Virginia Tech and George Washington were among the 32 teams selected late Sunday to play in the NIT, with the Hokies set to make their first appearance in a national postseason tournament in five years.
The Hokies (19-14), who lost to Miami in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament on Thursday, were given a No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seed Princeton on Wednesday at home in the first round. They will join top seed St. Bonaventure and No. 2 seed BYU in the same region.
Virginia Tech qualified for the NIT each year from 2008 through 2011, advancing to the quarterfinals twice in that span. It has won the tournament twice, in 1973 and in 1995.
“It’s not something that we wanted, but it’s something to be proud of,” junior guard Devin Wilson, the team’s longest-tenured scholarship player, said after the loss to Miami on Thursday. “It’s a good tournament. We’re going to go into that tournament with our heads high and try to win that, because that’s our next goal. We’re going to take it game by game and try to win that tournament as well.”
The Hokies last appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2007, and several players said after the loss to Miami that it was the team’s goal this season to return. In order to do so, they would have needed a long run in the ACC tournament — perhaps even to the championship game, if not win the title altogether.
George Washington (20-13) also needed a deep run in its conference tournament to state a valid case for the NCAA tournament, and its pleas fell short when it lost to Saint Joseph’s in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
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The Colonials, who opened the season by winning 11 of their first 12 games and were ranked as high as No. 20 in The Associated Press poll at one point, went just 11-7 during A-10 play. They will be playing in the NIT for the second consecutive year, facing No. 5 seed Hofstra at home on Wednesday as a No. 4 seed in the same region as top-seeded Monmouth and No. 2 seed Florida.
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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