The 1970

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

was the 1970 edition of the annual

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

competition. It was unique in that coach

Al McGuire Alfred James McGuire (September 7, 1928 – January 26, 2001) was an American college basketball coach and broadcaster, the head coach at Marquette University from 1964 to 1977. He won a national championship in his final season at Marquette, an ...

of 8th ranked

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

, unhappy with his team's NCAA tournament placement in the Midwest rather than the closer Mideast regional, turned down that bid and elected to play in the NIT instead. His Marquette Warriors went on to claim the championship, and as a result the NCAA now forbids its members from playing in other postseason tournaments if offered an NCAA bid. This tournament represented the final college games for

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

great

Pete Maravich Peter Press Maravich ( ; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. He starred in college at Louisiana State University's Tigers basketball team; his father, Press Mar ...

, the Men's NCAA all-time leading scorer. Maravich finished his three-year career with 3,667 points, 44.2 per game, records which stand through the 2022–23 season, despite the reinstitution of freshman eligibility (1972–73) and the introduction of the shot clock (1985–86) and 3-point shot (1986–87). It was LSU's only postseason appearance between 1954 and 1979. The Tigers were coached by Pete's father,

Press Maravich Peter "Press" Maravich (August 29, 1915 – April 15, 1987) was an American college and professional basketball coach. He received the nickname "Press" as a boy, when one of his jobs was selling the '' Pittsburgh Press'' on the streets of his hom ...

Selected teams

Sixteen teams were selected for the 1970 NIT.

Bracket

References

{{National Invitation Tournament National Invitation

1970s in Manhattan Basketball in New York City College sports in New York City

National Invitation Tournament Sports competitions in New York City Sports in Manhattan

Selected teams

Bracket

See also

References