UC Irvine Faces Tough First-Round Challenge

Once again finding themselves on the outside looking in at the NCAA tournament despite 21 victories, UC Irvine (21-10) will settle for a berth in the National Invitation Tournament.

The Anteaters will play Brigham Young (17-11) in the first round Thursday night on BYU’s home court in Provo, Utah. Unfortunately for the Anteaters, BYU is 15-0 at home this season.

This will be the fourth NIT appearance for the Anteaters, who lost to eventual 2001 NIT champion Tulsa, 75-71, in the first round last March in Tulsa.

“We are excited to have the chance for postseason play,” Anteater Coach Pat Douglass said in a statement on the UC Irvine Web site. “Obviously we wanted to win our league tournament, but that didn’t happen, so we are just happy to continue playing.”

UCI lost in the semifinals of the Big West tournament to eventual champion UC Santa Barbara, 66-61, last Friday night.

BYU is coached by Steve Cleveland, a former UCI player in the 1974-75 and 1975-76 seasons. Junior forward Travis Hansen leads the Cougars in scoring at 15.3 points per game and in rebounding with a 6.4 average. The Cougars lost to San Diego State, 62-51, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament last Thursday.

The Atlantic 10 Conference, which had only Xavier selected for the NCAA tournament, had five teams picked for the NIT’s expanded 40-team field.

Georgetown (19-11) became only the second team in tournament history to turn down an invitation.

Hoyas Coach Craig Esherick said he couldn’t accept the invitation because his team was going to be sent on the road and he didn’t want his players missing classes.

The only other team to ever turn down the NIT was Louisville in 1987.

Richmond, Saint Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, Temple and Dayton were the Atlantic 10 teams selected for the NIT, which gets under way Tuesday with five games.

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Four members of the Pacific 10 were invited to the Women’s NIT: USC, Washington, Oregon State and Oregon.

USC plays at San Francisco when the Women’s NIT opens Wednesday.