCAA Tournament-bound and Big West champion Hawaii.
After a 24-9 campaign in its second season in the Summit, St. Thomas finished second to North Dakota State. The Bison won both the conference regular-season and tournament titles to earn the Summit’s automatic NCAA tourney bid.