1970 National Invitation Tournament
Teams16
Finals siteMadison Square Garden
New York City
ChampionsMarquette Warriors (1st title)
Runner-upSt. John's Redmen (7th title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachAl McGuire (1st title)
MVPDean Meminger (Marquette)
National Invitation Tournaments
«1969 1971»

The 1970 National Invitation Tournament was the 1970 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. It was unique in that coach Al McGuire of Marquette University, unhappy with his team's placement, turned down a bid to the NCAA tournament and elected to play in the NIT instead.[1] His Marquette Warriors went on to claim the championship.

Marquette was ranked 8th and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The NCAA slotted Marquette into the Midwest regional rather than the closer Mideast regional. McGuire was so displeased about this that Marquette actually turned down the NCAA bid and chose to instead play in the NIT.[2] The NCAA no longer allows a school to turn down a bid to the NCAA tournament in order to play in another postseason tournament.

This tournament represented the final college games for LSU great Pete Maravich, the NCAA's all-time leading scorer. Maravich finished his three-year career with 3,667 points, 44.2 per game, records which stand through the 2022–23 season, despite the reinstitution of freshman eligibility (1972–73) and the introduction of the shot clock (1985–86) and 3-point shot (1986-87). It was LSU's only postseason appearance between 1954 and 1979. The Tigers were coached by Pete's father, Press Maravich.

Selected teams

Sixteen teams were selected for the 1970 NIT.

Team Conference Overall record Appearance Last bid
Army Independent 19–5 7th 1969
Cincinnati Missouri Valley 21–5 4th 1957
Duke ACC 17–8 3rd 1968
Duquesne Independent 17–6 13th 1968
Georgetown Independent 18–6 2nd 1953
Georgia Tech Independent 16–9 1st Never
Louisville Missouri Valley 18–8 8th 1969
LSU SEC 20–8 1st Never
Manhattan Independent 17–7 10th 1966
Marquette Independent 22–3 4th 1967
Miami (OH) MAC 16–7 1st Never
North Carolina ACC 18–8 1st Never
Oklahoma Big Eight 18–8 1st Never
St. John's Independent 18–7 19th 1966
UMass Yankee 18–6 1st Never
Utah WAC 17–9 6th 1957

Bracket

First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
            
Manhattan 95
North Carolina 90
Manhattan 72
Army 77
Army 72
Cincinnati 67
Army 59
St. John's 60
Georgia Tech 78
Duquesne 68
Georgia Tech 55
St. John's 56
St. John's 70
Miami (OH) 57
St. John's 53
Marquette 65
Marquette 62
UMass 55
Marquette 83
Utah 63
Utah 78
Duke 75
Marquette 101
LSU 79
Oklahoma 74
Louisville 73
Oklahoma 94
LSU 97
LSU 83
Georgetown 82
Third place game
   
Army 75
LSU 68

See also

References

  1. ↑ Al McGuire, 72, Coach, TV Analyst and Character, Dies - New York Times
  2. ↑ "Marquette takes NIT over NCAA bid". Great Falls Tribune. February 25, 1970. p. 11. Retrieved January 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.