The NIT bracket 2013 schedule has been released for the National Invitation Tournament. Games are set to begin on Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20 for the opening round of this year's NIT tournament with Virginia and Norfolk State set to do battle.
A report from ESPN.com on March 18 presents all of the #1 seeds in this year's NIT. That will include Kentucky, Alabama, Southern Miss and Virginia, all of whom were considered "snubs" among this year's NCAA Tournament entires. Nonetheless, they will now start their journeys in search of a championship at Madison Square Garden, rather than the bigger prize in Atlanta, Georgia in April.
Virginia will play its opening round game at home on Tuesday with tip-off scheduled for 9 p.m. EST. The game will be shown for TV coverage on ESPN U and live streaming online via WatchESPN, the ESPN broadband sports network. Currently, the Cavaliers are favored to win this in-state battle by over 2 1/2 points, according to odds makers.
Kentucky will not have the use of their home court because Louisville will be using it in the NCAA Tournament this week. That means the Wildcats will have to play at the lower-seeded school Robert Morris for round 1. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday night with ESPN showing it on TV and WatchESPN showing it online.
For Alabama, their opening round opponent will be Northeastern at 9 p.m. EST on Tuesday. This game will be shown on ESPN2 and WatchESPN. Finally, the #1 seed, Southern Miss, will play their first round game on Wednesday, March 20 at 9:15 p.m. EST. Their opponent will be Charleston Southern, with the game shown live streaming via ESPN3.
In total, there will be nine games shown on Tuesday for the National Invitation Tournament, and seven more from the opening round shown on Wednesday evening. In Roanoke, viewers can watch the games on channel 25 for ESPN, channel 26 for ESPN2, and channel 319 for ESPN U.
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