WSU to host Long Beach State in NIT
<p>The Washington men's basketball team reacts Sunday in Seattle to the announcement that it will be the No. 7 seed in the East Region, playing Georgia on Friday in Charlotte, N.C.</p>
Washington State (19-12) will host Long Beach State (22-12) on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPNU) in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
The Cougars are the No. 2 seed in the Boston College region. The seventh-seeded 49ers are coached by former Gonzaga coach Dan Monson.
This is the fifth all-time NIT bid for the Cougars and second in three years, as they last participated in the tournament in 2009. The school's best showing in the tournament came in 1995 when the Cougars appeared in the quarterfinals. WSU is 4-4 all-time in the NIT, appearing in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 2009. The Cougs have won at least one game in three of the four tournaments they have appeared in and are 3-0 at home in the NIT.
The WSU-Long Beach State winner will play the winner between No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 6 Harvard. Top-seeded Boston College takes on McNeese State and the winner awaits either Northwestern or Milwaukee.
The other three No. 1 seeds are Alabama, Colorado and Virginia Tech. WSU is joined by California as the only Pac-10 teams to make the field of 32. California is the No. 4 seed in the Colorado region and hosts Mississippi in the first round.
The first three rounds will be played at the campus site of the higher seeds. The semifinals and finals of the NIT will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York on March 29 and 31.
n Idaho: The Vandals (18-13) last week accepted an invitation to participate in its second CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament in three years. The Vandals will play at San Francisco (17-14) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at USF's Memorial Gym.
"We're very happy to still be playing, and to be in the CIT is a great thing for our basketball team and our program," Idaho coach Don Verlin said.
San Francisco was eliminated in the semifinal round of the West Coast Conference tournament last week. Idaho lost in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
Idaho and USF have faced each other four times in a series that dates to 1939. It's a 2-2 split, with the last being an 86-85 USF win at the 1992 Big Island Classic, played at Hawaii.
"I don't know much about them," Verlin said of USF. "I watched them a little the other night and I know they had a really good year and they finished third in the WCC, so it's going to be a tough game."
This will be Idaho's second CIT appearance. The Vandals played in the tournament in 2009, Verlin's first season at Idaho. The Vandals beat Drake, 69-67, in the opening round at Memorial Gym, then fell in the second round at Pacific, 69-59.
"We're just hoping it's a preview of things to come," Verlin said of the bid. "We just want to continue to build this program, and we want to take the necessary steps to keep playing in things like the CIT and to get to the NCAA tournament in the near future."