Louisville players decide to play in the NIT after initially voting against it
Well, this is awkward.
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The Louisville men’s basketball team is scheduled to host Northern Kentucky in the first round of the NIT tournament on Tuesday night.
According to the paper, the team’s players held a vote before the ACC tournament and it was decided they would decline an invitation to the lesser NIT if they were passed over for an at-large berth in the NCAAs. The invitation to the big dance never came and Louisville administrators had already filed paperwork the previous week to accept an NIT bid if a spot in the NCAA tournament was not proffered.
Louisville center Anas Mahmoud told reporters on Monday that the team held a player’s-only meeting that morning to discuss whether they should play in the NIT or not. After that meeting and discussions with Louisville interim athletic director Vince Tyra, it appears most of the players have changed their minds.
Mahmoud said the team met again Monday morning and acknowledged that playing and participating in the NIT was the right thing to do.
— Jeff Greer (@jeffgreer_cj) March 12, 2018
Anas Mahmoud: "It's gonna be tough. Everyone is emotionally not ready. Everyone is still down from not going to the (NCAA) Tournament."
— Jeff Greer (@jeffgreer_cj) March 12, 2018
Mahmoud said the school decided to take the bid last week. Once that happened, their only chances were to play or forfeit. “And we weren’t going to forfeit.”
— rickbozich (@rickbozich) March 12, 2018
Mahmoud says they didn’t want their decision to affect David Padgett or Vince Tyra.
— rickbozich (@rickbozich) March 12, 2018
It’s hard to blame the Louisville players for wishing for an end to the season they just experienced. Between the Rick Pitino drama, the stripping of the 2013 national title and playing for an interim head coach in David Padgett, it was a pretty brutal season for the Cardinals.
Tuesday’s game will be broadcast on ESPN, so the entire nation will get a chance to see just how much effort the Louisville players are putting into a game they might not have asked for.
More NCAA tournament on Yahoo Sports:
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•Printable bracket: Start making your picks
•Selection Sunday winners and losers: Kentucky, Duke get rough roads
•Five biggest tournament snubs
•Everything you need to know before filling out a bracket