Buffs To Host Dayton In NIT Opener

BOULDER — Tad Boyle believes his Colorado Buffaloes are excited to have the opportunity to extend their season and play in the NIT.

What Boyle knows for sure is that he will find out one way or another very quickly.

The Buffs (21-12), who were eliminated from NCAA Tournament contention with their Friday night loss to Washington in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals, received a No. 4 seed Sunday evening in the NIT. They will open the tournament at the CU Events Center Tuesday with a 9 p.m. game against the Dayton Flyers (21-11), who lost to Atlantic 10 tourney champ St. Louis in the tournament quarterfinals.

The game will be televised by ESPN2.

"The key for our guys is they're excited and they're going to embrace this," Boyle said Sunday night. "They did not want our season to end in Las Vegas. They truly didn't want it to end. If you truly don't want your season to end, you're excited to play in this tournament. If you're not, you'll get beat and you'll get beat early."

This will be Boyle's third trip to the NIT with the Buffs and CU's 11th all-time appearance. Colorado won three straight home games and advanced all the way to the 2011 tournament semifinals in Boyle's first season in Boulder before losing a heartbreaker to Alabama in Madison Square Garden.

If the Buffs can beat Dayton in their opener this year, they have a chance to see Alabama again. The Crimson Tide, seeded No. 1 in the Buffs' bracket, opens play against Norfolk State.

CU's second NIT bid under Boyle came in 2017, when the Buffs dropped a first-round game at Central Florida.

The Pac-12 received three NCAA Tournament berths — tourney champ Oregon, regular season champ Washington and regular season runner-up Arizona State. But CU is the only Pac-12 representative in the NIT, as third-place Oregon State and fourth-place Utah — with whom the Buffs tied in the final standings — did not receive a bid.

"We're playing well down the stretch," Boyle said. "There's a few teams sometimes that are leaking oil this time of year, but we're not one of them. I like the way we're playing."

With basically 48 hours to prepare, the Buffs won't have a lot of time to get ready for the NIT opener. But, as Boyle noted, they at least get to play at home while Dayton must use Monday as a travel day.

"You have to find a way in a very short period of time to find an edge and a chip on your shoulder in this tournament," he said. "The teams that do that usually advance."

Boyle also said playing three games in three days in Las Vegas should help.

"It's a quick turnaround, but our players are coming off tournament experience and are used to digesting game plans quick," he said. " We'll have to do it again on Tuesday."

CU's players seemed excited to have a chance to continue playing.

"I feel like our whole team and our coaches definitely want to keep playing," said freshman Evan Battey. "It's a sense of love and caring for one another that makes is so special. A chance to go to the Garden and play basketball and ultimately win a championship is huge."

CU junior Shane Gatling said he and his teammates feel they have something to prove.

"The way we're playing right now we feel we can beat any team in the country," Gatling said. "To have a chance to play in the NIT to prove that means a lot to us,"

NIT NOTES: Overall, this will be Colorado's eighth postseason appearance in Boyle's nine years at the CU helm, with last year marking the first time the Buffs didn't play in the postseason under Boyle. … Only one Buff who will be in uniform Tuesday, junior Lucas Siewert, has played in a postseason game for Colorado. Siewert was on the 2017 team that lost at UCF. ... Colorado point guard McKinley Wright IV originally committed to Dayton two years ago, but then switched and signed with Colorado after then-Dayton coach Archie Miller left to take the job at Indiana.

RULE CHANGES: The NCAA often uses the NIT as an experimental ground for possible rule changes. The NCAA will consider new rules in May, and could implement them for next season. One believed to be under heavy consideration is extending the 3-point line farther from the basket.

The rule modifications that will be used in this year's NIT:

— The 3-point line will be extended by approximately 1 foot, 8 inches to the same distance used by FIBA for international competition (22 feet, 1.75 inches).

— The free throw lane will be widened from 12 feet to 16 feet, consistent with the width used by the NBA.   

— The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound instead of the full 30 seconds.

— Team fouls will reset at the 10-minute mark of each half for the purpose of determining free throws and one-and-one free throws will be eliminated.  Teams will shoot two bonus free throws after the fifth team foul of each 10-minute segment. Additionally, teams will be awarded two bonus free throws after the second team foul committed under two minutes remaining in each half if that foul occurs before the fifth team foul of the segment. In each overtime period, team fouls will reset, and teams will shoot two free throws beginning with the fourth team foul or the second team foul committed under two minutes remaining if that comes before the fourth team foul of the overtime period.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu