BYU, Utah earn at-large bids to second-tier NIT


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PROVO — BYU basketball's season nearly ended in a rout to No. 6 Gonzaga in the championship game of the West Coast Conference tournament last Tuesday night.

But the postseason goes on.

The Cougars (24-10) will open the second-tier National Invitation Tournament against third-seeded Stanford at 8 p.m. MT Wednesday. The game will air on ESPNU and KSL Newsradio.

The Cardinal (18-15) finished tied for third in the Pac-12 with an 11-7 record that put it on the same line as Utah and UCLA, which narrowly made the NCAA Tournament field.

BYU will be the third WCC team to face Stanford in 2017-18; the Cardinal beat Pacific 89-80 Nov. 11 and San Francisco 71-59 Dec. 17 during a non-conference schedule that included losses to Eastern Washington, then-No. 12 North Carolina, No. 32 Florida and No. 17 Ohio State.

The Cougars are 6-2 all-time, including a 112-103 road win in 2013.

Utah, which lost to Oregon in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament, earned a No. 2 seed and will host UC Davis (22-10) at 7 p.m. MT Wednesday on ESPN3.

Utah's Justin Bibbins holds the ball against Oregon in the Pac 12 tournament at T-Mobile Arena, Thursday, March 8, 2018 in Las Vegas. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)
Utah's Justin Bibbins holds the ball against Oregon in the Pac 12 tournament at T-Mobile Arena, Thursday, March 8, 2018 in Las Vegas. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

The Utes (19-11) are making their second-straight appearance in the NIT.

The Aggies are coached by former Utah Jazz point guard Jim Les, and were the regular-season champions of the Big West, earning an autobid to the NIT.

Top seeds in the NIT are Notre Dame, Baylor, Southern California and Saint Mary's, which will host eighth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana (22-11) in the first round.

Long a platform for experimenting with college basketball rules and regulations, the 2018 NIT will be no different. Among the notable changes are an extended 3-point line, pushing the distance out to FIBA international standards of 22 feet, 1.75 inches at the top of the key; a wider free-throw lane from 12 feet to 16 feet; division into four 10-minute quarters instead of two 20-minute halves; and a shot clock reset of 20 seconds (down from 30) in the event of an offensive rebound.

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