Sunday night, the NIT brackets were unveiled and Creighton was seeded fourth in the “St. Bonaventure Quadrant”, drawing the Alabama Crimson Tide of the SEC in the first round. That game will be played on Tuesday night in Omaha, with tip off at 8:00pm and the game televised on ESPN.
It’s the first NIT for the Bluejays since 2009, and their eleventh all-time appearance in the tourney. They own a 5-10 record in the NIT, though they’ve gone 1-1 each of the last three times they’ve appeared (2006, 2008, 2009). The game is a rematch of a first round (well, second round *technically*, but you know) NCAA Tourney game from 2012, which the Bluejays won 58-57.
Alabama comes into the game with an 18-14 record, and went 8-10 in the SEC, where they finished in 10th place (out of 14). They own wins over multiple KenPom Top 100 teams, including Wichita State, Notre Dame, Clemson, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Florida, and LSU. They enter the NIT having lost five of their last seven games, and were eliminated in the second round of the SEC Tournament 85-59 by Kentucky.
Here’s some early reaction on Twitter to the draw:
https://twitter.com/jtroop3/status/709177229058510848
https://twitter.com/mue11er/status/709180600456863744
https://twitter.com/CoburnBrett/status/709177686359277570
https://twitter.com/TwoJoesJays/status/709176843329343488
Check back with WBR tomorrow, as we’ll have much more on this matchup leading up to gametime !