Nevada makes NIT field; faces Bobby Knight at Texas Tech

Monday, March 17, 2003 | 6:12 a.m.

NEW YORK AP) - Nevada and UNLV are among 40 teams to earn berths in the NIT, which is led by six Big East schools, including Villanova and its suspension-limited roster.

Five other conferences - the Atlantic 10, Atlantic Coast, Conference USA, Big Ten and Mountain West - all had three teams chosen for the tournament, which gets under way Monday night and concludes with the championship game at Madison Square Garden on April 3.

Bob Knight and Texas Tech (18 (12)- will host Nevada 18 (13)- in the opening round. They meet Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. PST.

UNLV 21 (10)- hosts Hawaii 18 (11)- Wednesday at 8:59 p.m. PST

Villanova 15 (15)-, which had 12 players suspended on March 9 for alleged unauthorized use of a campus phone access code, will be limited to seven players, as it was in its final regular-season game against Pittsburgh and its Big East tournament opening-round game against Georgetown. The Wildcats open at Siena 19 (11)-, which won last year's NCAA tournament play-in game before losing in the first round to eventual champion Maryland.

The other Big East teams selected were Boston College 18 (11)-, Georgetown 15 (14)-, Providence 16 (13)-, Seton Hall 17 (12)- and St. John's 16 (13)-.

The Pirates were thought to have a good chance to make the NCAA field after going 10-3 over their last 13 games. Instead, they'll travel to face Rhode Island 19 (10)- in the first round.

"That was a slap in our face, but now we have to go out and show why it was a slap in our face," Seton Hall's Andre Barrett said.

The Eagles, who open at Fairfield 19 (11)-, were bitterly disappointed not to be in the NCAA tournament field of 65.

"Everyone felt a little bit uncomfortable," coach Al Skinner said. "But we didn't think, until they announced the last game, that we wouldn't be up there."

Georgetown and its star big man Mike Sweetney, will be at Tennessee 17 (11)- in the opening round. The Volunteers finished 9-7 in the Southeastern Conference, but were snubbed by the NCAA tournament.

"Hopefully we'll take this as motivation going into the NIT and try to come out with a win," senior Ron Slay, the SEC's player of the year, said.

Temple 15 (15)-, Georgia Tech 14 (14)- and Virginia 15 (15)- were the other teams in the field with the minimum .500 record.

The Big Ten will face off against the Atlantic Coast Conference in the opening round when the Yellow Jackets host Ohio State 17 (14)-, which lost to Illinois in the Big Ten championship game. Minnesota 16 (12)- and Iowa 15 (13)- were also invited from the Big Ten.

Charleston 24 (8)- had the most wins of the teams in the field and was one of eight schools with 20 or more victories. Charleston will face another 20-win team in the first round, Kent State 21 (9)-, which got to the round of eight in last season's NCAA tournament. That game is at Kent State.

In addition to Temple and Rhode Island, Richmond 15 (13)- made it from the Atlantic 10, while Georgia Tech and Virginia were joined by fellow ACC school North Carolina 17 (15)-. The Tar Heels will host DePaul 16 (12)- out of Conference USA in the first round.

UAB 19 (12)-, which reached the conference tournament championship game, and Saint Louis 16 (13)- were also chosen from Conference USA, while the Mountain West will have San Diego State 15 (12)- and Wyoming 20 (10)- in addition to UNLV.

The other 20-win teams were Boston University 20 (10)-, Illinois Chicago 21 (8)-, Valparaiso 20 (10)- and Louisiana-Lafayette 20 (8)-.

Also invited were Eastern Washington 18 (12)-, Cal Santa Barbara 18 (13)-, Iowa State 16 (13)-, Drexel 19 (11)-, Brown 17 (11)-, Western Michigan 19 (10)-, and Wichita State 18 (11)-.