Notre Dame Basketball: Irish will be a 1-seed in the NIT

The Notre Dame Basketball team received a bid to play in the NIT as a 1-seed.

After missing out on a bid to play in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, head coach Mike Brey and his Notre Dame basketball team were selected to play in the NIT. The Irish will be a 1-seed and will face 8-seed Hampton this week in South Bend. Due to Notre Dame’s seed — and as long as they keep winning — the Irish will play their first 3 NIT games at home, as the first three rounds of the NIT tournament are played on the home court of the higher seeded teams.

The Hampton Pirates are out of the MEAC conference. They finished the season with a record of 19-15 and will challenge the Irish in certain places from a matchup perspective. We’ll have more on that matchup later this week.

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The Atlantic Coast Conference was once again one of the toughest in the nation throughout the 2017-2018 season, as evident in the nine NCAA Tournament bids it received this year. Unfortunately for the Irish, injuries to Bonzie Colson, Matt Ferrell and DJ Harvey were too much to overcome. The losses that mounted as a result of those injuries were ultimately what kept Notre Dame out of the Big Dance and instead playing in the NIT.

Be that as it may, the Irish — when as healthy as they appear to be right now — are one of the better teams in the country and will likely be considered a strong favorite to win the NIT by both the national media and the oddsmakers in Las Vegas.

Should the Irish win its first three games in the tournament, they will play in the NIT Final Four in Madison Square Garden on March 27th and 29th.

Next: The Irish Won't Be Dancing in March Madness

You can follow the entire NIT on the ESPN family of networks.

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