The NCAA has some serious explaining to do after an embarrassing mistake involving the University of South Alabama Men's Basketball team.

South Alabama coach Richie Riley explained the situation to AL.com, too. Riley said the Jaguars were offered a spot for NIT on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. South Alabama ended up getting the invite because UC Riverside, who had received the invite first, had to decline to play in the College Basketball Invitation.

In need of a team to take UC Riverside’s spot, South Alabama was brought in, but the Highlanders were able to get out of their CBI obligation and were available for the NIT. Because of that, the NCAA had to make a second call about an hour later to the Jaguars to inform them they were no longer invited.

Pregame analysis and predictions of the Northern Iowa Panthers vs. SMU Mustangs NCAAM game to be played on March 19, 2025 on ESPN.

This marks Georgia Tech’s first NIT appearance since 2017 when they made a deep run to the championship game before falling to TCU. The season prior, in 2016, Tech reached the q