Will NC State play in the NIT? If invited, we’d bet on it.

With the season now over, NC State may have a decision to make.

The 13-10 Wolfpack are qualified to play the NIT, but whether or not they are invited and whether or not they’d accept is still unknown. However, there are some hints out there that we think can tell us something.

First off, when asked in the NIT in the post-game press conference today, Kevin Keatts had this to say:

“That would be something that we would talk about. I have no idea, Justin, how that even works these days. I have no idea if it’s an invite tournament. I don’t know how it works. I do know there are going to be 16 teams. I will tell you this…Whatever we decide to do, it will be in the best interest of our team moving forward, safety protocols, what it looks like, is it an invite tournament? I don’t know how it works. I hate to think about that, but certainly, that’s a good question to ask.”

So as you can see, Kevin Keatts seems to be hedging his bets a bit there. But we can answer some of those questions. The NIT is an invite tournament this year and it will be made up of 16 teams. It will also be held in a bubble in Dallas-Ft Worth, so safety protocols will likely already be in place.

Now, couple that information with what Keatts had to say on the recent episode of Wolfpack Hustle about playing basketball during a pandemic…

“I give everybody credit for is pulling off athletics during this tough time. I know everybody says “Why are you playing?”, Well we’re playing because sports has helped people get through some of this pandemic. And our kids want to play. If there was ever a point where kids didn’t want to play then I could see that. But we don’t know what we do to help others when we put our guys on the floor and compete to help someone else get through some of their struggles.”

If you read between the lines, it’s likely that if NC State is invited, and the team wants to play, then Kevin Keatts is going to play. And with a young team that is desperately in need of experience, there is no better way to get it than playing competitive post-season basketball.

Unfortunately, no matter what NC State does, the seniors won’t be able to get their senior day in front of a home crowd, since as we stated, this isn’t usual NIT rules where you play on the higher seeds home court. All games are hosted in a bubble in Dallas.

We’ll keep you informed as we hear more.