College Corner: Vandy Headed To NIT, MTSU Lady’s Continue Dominance, Belmont Women’s Headed To WNIT

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Vanderbilt Headed To The NIT After NCAA Tournament Snub

Photo: Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics

Despite their fantastic 2022-2023 season and their SEC Tournament semifinals appearance, Vanderbilt was not selected to the 2023 NCAA Tournament but will be playing in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

The Commodores finished with a record of 20-14 and conference record of 11-7 with wins against Tennessee, Auburn, Mississippi State and Kentucky, all of which are in the NCAA Tournament. Vandy made it to the SEC Tournament semifinals where they struggled to keep up with Texas A&M who won 87-75.

Vandy will head to their second-straight NIT appearance as a No. 3 seed, hosting Yale on Tuesday, March 14 at 8 p.m. in the opening round. The game will air live on ESPNU.

Game tickets and parking will be available for purchase on vucommodores.com. Current men’s basketball season ticket holders will be able to purchase their same seats from the 2022-2023 season by logging into their ticket account. The cost for reserved seating is $20 and student tickets are $10, and with Vanderbilt University on spring break a limited number of general admission tickets – available in the student section (Sections G-K) – will be available for $15 each.

The Commodores have advanced to the quarterfinals in each of their last two NIT appearances including last year after earning wins over Belmont and Dayton. Vandy is 22-12 all-time in the event.

 

MTSU Lady Blue Raiders Selected As No. 11 Seed After Winning CUSA Tournament

MTSU Lady Blue Raiders at Selection Sunday watch party. Photo: Courtesy of MTSU Athletics

No. 25 MSTU women’s basketball will be traveling to Durham, North Carolina to start the Lady Raiders’ NCAA Tournament, as MTSU earned the No. 11 seed in the Seattle Regional 4 on Saturday, March 18.

MTSU will face off against No. 6 seeded Colorado on Saturday, who ranked No. 20 in the final AP Poll of the season. This will be Middle Tennessee’s 20th NCAA Tournament appearance and the 11th appearance under Head Coach Rick Insell.

“We’re excited about where we’re going,” Insell says. “We’ll live out tonight, celebrate being in the tournament. We’re not going to practice tomorrow. But Tuesday, we’ll get back on the floor wide open and get ready to win that first game.”

The Conference USA Regular Season and Tournament champion Lady Raiders (28-4) will be facing the Buffaloes (23-8) for the first time in program history. Colorado will be making their 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the second appearance in a row as an at-large team after falling in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals to Washington State, 61-49. The Buffaloes 2022 NCAA appearance was the first NCAA Tournament appearance for the program since 2013.

The No. 11 seed is the best MTSU has earned since being a No. 8 seed in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. MTSU was a No. 14 seed the last time the Lady Raiders earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the 2021 Tournament.

No. 3 seeded Duke (AP No. 13) is the hosting institution for the opening two rounds of the host site, playing No. 14 seed Iona in the other first round game. The winners of the first round games will then play in the second round on Monday.

Belmont Women’s Basketball Falls In MVC Tournament Final, Headed To WNIT

Belmont women’s basketball. Photo: Courtesy of Belmont Athletics

The Belmont women’s basketball team finishes their first season in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) on a down note, losing to Drake 89-71 in the conference tournament final.

But this isn’t the end for the Bruins postseason campaign as they have been selected to the 2023 WNIT as an at-large bid. Belmont finished the season with a 23-11 record and a 17-3 conference record with help from All-Conference players Destinee Wells and Madison Bartley. Wells was also named to the MVC All-Tournament Team.

The Bruins won the MVC Regular Season Championship, sharing the title with Illinois State and clinching a No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

The first round of the national postseason tournament will be played either Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, March 15-17. The full bracket with matchup, location, game date and time will be announced later today (March 13).

Steven Boero
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