South Alabama head coach Richie Riley has blasted NIT organizers after the college basketball tournament rescinded an invite to his team on Sunday night.
While Riley’s Jaguars did not qualify for the more prestigious NCAA Tournament, the coach was called on Sunday and given the news that his team was being offered a spot in the NIT.
As the NIT later confirmed, the invite to South Alabama came after it emerged that another team selected for the NIT – reported to be UC Riverside – was already committed to playing in a different tournament, the CBI. Thus, South Alabama would be taking UC Riverside’s spot.
However, soon after Riley received the good news, NIT organizers called him back to say that UC Riverside had gotten out of its CBI obligations and would be playing in the NIT after all – instead of South Alabama – as AL.com wrote.
The tournament apologized for the error afterwards on social media but Riley was understandably incensed.
‘A meaningless apology to the most meaningful group of players I’ve ever coached!,’ he replied on X.
South Alabama head coach Richie Riley was incensed after his team’s NIT invite was rescinded
The tournament ultimately included UC Riverside instead of South Alabama
‘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 informed his players that they were playing in the NIT after Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill and NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt confirmed the Jaguars were ‘100 percent’ in.
The coach said that roughly an hour had passed from the time his team received an invitation to when it was pulled.
He told his players they would not be participating in the NIT the following morning.
‘It’s just unfair for our players,’ Riley told AL.com. ‘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.’
The NIT apologized for the ’emotional impact this confusion created’ in a statement posted to X.
‘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 postseason event,’ they said.
‘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.’
South Alabama won a share of the Sun Belt regular season title this year, splitting the title with Troy, James Madison and Arkansas State, but lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament to Arkansas State.
That ended their chance of securing an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament, and now they won’t be in the NIT either.
