Hokies, Sun Devils, Buckeyes, Orange receive NIT top seeds

Other first-round games in Ohio State's portion of the bracket are California against New Mexico, Dayton against Cleveland State and second-seeded Illinois State against Utah State.

Also in Virginia Tech's section are Virginia Commonwealth, Alabama-Birmingham, Nebraska, Charlotte and second-seeded Mississippi, which will play UC-Santa Barbara in the opening round.

Massachusetts also received a No. 2 seed and will play Southland Conference regular-season co-champ Stephen F. Austin in the opening round. The winner advances to play either Florida State or Akron, in a rough quarter of the bracket that also includes Maryland and Minnesota.

"We're excited about the opportunity to continue to play," UMass coach Travis Ford said. "We think we had a great regular season and not every team in the country has the opportunity to continue."

It appeared the top tier of teams that weren't chosen for the NCAA tournament accepted invitations to the NIT. The others picked for the tournament were Southern Illinois, Oklahoma State, Creighton and Rhode Island.

There was some concern that a new postseason tournament set up by the Gazelle Group, which runs the 2K Sports College Hoop Classic and the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, would snap up the best teams left out of the NCAA tournament.

NIT committee chairman C.M. Newton lauded the NIT's quality and depth the past couple of seasons, including an entertaining final two rounds last year in which all four No. 1 seeds advanced to New York with West Virginia beating Clemson in the championship game.

"I think it's viewed as a real basketball event again," he said. "It's not the national championship, there's only one road to the Final Four and we all understand that. But it's a very good invitational championship for those teams."