Harvard nets 6-seed in NIT

The 32-team NIT field was also announced yesterday, and Harvard earned a 6-seed, its first ever NIT berth. The Crimson will be the 9th Ivy representative in the men's NIT, and the first since 2003. That year, Brown made the 40-team field (the field was reduced back to 32 in 2007), and lost 89-73 to Virginia in the first round. Harvard's first-round matchup against Oklahoma State will air on ESPN tomorrow night at 7:30 PM.

So what do we make of Harvard's selection? It's not a surprise, considering Harvard's school-record 23 wins, RPI of 35, and #77 placement in the Pomeroy rankings. Princeton, which was slightly behind Harvard in the RPI and Pomeroy ratings, probably would have gotten the NIT bid if Doug Davis's shot had missed at the buzzer in the Ivy playoff. This confirms that the Ivy League is deeper (or at least stronger at the top) now than it has been in recent years. The 6-seed suggests that Harvard also would have made the field even without the 4-team expansion to the NCAA tournament. On the other hand, that might be balanced by the belief that it was a weak year for college basketball in the major conferences.

From Penn's perspective, Harvard's NIT bid itself isn't very meaningful, but it does give some perspective about the Crimson's end-of-season resume. That resume has to be sobering for the Penn program and its fans, especially when you see that the Harvard roster has no seniors and just three juniors. Meanwhile Penn loses frontcourt stalwart Jack Eggleston and is left with a cast of question marks to match up with Harvard's Keith Wright and Kyle Casey next year. Princeton should take more of a step back toward the pack with the losses of seniors Dan Mavraides and Kareem Maddox, but Harvard should be the overwhelming favorite next year.