Florida State wasn’t selected to the NCAA tournament field Sunday night but was named as one of the four No. 1 seeds for the NIT tournament and will host Florida Gulf Coast in an opening-round game at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The Seminoles (19-13, 9-9 ACC) are joined by SMU, Minnesota and St. John’s as No. 1 seeds in the 32-team tournament.
FGCU (22-12, 14-4 Atlantic Sun) became the darling of last year’s NCAA tournament when the Eagles enjoyed a surprise run to the Sweet 16. “Dunk City” became the first No. 15 seed to advance that far.
The Eagles were expected to make a return trip to the Big Dance this year but were upset by Mercer in the conference tournament title game March 9.
The winner of Tuesday’s game will meet the winner of the Georgetown-West Virginia game at a date and time to be determined.
“This is a great opportunity for our team to continue playing and to gain experience in a postseason tournament,” said coach Leonard Hamilton, whose Seminoles tied for seventh place in the ACC regular season before beating Maryland and falling to eventual champion Virginia in the conference tournament. “The NIT field includes many outstanding teams.”
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