The NIT has apologized to the South Alabama Jaguars for a communication error after prematurely extending the team a postseason tournament invite.
Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill called South Alabama head coach on Sunday night to inform him of the NIT invitation. But an hour later, head coach Richie Riley was told by Gill and NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt that UC Riverside, who were invited to the NIT before South Alabama, managed to get out of its commitment to take part in a different postseason tournament — the College Basketball Invitational.
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That meant Riley, who had already told his players about their NIT place, and the Jaguars were out and their season was over.
On Monday, the NIT released a statement apologizing for the error.
“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 posteason event. 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 Regrettably, the NIT rescinded its invitation to South Alabama.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.”
Riley reposted the NIT’s statement on X with a message of his own.
“A meaningless apology to the most meaningful group of players I’ve ever coached! What they did to us last night is inexcusable! These guys in our locker room don’t deserve this and it’s sad your idea of making it right is a copy and paste apology!”
Riley told AL.com on Monday that he was assured by Gill that the Jaguars were in the tournament.
“(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 said. “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. (Gill and Gavitt) 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.’
Gill released his own statement saying that South Alabama was “prematurely contacted by the NIT on Sunday as a potential replacement team to fill out the 32-team bracket. With all 32 teams accepting their NIT invitations, this opportunity did not materialize. We regret the emotional impact this chain of events had on South Alabama’s student-athletes and want to congratulate Sun Belt Coach of the Year Richie Riley and his team on a historic season, including a Sun Belt regular-season co-championship.”
South Alabama, the regular-season Sun Belt co-champions, lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament as Troy took the sole bid to the NCAA tournament.
After missing out on the “Big Dance,” Riley said that it was “NIT or bust” for the program, who were not going to play in the CBI or other “pay-for-play” postseason tournaments.
“It’s just unfair for our players,” Riley said. “We’ve got a team with zero NIL. They’re a bunch of underdogs that fought their asses off. And now I have to tell them they’re not in the NIT. It’s just an absolute joke.”
