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Sam Houston State and Oklahoma State basketball are two of the top four seeds in the NIT. Thus, for the first time, they were given the opportunity to host every game in their home gym until the Final Four game away from Madison Square Garden.
However, neither the Bearcats nor the Cowboys will host a first-round game in 2023. Both have scheduling conflicts that prevent them from playing at home.
Instead, both schools will be significant betting favorites on the roadThis is usually not the case.
The first round of NIT looks a little different.
Sam Houston State went 25-5 in the regular season and earned the No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament. It missed The Big Dance after losing to No. 5 seed Grand Canyon on Friday in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
Now, as the No. 2 seed in the NIT, Sam Houston State is tied with 23-9 Santa Clara. If everything had gone by the book, the Bearcats would have hosted the Broncos on Wednesday in Huntsville, Texas — but they didn’t.
Sam Houston State will fly to California and play Santa Clara in Santa Clara outside of San Jose. A “home game” takes place nearly 2,000 miles away.
Oklahoma State, one of the ‘Top Four’ of March Madness, will be in a similar situation. The Cowboys were firmly on the bubble in Sunday’s selection, but left in favor of three of the NET’s lowest-ranked teams.
They were given the No. 1 overall seed in the NIT, which sets them up to host the Youngstown State Penguins on Wednesday. Instead, due to a scheduling conflict in Stillwater, Oklahoma State will play at Ohio State. is not Oklahoma – 1,000 miles away.
Fortunately, for both schools, travel is forced by the tournament itself. Neither team will have to pay to travel to the “home” games, but they will have to hit the road as the top seed. And Losing home-court benefits is less than ideal!
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