2026 NIT starts

 Eight NIT games today.

Since all the pre Dance talk about Auburn deserving a bid, I'm curious about USA(SBC) playing at Auburn. SBC PoY Chaze Harris (18.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.9 apg) will be a marked man.

Seattle(WCC) hosts St Thomas (MN) who finished second in the Summit. Nolan Minessale  20ppg for the Tommies

I thought Wichita was snubbed so we'll see if they play well hosting Wyoming.

March 18, 2026

AAC: WICH  got by WYO and Tulsa needed OT to defeat SFA

Christian May (16 points,  8reb), hit go-ahead 3-trey from the corner with 35.5 seconds left for UNCW  in a 68-67 win over Yale,

 USA lost to AUB and DAV fell to OKST, who benched three starters

SEA represented the WCC well with an easy win over UST. Maldonado (15pts, 5 asst) for the Redhawks.

UNLV beat UCI and LIB beat GM

March 19, 2026

L. Wolf (24pts, 7 reb)   for Illinois St(MVC) in 79-58 W over Kent St(MAC) 

MWC: UNM and NEV won and CSU lost to JOES

March 24, 2026

Down to 8 teams . Games are on ESPN 2

Tuesday, March 24 — Quarterfinals 

No. 1 Tulsa vs. No. 3 Wichita State, 7 p.m.  AAC matchup

No. 1 New Mexico vs. Saint Joseph's, 9 p.m. |  MWC /A10

I'll go with Tulsa and UNM tonight and Dayton and Auburn tomorrow night

Wednesday, March 25 — Quarterfinals

No. 2 Dayton vs. No. 4 Illinois State, 7 p.m. |  A10/MVC

No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 2 Nevada, 9 p.m. |  SEC/MWC

March 25, 2026

T. Buljan UNM (27PTS11REB)for the Lobos who handled the JOES, and Tulsa got by WICH

Wes Miller, ex-Cincy HC, signed a five year deal with Charlotte(AAC)

March 26, 2026

 I guess ILLST (MVC) is the Cinderella of the NIT. C. Walker ILST

(13PTS10REB) They beat Dayton while AUB beat Nevada.

April 2 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indiana: : AUB/ILLST, UNM/Tulsa

March 27, 2026

Saint Marys promotes M. McConnell to replace Bennet (ASU)

Chris Mack leaves Charleston(CofC) for USF. You'll remember him from his stints at Louisville and Xavier coach.

Donlon, an assistant at Clemson , takes the EMU HC job . He was 155-133 as HC at Wright State and Kansas City(formerly UMKC) HC

March 28, 2026

and bam, Mark Turgeon re-appears to be the HC at UMKC (Summit). His last gig was at MD where he was dismissed after the 2020/21 season

March 29, 2026

Travis Ford is back. Ark-LR(WAC) hired him. His last gig was at St Louis(2016-24)

WAC merges with the ASUN to become the United Athletic Conference on July 1, 2026,

April 2, 2026

ILL ST surprising run is done. AUB blew them out . T. Coleman scored 17 for the Redbirds.

DGreen scored 13 for Tulsa in a 74-69 W over UNM

TUL(AAC)/AUB (SEC) in the final  April 5, at 8 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. ESPN2 is airing the game.

April 6, 2026

D. Green (TLSA) 25PTS,6REB in an OT loss  to AUB. Tulsa made a he!! of a comeback in the 2nd half after a weak first half. Tigers prevailed in OT.

April 7, 2026

UNC Greensboro Spartans

Former coach: Mike Jones (March 9)

New coach: Jerod Haase (March 17) , who's last HC gig was at Stanford. He was the HC at UAB(2012-16) before that.

Hovering over Chi-town area college hoops

 Impotent Evansville scored 12 +19 in an 82-31 MVC loss at Loyola of Chicago. L of C is tied with NIU for the MVC lead and I'm sure they'd like another MVC title before they join the Atlantic 10 next season. SIu rolled Illinois St 90-69 in other MVC action.

Earlier blog on Chicago hoops: https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2021/02/chicago-hoops-weak-depaul-and-more.html

Feb 25, 2022

Zion Griffin had 21 points as UIC turned back Green Bay 81-77 in Horizon action , and Clev St fell to Detroit Mercy, which used to be the U of Detroit when Spencer Haywood and Dick Vitale were there. 

Feb 27, 2022

NIU outscored LoC 15-9 in OT for a 102-96 win and the MVC regular season title.

Feb 28, 2022

Javon Freeman-Liberty scored 39 points as DePaul(14-14, 5-13 Big East) turned back St. John's 99-94  while UConn kept GTown winless in the Big East. 

March 2, 2022

 Kevin Johnson scored 21 points for UIC in an 80-69 win over Milwaukee in the first round of the Horizon League Tourney. Flames won their final three regular season games in the Horizon and could be a spoiler.

March 3, 2022

That Liberty kid went off again for DePaul again last night in a win over Marquette. If they beat UConn, a loser to Creighton last night, on Saturday, you can expect the Blue Demons(15-14, 6-13) to upset someone in the Big East T.

Chicago St(WAC) follows up its upset of NMST with a 62-53 loss to Cal Baptist in conference play.

MARCH 4, 2022

UIC lost to Purdue- Fort Wayne in the HorizonT

Ill St beat Indiana St to advance in the MVCT

March 5, 2022

MVCT: Loyola of Chicago cruised by Bradley so we may see the nuns in the stands at Dance again. Ill St lost to UNI and SIU lost to Drake.

LoC faces UNI, and Drake faces Missouri State today.

March 6, 2022

DePaul gave UConn a tough game but could not stop Sanogo (26 PTS 11 REB 1 AST) under the basket.. UConn 75 DEP 68

Lookout for the nuns : Loyola of Chicago handled UNI easily and will face Drake in the MVCT final.

March 8, 2022

 WAC tournament tips of at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, NV.  B. Betson(14.3 ppg)  and his Chicago St(7-24, 3-15) teammates face UVU in what  may be one of its last one WACT s as they look for a conference closer to Chicago.

Wright State(20-13, 15-7) faces Northern Kentucky(20-11, 14-6) in the HorizonT final

March 20, 2022

Wright St won the play in game over Bryant and gave Arizona a hard time in the first half before  getting rolled.

Loyola of Chicago lost to Ohio St.

Illinois played a ragged game and was lucky to survive Tenn-Chattanooga

In the NIT, UNI got rolled by BYU

Sean Miller escaped the mess in Arizona and reportedly turned down South Carolina to return to Xavier(Big East)

March 21, 2022.

Houston rolled Illinois, who looked ragged.

Missouri is reportedly close to hiring Dennis Gates of Cleveland State(Horizon). He's had some solid seasons but not awesome for a smaller conference.

March 22, 2022

Ryan Pedon , ex Ohio State assistant coach, who was the No. 2 pick for the Cincinnati job a year ago, is the new Illinois State HC. I didn't recall him being that close to Cincy job last off-season.

May 23, 2022

After stumbling at Georgia, Tom Crean could be headed back to the state of Indiana. Evansville has him on its list. He compiled a 190–66 record at Marquette (.664) and 166–135 record at Indiana (.551). 

July 9, 2022

Chicago St remains in limbo since leaving the WAC. It won't survive in 1A hoops as an Independent.

Crean didn't get the Evansville gig. David Ragland joins Evansville following a 1-year stint as an assistant coach at Butler University.

Nov 13, 2025

Kevin Mackey (August 21, 1946 – November 11, 2025) . His Cleveland St team upset Indiana and Saint Joseph's to make the Sweet 16 in the 1986 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. 

He got in some trouble later