Northern Colorado men, CU women miss big dance but will play on

Northern Colorado saw its March Madness dreams for its men’s basketball team die in the Big Sky Tournament final last week. But its postseason hopes didn’t end there.

The 25-9 Bears received and accepted a bid to the National Invitation Tournament on Sunday night. They will face one of the 32-team tournament’s four No. 1 seeds, UC-Irvine of the Big West, in a road clash on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. MDT.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

If Northern Colorado wins, it will advance to face the winner of a game between Georgia Tech and Jacksonville (Ala.) State on March 22 or 23.

The first three rounds of the NIT are held at campus sites. Should Northern Colorado advance to the semifinals and finals, it would get to play at storied Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

This will mark the Northern Colorado’s fifth postseason appearance in Division I, and its first in the NIT.

UNC went to the 2011 NCAA men’s tournament, although its appearance was vacated as part of the NCAA’s punishment of the program in 2017 for academic fraud occurring over a multi-year period under then-coach B.J. Hill.

Northern Colorado made three postseason appearances between its NCAA trip and this year’s NIT appearance: two to the CollegeInsider.com tournament in 2014 and 2018 and one to the College Basketball Invitational three years ago.

The Bears won the 2018 CIT final over Illinois-Chicago, 76-71. Northern Colorado advanced to the semifinals of the 2022 CBI before falling to eventual champions UNC-Wilmington.

The men’s NIT as a whole looks different in the wake of some teams declining bids to focus on the transfer portal, and others expected to take bids in the new College Basketball Crown, which is expected to announce its field Monday. Just four teams in the “Power Four” conferences plus the Big East are in the NIT.

Despite a 14-20 mark and a last-place finish in the Big XII, the CU Buffs men’s team isn’t completely out of the question to play in the Crown, as potential eligible teams such as Indiana, Rutgers, Iowa, TCU, Northwestern and Kansas State are among those to pre-emptively decline potential invitations.

CU WOMEN WILL GO TO THE WBIT AS A TOP SEED

A year after advancing to the Sweet 16 before being eliminated by Caitlin Clark-led Iowa, the Buffs will take part in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament as the top seed in its 8-team segment of the bracket.

CU, which missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, will open postseason play with a home game against Southeastern Louisiana. This will be the Buffs’ first appearance in the WBIT, which held its inaugural edition last year.

Introducing our 1-seed, @CUBuffsWBB!#ElevateTheGame pic.twitter.com/koiD9CQl5B

— Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (@wbitwbb) March 17, 2025

The Buffs will be the only Colorado team in the 32-team WBIT. Just across the state line, Wyoming also qualified as a No. 4 seed in its quarter of the bracket.

Air Force’s women’s team will take part in the Women’s NIT, a 48-team event that begins Wednesday.