NIT Bracket: What in the actual hell?

Well...that escalated quickly.

From Nebraska and Penn State looking at hosting at least one (if not two) games in our past iterations of NIT bracketology (still the saddest thing I’ve ever done on this website) and Maryland in, to...

Well, this:

Upper left bracket

No. 1 Notre Dame hosts No. 8 Hampton

No. 4 Penn State hosts No. 5 Temple

No. 3 Oregon hosts No. 6 Rider

No. 2 Marquette hosts No. 7 Harvard

Lower left bracket

No. 1 Baylor hosts No. 8 Wagner

No. 4 Mississippi State hosts No. 5 Nebraska

No. 3 Middle Tennessee hosts No. 6 Vermont

No. 2 Louisville hosts No. 7 Northern Kentucky

Upper right bracket

No. 1 USC hosts No. 8 UNC Asheville

No. 4 Western Kentucky hosts No. 8 Boston College

No. 3 Stanford hosts No. 6 BYU

No. 2 Oklahoma State hosts No. 7 Florida Gulf Coast

Lower right bracket

No. 1 Saint Mary’s hosts No. 8 Southeast Louisiana

No. 4 Boise State hosts No. 5 Washington

No. 3 LSU hosts No. 6 Louisiana

No. 2 Utah hosts No. 7 UC Davis

[Begins 3/13 and 3/14 on the ESPN family and WatchESPN, per SBNation]

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, somehow still on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, loom opposite the Penn State Nittany Lions, who have a tough test in the first round with Fran Dunphy’s always-dangerous Temple Owls. The Owls are a thoroughly-more mediocre version of the Nittany Lions,

Meanwhile, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, defying all logic, have to head down to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs after compiling a 13-5 Big Ten record and being, apparently, on the bubble up until today. It’s a stunning fall from grace for the Huskers, who were, pretty clearly, jobbed by the NIT committee.

BRT: I'm so sad for Nebraska, who worked their tails off this season, only to get jobbed twice over. Crime, boys and girls, DOES pay. Anyway, I'd love to see Nebrasketball take out some righteous anger on their opponents and go scorched Earth in the NIT. That's a bit less likely since they don't even get to play at home, but here's hoping. They deserved better.

DJ Carver: How the fuck is Baylor a 1 seed at 18-14 in the same region as Nebraska at a 5 seed? Jesus the selection committee sucked the SEC so hard, 17-14 LSU is a THREE SEED yet MD didn’t make it.

Guys, I’m checking out. Not because I’m disappointed but because I need to go watch the MD 247 board burn to the ground.

Maryland.247sports.com if you want to come join.

Game I Most Want to Watch: The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, losers to Southern Miss in the C-USA Tournament, fell to a 3-seed, because lol the NIT isn’t sending anyone to Murfreesboro unless they absolutely have to. They would, potentially, be set up for a matchup with 2-seed Louisville in the second round. I would watch this.

Oh right, there are rule changes, per the mothership:

Rule changes? The NCAA likes to use the NIT as a laboratory for potential rule changes. For 2018:

​The three-point line will be extended by approximately 20 inches to the same distance used by FIBA for international competition (22 feet 1.75 inches).​

The free-throw lane will be widened from 12 feet to 16 feet, consistent with the width used by the NBA.​

The games will be divided into four 10-minute quarters, as opposed to two 20-minute halves. Teams will shoot two free throws beginning with the fifth foul of each quarter.

The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound instead of the full 30 seconds.

I don’t give a shit about these, but you might.

Anyways, there’s the NIT bracket. Nebraska fans should be outraged, and we might even have more about them coming soon. In the meantime, talk about the NIT bracket here.