Postseason play is in store for four additional programs as Long Beach State landed in the National Invitation Tournament, with Cal Poly, UC Irvine and Hawaii headed to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
In addition to Pacific's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Big West set a conference record for most postseason teams in a season with five.
The 49ers earned the conference's automatic bid to the NIT as the Big West regular season champion. After falling in the Big West Tournament semifinals to UC Irvine, the 49ers hope to capitalize on the opportunity to continue their season with a first round matchup at Baylor in Waco, Texas on Wednesday. The game tips at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) on ESPN2.
LBSU is a No. 7 seed in a bracket that also includes defending NCAA champion and No. 1 seed Kentucky, Baylor and No. 3 seed Arizona State. If the 49ers defeat Baylor, they will play the winner of Arizona State and sixth-seeded Detroit.
The 49ers are in a postseason tournament for the third straight season, an achievement that the program has not witnessed since LBSU sent teams to four straight NCAA Tournaments from 1970-73. LBSU is 2-6 all-time in the NIT, most recently losing to Washington State in 2011. The last NIT win for the 49ers came in 1990 against Arizona State.
Cal Poly is making the first postseason appearance in school history as a member of the 32-team CollegeInsider.com Tournament field. The Mustangs (18-13) will travel to Weber State on Wednesday, March 20 for a 6:00 p.m. (PDT) game. Cal Poly has enjoyed its most successful season in 19 years at the Division I level, setting program records for most Big West victories (12) and conference winning percentage (.667). Cal Poly lost a narrow 55-53 decision against eventual Big West Tournament champion Pacific in the semifinals.
UC Irvine is making its inaugural appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament as the Anteaters welcome High Point to Crawford Court on March 20 at 7:30 p.m. It is the program's first trip to the postseason since playing in the NIT in 2002. The Anteaters (20-15) reached the championship game of the Big West Tournament before falling to Pacific. Winners of eight of its last 10 games, UCI has notched 20 wins for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign when the Anteaters finished 20-9. UCI is 12-1 at home this season.
The inaugural season of Big West membership for Hawai'i resulted in a postseason hosting opportunity for the Rainbow Warriors. UH will host Air Force in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament on Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. (PDT). UH (17-14) lost in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament but is 13-6 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors are appearing in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament for the second time in the last three years after hosting a pair of home games against Portland and San Francisco in 2011.