Is UNLV basketball building an NIT résumé?

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023 | 2 a.m.

Does the UNLV basketball team have an alternate path to the postseason?

The Scarlet and Gray are certainly facing long odds to reach the NCAA Tournament. Due to an underwhelming conference season that has left them with a 17-11 overall record and a 6-10 mark in the Mountain West, the team has no realistic chance of earning an at-large bid to the Big Dance; that means they’ll have to play their way in by winning the MWC tourney.

That already tall task is made even more difficult by their placement in the standings; since UNLV will finish in the bottom six, the team won’t get a bye on the first day. Kevin Kruger’s squad will have to win four games in four days, and it’s likely they’ll be underdogs in two of those games, if not more.

It’s a perilous path. But that doesn’t mean the team’s postseason hopes are dead.

According to several bracket projections, UNLV is in position to be invited to the NIT, the 32-team tournament that runs concurrent to the NCAA tourney.

The NIT is definitely “little brother” to the real party, but for a UNLV program that hasn’t played in any postseason event since 2013, it would be a moderate sign of progress.

The 32-team NIT field is composed of teams that win their regular-season conference titles but don’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament, as well as teams whose bubbles burst on Selection Sunday.

How close is UNLV to making that cut? The Scarlet and Gray currently sport a NET ranking of 90, which is comparable to the at-large teams that snuck into the bottom of the bracket for the NIT in 2022. The NCAA developed the NET rankings in 2017 to replace the RPI rating system previously used by the selection committee to evaluate teams. NET places a premium on strength of schedule and home/away results, as well as offensive and defensive efficiency.

St. Bonaventure was the lowest-rated team to make the NIT as a non-auto qualifier last year with a NET of 85. UNLV is squarely in that neighborhood; the Scarlet and Gray were actually ranked 85 before a 1-point home win Friday over lowly Air Force on Friday dropped them five spots. 

As of now, at least two bracketologists include UNLV in the NIT field. Both have them as a No. 7 seed, with one projecting them to face No. 2 Penn State in the opening round and the other projecting them to square off against Missouri. Under the NIT format, higher-seeded teams host the early-round games, so UNLV would travel to play either opponent.

UNLV isn’t a lock for an NIT invitation, but the Scarlet and Gray can sharpen their résumé over the final week of the regular season in a home game against No. 32 Utah State (Wednesday) and a road tilt at No. 30 UNR (Saturday). A win in either contest would boost UNLV’s NET ranking and possibly put them inside the NIT bubble heading into the Mountain West tournament.

For teams that miss the cut for the NIT, there are lower-level tournaments like the CBI and the Basketball Classic, but teams are responsible for paying their own way and it’s unlikely UNLV would accept an invitation to those events. The NIT covers all expenses for participating teams.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.