Gophers men's basketball coach Ben Johnson knows goals of making the NCAA tournament won't be accomplished this year, but he hopes his team can extend the season with the next best thing.
The NIT selection show will follow the NCAA tournament announcement on Selection Sunday while airing separately at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
A new format this year for the 32-team NIT has the selection committee first naming the 12 automatic bids from the six major conferences. Those bids go to the top two teams in each of those conferences, based on NET ranking, that didn't qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Rounding out the NIT field, the committee picks the "20 best teams available" that no longer guarantees spots for regular-season league champions and can include any team nationally.
The Gophers (18-14) lost to Michigan State on Thursday in the Big Ten tournament second round at Target Center. They were 9-11 in the Big Ten to finish the regular season tied for ninth place.
Being left out of the NIT is certainly possible. Minnesota's NET ranking is No. 91, which ranked behind Ohio State (53), Iowa (61), Maryland (81) and Penn State (86) as of Friday.
In the previous selection format, five major conference teams were picked in the NIT last season with NET rankings at No. 75 or higher with Villanova (75), Virginia Tech (76), Seton Hall (77), Wisconsin (80) and Vanderbilt (81).
The NIT starts March 19-20 with first-round through quarterfinal games played on college campuses. The semifinals and finals are at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
