South Alabama has NIT invitation rescinded in college basketball mess: Absolute joke

South Alabama’s situation makes what West Virginia and Indiana dealt with on Sunday look like nothing. After Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill and NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt extended South Alabama an invite to the NIT [National Invitation Tournament] late Sunday night, it was rescinded an hour later in an embarrassing moment for the NCAA and a heartbreaking one for the South Alabama players. Head coach Richie Riley blasted the situation in an interview with AL.com. “It’s just unfair for our players,” Riley said.“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.”As Riley explained to the outlet, he received a call from Gill and Gavitt around 9:30 p.m.on Sunday with the invitation to the NIT because UC Riverside had committed to the less prestigious College Basketball Invitational before they were extended the NIT invite. But that invitation was rescinded when UC Riverside had gotten out of its commitment to the CBI and decided to play in the NIT after all.The worst part was that Riley had already informed his players and had made sure he was good to do so when he had initially gotten the call about the NIT invite. “I said, ‘This is 100 percent, we’re in, right?’ And they said, ‘Yeah congratulations.

I’m glad you were able to get in,’” Riley said. “… I tell them, ‘I’m gonna tell my guys.’ They’re like ‘go ahead.’ So I tell the team.(Gill and Gavitt) call back, whatever time it was, 10:45, 11 o’clock.

Dan’s like, ‘No, UC Riverside is back in.I hate that we had to do this.’ This is unacceptable.

You can’t do that.”The Post breaks down the four March Madness regions with sleeper picks and predictions.The NIT apologized for the situation and the “emotional impact this confusion created” in a statement that also noted the school had been invited “premat...