Cincinnati Bearcats will face Virginia Tech Hokies in NIT first round on Wednesday

After a day of waiting for Selection Sunday teams to be slotted into the NCAA tournament, the University of Cincinnati learned of their postseason fate.

Wes Miller's team will play again on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena vs. Virginia Tech. The Hokies are 19-14 with a No. 77 NCAA NET ranking.

The first three rounds are at campus sites before the inaugural Las Vegas Final Four (March 28-30). UC is unable to host a possible second-round game due to previously scheduled obligations.

There will be no pre-sale for season ticket holders per tournament rules. All tickets are available on the UC website, gobearcats.com or by calling the ticket office at (513)556-2287 Monday at 9 a.m. Tickets are $18 for lower-level reserved, upper-level GA and students. Premium reserved spots (Champions Club) are $23 and courtside seats are $38.

Cincinnati basketball in the NIT: What's the goal?

The Xavier Musketeers cut down the NIT championship nets last season at Madison Square Garden. It would certainly be a unique story if another Cincinnati team advanced as far the following year. However, the NIT has moved the semifinals which will now take place in Las Vegas at Orleans Arena March 28-30. Next season, the NIT semis will be at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

An NIT championship can carry momentum into the next season

Xavier went from NIT champions to 25 wins and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Memphis was the 2021 NIT champ, then made the NCAA tourney last year before falling to top seed Gonzaga in round two. Sunday the Tigers won the AAC tournament over top-seed Houston and Penny Hardaway's men dance again. UC's Landers Nolley II was the NIT MVP playing in Tiger blue two years ago.

Cincinnati's history in the NIT

It's UC's first NIT bid since 2010 when the Mick Cronin-coached Bearcats defeated Weber State, then fell in a second-round game at Fifth Third Arena to the Dayton Flyers. In 2006, led by Andy Kennedy, the Bearcats were a game away from going to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals but fell to South Carolina when suddenly starters Jihad Muhammad and James White were ruled ineligible, leaving the Bearcats short-handed.

Later that evening press releases were issued with Ole Miss hiring Kennedy and UC announcing the hiring of Mick Cronin.

UC basketballWhat we learned from UC's loss to Houston in the AAC semifinals

UC basketballUC's Landers Nolley II, David DeJulius earn All-AAC men's basketball honors

The Bearcats are 8-10 historically in the NIT. Cronin made one appearance in addition to nine NCAA bids. Current West Virginia coach Bob Huggins took the Bearcats to the NIT in his first two seasons. In year three, UC advanced to the NCAA Final Four, the first of his 14 NCAA tournament bids in Cincinnati.

UC is No. 54 in the KenPom.com rankings and No. 70 in the NCAA NET. The NCAA tournament takes 68 teams, the NIT 32.

What hurt UC in the NCAA selection process

In the NCAA NET computations, a Quadrant 1 win is a home victory against a team ranked No. 1-30 or a neutral site win vs. a team ranked No. 1-50, or a road win against a team ranked No. 1-75.

UC was 1-8 in Quad 1 games with the lone victory coming at Central Florida on a David DeJulius floater. Quad 2 wins are home victories against opponents ranked No. 31-75, neutral site wins over teams ranked No. 51-100 or road games vs. teams ranked No. 76-135. In that category, UC was 2-3, defeating UCF at Fifth Third Arena and Wichita State in the Roundhouse.

In Quadrant 3, UC was 7-2 but losses that hurt came at NKU and the second-half implosion at East Carolina. The Bearcats won all 11 of their Quadrant 4 games.

UC will be in the Big 12 next season, how do they stack up?

UC's No. 54 KenPom.com ranking would put them second among the four schools entering the Big 12. Houston obviously is No. 1, the Bearcats 54th, UCF 65th and BYU 76th.

That ranking would put the Bearcats in this season behind 15-17 Oklahoma (No. 53) and just ahead of 16-16 Texas Tech who's at No. 60. Atop the big 12 is Texas at No. 8, Kansas at No. 9, Baylor at No. 15 with 10 losses and West Virginia at No. 17 with 14 losses. Iowa State at 19-13 is No. 23, Kansas State No. 24 and 18-15 Oklahoma State is No. 38. All of the current Big 12 schools made the NCAA "Dance" except for Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.

Which schools took a pass on the NIT?

Last year's national runner-up North Carolina at 20-13 and an NCAA NET of No. 47 was overlooked, causing coach Hubert Davis to issue a statement saying they were moving on to next season in the ACC. Dayton's Flyers also took a pass after falling in the Atlantic-10 final.

Wes Miller in the NIT

At UNC-Greensboro, Wes Miller took his teams to the NIT in 2017 and 2019 and the NCAA tournament in 2018 and 2021. This is Miller's sixth 20-plus win season. Conceivably, four of UC's five starters could return as Landers Nolley II, Ody Oguama, Viktor Lakhin and Mika Adams-Woods all have eligibility as well as sixth-man Jeremiah Davenport. John Newman III, a regular contributor in the 2021-22 season could also return after missing this season due to injury.

But, with the changing world of name, image and likeness, and the transfer portal, anything is possible. Incoming freshmen are Rayvon Griffith who led Taft to a state title before playing this season at Arizona Compass and Jizzle James out of Orlando, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Edgerrin James. Dayveon Thomas is another guard coming from Kilgore Community College in Texas.

Where to watch

The entire NIT tournament will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. The March 28 semifinals will be on ESPN with the NIT championship game on ESPN2 March 30.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NIT bracket has Cincinnati Bearcats facing Virginia Tech Hokies