Bucknell is looking to prolong its season in the NIT, but with the NCAA buying out the tournament last year and shrinking the field from 40 teams back to 32, bids are tougher to come by than they used to be. The good news for the Bison is that there have been very few upsets of regular season champions in postseason tournaments, which means fewer automatic NIT bids. Here’s a breakdown of Bucknell’s chances of getting one of those 32 invites.

Automatic NIT bids (7)
Vermont (America East)
East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun)
Marist (MAAC)
Toledo (MAC)
Delaware State (MEAC)
Austin Peay (Ohio Valley)
South Alabama (Sun Belt)
Mississippi Valley State (SWAC)

NIT locks – (22)
Syracuse/Texas Tech/Purdue/Illinois/Drexel/Old Dominion/North Carolina State
Air Force
Florida State
West Virginia
Missouri State
Stanford
Appalachian State
Mississippi State
Bradley
Arkansas
Utah State/New Mexico State
Oklahoma State
Clemson
Alabama
Michigan
Mississippi
Kansas State
Massachusetts
Georgia
DePaul
Providence
Washington

Competition for two remaining bids
San Diego State (19-10, 67th in RPI)
Hofstra (21-9, 72nd in RPI)
Saint Louis (19-13, 74th in RPI)
Dayton (19-12, 75th in RPI)
Bucknell (22-9, 77th in RPI)
Houston (18-15, 81st in RPI)
Kent State (20-11, 84th in RPI)
LSU (17-15, 90th in RPI)
Missouri (18-12, 91st in RPI)
Iowa (17-14, 93rd in RPI)
Oklahoma (15-15, 101st in RPI)
Nebraska (15-14, 104rd in RPI)
Connecticut (17-14, 110th in RPI)
George Mason (18-15, 123rd in RPI)

Remaining potential automatic bids (3)
Long Beach State (Big West)
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Southland)

Remaining games involving potential automatic bids
Cal Poly vs. Long Beach State – Saturday 11:00 pm ET
Northwestern State vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – Sunday 2:00 pm ET

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