HORNETS RECEIVE NIT BID – WILL FACE WEST VIRGINIA
LeCounte Conaway
3/12/07


Photo DSU Head Coach Greg Jackson

Dover, DE – The Delaware State Hornets basketball team will make their second consecutive appearance in the MasterCard National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and will face the Mountaineers West Virginia University in the opening round.  Tip-off is 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 13.at the WVU Coliseum

The 32 team field for the 70th annual NIT was announced Sunday evening, March 11, and features 25 teams with 20 or more wins.  The field also includes eight automatic qualifiers who were regular season conference champions that did not receive bids to the NCAA Tournament.  The first three rounds of the tournament are played regionally and the four finalists will move on the New York’s Madison Square Garden for the semi-final doubleheader on March 27th with the championship game taking place on March 29th.

This is the first post season meeting between the DSU Hornets (21-12) of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the WVU Mountaineers (22-9) of the Big East.  The two have played in regular season action and WVU is holding a 2-0 lead in the series.  WVU defeated DSU 74-53 (2000-01) and 59-46 (2002-03), both games were played in Morgantown, WV. 

The Hornets won in the opening round last season, defeating Northern Arizona 58-53 and lost to Louisville 54-71 in the next round.