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UC Riverside basketball had its best season as a Division I basketball program in 24 years during the 2024-25 campaign. The Highlanders, who had never before played in the postseason as a D-I program, played so well they earned two postseason invitations.
They just weren’t aware of the second — the NIT — was even a possibility, a source close to the program told CBS Sports.
UC Riverside became a viral social media story Sunday evening as the NIT announced 32-team field. The Highlanders were included in the bracket with a game scheduled for March 18 against second-seeded Santa Clara.
There was just one problem: The Highlanders had already accepted a bid into the CBI, another postseason basketball tournament.
Thus, for a moment Sunday, UC Riverside was scheduled to play in both tournaments. That will not happen as NCAA rules dictate a school many only participate in one postseason tournament. UC Riverside opted to go with the NIT, a more prestigious event in the postseason tournament pecking order.
But this begs the question: How does a team end up in two postseason tournaments in the first place?
It happened because UC Riverside had not had any communication with the NIT beforehand, per a source close to the program, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss private conversations.
“UC Riverside was not informed by the NIT that they were going to be selected,” the source close to the program said. “It found out after the bracket was publicly released, which was after they had already accepted a bid from the CBI. Apparently, after discussions were had, it was determined UC Riverside would participate in the NIT.”
The trickle-up effect of UC Riverside’s decision to belatedly accept its spot meant that South Alabama, which had been offered an NIT spot, had the rug pulled out from under it.
The NIT’s board of managers released a statement explaining and apologizing for the mix-up regarding UC Riverside and South Alabama. It fell on deaf ears for South Alabama coach Richie Riley, who blasted the NIT with the following statement on social media and spoke to the sense among some coaches and administrators that communication from the NIT’s board of managers this cycle was unsatisfactory.
“A meaningless apology to the most meaningful group of players I’ve ever coached! What they did to us last night is inexcusable! These guys in our locker room don’t deserve this and it’s sad your idea of making it right is a copy and paste apology!”
UC Riverside, which finished the regular season at 21-11 overall and 14-6 in conference play, third in the league standings behind UC San Diego and UC Irvine, began championship week thinking it had a good shot to get into the NIT if it did not win the Big West Tournament.
But after losing Thursday to Cal Poly in the opening game, a multi-day waiting period for the program resulted in nothing but crickets. By Sunday evening, the Highlanders had not heard from the NIT and figured they were out of the running given that the Big West usually only gets one entrant into the NCAA Tournament (UC San Diego) and UC Irvine ranked well ahead of them in the NET rankings.
Given that UC Riverside hadn’t heard anything from the Big West or the NIT from Thursday to Saturday about its postseason status, the program accepted the CBI bid.
Not long after, the Highlanders were announced as a participant in the NIT, creating the odd situation that occurred Sunday evening as fans began to fill out their brackets.
“As we continue to build our program at UCR, garnering the attention of tournament committees is an honor and to receive multiple postseason invitations is indicative of our program’s growth,” athletics director Wesley Mallette said in a statement released by the school. “This is an exciting time and a testament to head coach Mike Magpayo‘s leadership and the hard work and talent of our student-athletes, coaches and staff.”
