Men’s basketball named a No. 1 seed for 2018 NIT

Sunday night, Baylor men’s basketball learned it is headed to the NIT as one of four No. 1 seeds. The Bears will host first round action Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center; tickets are available now.

Sure, we’d all rather see the Bears in the NCAA tournament. But we can choose to pout about being passed over (the Bears were one of the top four teams to miss the tournament, according to the selection committee), or we can follow the players’ lead and celebrate this opportunity.

We can also keep things in perspective: This marks the 10th time in the last 11 years that the Bears have reached the postseason under head coach Scott Drew (7 NCAA appearances, 3 NIT selections, including one NIT title and one runner-up finish). In Baylor’s 97 seasons pre-Drew, the Bears made the postseason just seven times (4 NCAAs, 3 NITs) and were winless in the postseason from 1951 until 2009.

Baylor will host Northeast Conference regular season champion Wagner in the NIT’s first round (Tuesday, 6 p.m., Ferrell Center). The winner of that game will face the winner of Mississippi State/Nebraska, and a win there would likely pit the Bears against Louisville in Waco for a chance to play at Madison Square Garden in New York City.