Baylor No. 1 Seed in NIT; Baylor Hosts Wagner in First Round

Baylor will take on Wagner in the NIT on either Tuesday or Wednesday in the Ferrell Center (we’ll update with date and times, once that’s released). If the Bears win, they’ll take on the winner of Mississippi State-Nebraska. The bottom of the Bears’ bracket features Middle Tennessee, Vermont, Louisville and Northern Kentucky.

Baylor earned one of the top four seeds in the NIT by virtue of being one of the final four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament. The other one seeds are Notre Dame, USC and St. Mary’s.

The NIT is a 32 team single elimination tournament. The first games are held at the host school. Barring any scheduling conflicts, Baylor has the potential for multiple home games. The final two rounds are held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

This NCAA experiments with rule changes in the NIT. The 3-point line will move back to the intentional distance, which should help a Baylor team that struggles to shoot. In addition, the lane will widen to 16 feet, instead of 12 feet; the games will be four 10 minute quarters—the bonus will start at five fouls; and the shot clock will only reset to 20 seconds on an offensive rebound.

Baylor lost in the 2009 final and won the 2013 NIT. Hopefully the Bears can make another run. While it’s certainly not the tournament any of us wanted the Bears to play in, now that they’re in this tournament, it’d be nice to win.