WKU Basketball: Hilltoppers’ Season Over After Not Invited to NIT
The 2018/19 basketball season is officially over for Western Kentucky after the Hilltoppers missed out on a spot in the National Invitation Tournament a day after falling to Old Dominion in the conference title game.
The Hilltoppers will not participate in the CBI or CIT.
WKU hit their stride during the NIT last year, beating Boston College, USC and Oklahoma State before falling to Utah in New York City in the NIT Final Four.
The Tops boasted several strong wins this year against Arkansas, Wisconsin and Saint Mary’s, who knocked off a number one seed in Gonzaga in their conference tournament for a conference crown, but poor losses to Indiana State, Missouri State and Troy, along with an inconsistent streak in conference play, proved to outweigh the good wins and keep WKU out of the post season.
Playing into that, WKU’s 111 NET ranking proved to be too low for the Tops to garner an invitation.
Now, we turn our full attention to the Hilltoppers’ offseason. Several questions linger and we will get answers in time, but for the immediate future Tops fans have the joy of watching four in-state teams compete for the NCAA title while the Hilltoppers…aren’t.
