The South Alabama men’s basketball team saw its season come to an end in surreal fashion on Sunday night.
After finishing the year 21-11 with a loss in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinals, South Alabama received an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament, better known as the NIT. The Jaguars accepted the invitation, only to have it rescinded a short while later.
South Alabama’s invitation came after UC Riverside declined an NIT invite. UC Riverside had previously committed to play in the College Basketball Invitational, which is a tournament that has no NCAA affiliation. However, UC Riverside was able to get out of the CBI commitment and accept the NIT invitation instead.
UC Riverside took priority with the NIT, so South Alabama’s invitation was rescinded. Jaguars coach Richie Riley told Creg Stephenson of AL.com that the series of events was “unacceptable.”
“(Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill) said, ‘We’ve had something happen; do you guys want to be in the NIT?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, it’d be awesome,” Riley recalled. “And so we talked for a few more minutes. I said, ‘This is 100%, we’re in, right?’ And they said, ‘Yeah congratulations. I’m glad you were able to get in.’
“… I tell them, ‘I’m gonna tell my guys.’ They’re like go ahead. So I tell the team. They call back, whatever time it was, 10:45, 11 o’clock. Dan’s like, ‘No, UC Riverside is back in. I hate that we had to do this.’”
The NIT issued a statement on Monday apologizing over the situation.
“After the NIT bracket was released Sunday evening, it was brought to the NIT’s attention that one of the teams scheduled to participate in the tournament had also committed to a non-NCAA affiliated postseason event,” NCAA executive Dan Gavitt said in a statement. “In an effort to secure another participating team, the NIT prematurely extended an invitation to the South Alabama Jaguars, prior to learning that the original team chose to accept its invitation to the NIT. Regrettably, the NIT rescinded its invitation to South Alabama. We understand the emotional impact this confusion created, and we sincerely apologize to South Alabama, Head Coach Richie Riley, and all the student-athletes for the error.”
— NIT (@NITMBB) March 17, 2025
South Alabama also issued a statement calling the situation “avoidable” and criticizing the NIT for extending an invitation before confirming that a spot was available.
— South Alabama Men’s Basketball 🏀 (@SouthAlabamaMBB) March 17, 2025
The NIT appearance would have been the fifth in program history for South Alabama. They have been to the NCAA Tournament eight times.
South Alabama won the regular-season Sun Belt Conference title this year. For a couple of hours, they thought they would have an opportunity to play more games. That has to be one of the most disappointing ends to a season that a team has ever experienced.
