Bulldogs Open NIT at Florida State Tuesday Night
By: Brandon Dunn
Updated: March 18, 2013
RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech will participate in the 76th edition of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) as the fifth-seeded Bulldogs will travel to face No. 4 Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. CT in a game that will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
The NIT appearance marks the seventh time that the Bulldogs have participated in the post-season tournament. The `Dogs are 7-6 all-time in NIT games, the most recent contest being a first round defeat at Clemson, 69-53 on March 15, 2006. That Bulldog team was led by former LA Tech great and current Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap.
The NIT consists of 32 teams and the Bulldogs will be in the same bracket as No. 1 Southern Miss, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Florida State, No. 6 Washington, No. 7 Mercer and No. 8 Charleston Southern.
LA Tech (26-6, 16-2 WAC) earned the automatic bid into the NIT having finished first in the Western Athletic Conference regular season. Tech has the second-highest RPI of any team in the tournament at 54 (Southern Miss - 31).
Florida State (18-15, 9-9 ACC) enters the NIT after finishing in sixth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Seminoles were 1-1 in the ACC Tournament with a win over Clemson in the first round of the tournament in Greensboro, N.C. before falling to North Carolina in the quarterfinals 83-62.
The Seminoles enter the 2013 NIT having won three of their last four games including a win over NCAA Tournament participant North Carolina State.
The Seminoles' selection to the NIT marks the school record eighth consecutive postseason appearance for the Seminoles - all under 11th year head coach Leonard Hamilton.
This is the first postseason action of any kind for the 'Dogs they advanced to the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2009-10.
LA Tech has only ever played three of the 12 current schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference. All four matchups came at either neutral site tournaments in the regular season or during the postseason.
