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Jags Heading North In NIT

By Randy Patrick Sports

Published: Tue, March 13, 2007 - 4:03 am

Randy Patrick

The University of South Alabama men's basketball team (20-11) found out Sunday night that it will play at Syracuse (22-10) in the first round of the 2007 MasterCard National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Central time on ESPN. Clemson is the top-seed in the South Region, followed by Syracuse, Missouri State, Mississippi, Appalachian State, San Diego State, South Alabama, and East Tennessee State. The tournament format is 32 teams in four eight team regions. The Jaguars are the seven-seed in the tournament, while Syracuse is the two-seed in the 32-team field. Syracuse, a member of the Big East, went 22-10 this season and was not selected to the field of 65 for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Orange went 10-6 in the Big East and beat Connecticut and lost to Notre Dame in the Big East Tournament. South Alabama won the regular season title in the Sun Belt, finishing 13-5, giving it an automatic bid into the NIT. The NIT guarantees slots for teams that win their conference's regular season title, but lose in the conference tournament. The Jags were upset by Middle Tennessee State in overtime, 63-60, in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament. This will be the 10th time South Alabama has been on television this season and the first on ESPN. The Jags are 5-4 in televised games this year. USA was on ESPN2 last season in the final of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. USA has a 3-3 record in the NIT and last played in 2001 where it lost at Toledo 76-67 in overtime. The Jags also went to the NIT in 1981 and 1984.