Staff and Wire Reports
Guess who’s coming to dinner?
It was the matchup fans talked about the most, an event second only to an NCAA Tournament bid that was just out of reach.
The National Invitational Tournament selection committee announced late Sunday that Baylor University will meet UNM in The Pit at 10 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the tournament in a game that will be televised on ESPN.
Baylor coach Dave Bliss left UNM two years ago and was replaced by Fran Fraschilla, who will make his second consecutive post season appearance in the NIT.
Baylor brings in a 19-11 overall record, while UNM has a 19-12 record. The Bears also bring in a team filled with former Lobos who followed Bliss to Texas, including forward Greg Davis. Other former UNM players that round out Baylor’s roster but are not yet eligible to play are guard Kevin Henry and forward R.T. Guinn. Bliss’ three assistant coaches — Doug Ash, Kevin Lewis and Brian O’Neill — were on Bliss’ staff before he left.
Bliss spent 11 years on the bench at UNM and is the Lobos' all-time winningest coach with a record of 246-108. He took UNM to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in nine years. Baylor advanced to the semifinals of the 2001 Big 12 Tournament last weekend, upsetting top-seed Iowa State along the way, before losing to Texas. UNM is 1-0 all-time against Baylor, the only meeting coming in 1965, a 74-64 UNM win in Albuquerque.
Season-ticket holders have the first chance to purchase tickets on Monday from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Ticket Office at The Pit. The general public can purchase tickets beginning Tuesday at 7 a.m. at the Ticket Office, as well as at all Furrs Supermarkets and online at www.tickets.com. Prices for the men's game are: $20 for Lobo Level, $15 for Chairbacks, $10 for Bench and $5 for students.
UNM was one of three Mountain West Conference teams selected for the NIT. The University of Wyoming (20-9) will face Pepperdine University (21-8) in Laramie, Wyo., Wednesday and the University of Utah (19-11) plays University of Memphis (17-14) in Salt Lake City, Utah, Tuesday night.
The Big East, which sent five teams to the NCAA tournament, had six more selected for the NIT on Sunday night.
The semifinals and finals will be played at Madison Square Garden on March 27 and 29.
Seton Hall, a surprise semifinalist in the Big East tournament, will play at Alabama (21-10) on Tuesday night.
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Connecticut, the 1999 NCAA champion, will play host to South Carolina (15-14) the next night. Also on Wednesday, Miami travels to Auburn (17-13); Villanova plays at Minnesota (17-13); and Pittsburgh welcomes St. Bonaventure (18-11).
West Virginia will play Friday at Richmond, the regular-season champion of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Spiders (21-6) were barred from the CAA tournament because they are moving to the Atlantic 10 Conference next season.
North Carolina-Wilmington (19-10) will be at Dayton (19-12) on Wednesday in the same building where the NCAA opening-round game will be held the night before. First- and second-round Midwest Regional games will also take place at University of Dayton Arena on Friday and Sunday.
St. John's, Virginia Tech and Rutgers — which all had losing records — are the only Big East schools not to be chosen for post-season play.
Other first-round matchups on Wednesday include, Detroit (22-10) at Bradley (19-11); Illinois State (21-8) at Purdue (15-14); UC Irvine (25-4) at Tulsa (21-11); Southern Mississippi (22-8) at Mississippi State (16-12); Pepperdine (21-8) at Wyoming (20-9); and South Alabama (22-10) travels to Toledo (21-10) to play the only game on Thursday night.
The NIT released a list of teams but will not release its brackets until Monday.
