Minnesota will not play in NIT or CBB Crown, officially ending its 2024-25 season

A new era of Gophers men's basketball is on the horizon.

Mar 12, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Dawson Garcia (3) shoots the ball while Northwestern Wildcats guard K.J. Windham (24) defends in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

The college basketball world moves fast. This time last week, Ben Johnson and the Gophers were preparing for the Big Ten Tournament. Now, Minnesota is looking for a new head coach and its 2024-25 season is officially over.

FOX opting to create a new event called the College Basketball Crown, caused a plethora of questions surrounding the postseason hopes of a team that missed the NCAA Tournament. Well, the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and Crown fields have officially been announced and Minnesota is not participating in either.

She's a beaut 🥲

Who do we have cutting down the nets in Indy? #NIT2025 pic.twitter.com/Xn4eaX1dar

— NIT (@NITMBB) March 17, 2025

You might say that's obvious because they're looking for a new head coach, but Utah and Villanova are both participating in the Crown, despite making a coaching change this season. The Big Ten will have Nebraska and USC in the Crown, but zero teams in this year's NIT, signifying a pretty significant outlook regarding the No. 2 tournament behind the Big Dance.

OFFICIAL: The inaugural @CBBCrown field has been announced on @FS1

The Big Ten has two teams (Nebraska and USC), neither of which were their “automatic qualifiers.”

Utah and Villanova will be competing despite making a coaching change. Not sure if the #Gophers were invited. pic.twitter.com/7oHfG8CHKi

— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) March 17, 2025

Every program obviously wants to make the NCAA Tournament, but Minnesota has had plenty of success in the NIT and the chances they ever play in the event again looks a little murky. The 16-team Crown event will be played the week before the Final Four in Las Vegas.

The event already has a lot of questions to answer. It was originally supposed to have automatic qualifiers for the top two teams in the Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 which didn't get invited to the NCAA Tournament. The top three finishers in the Big 12 and the top four in the Big Ten are all not in the event.

They opted to select a Nebraska team, which didn't even qualify for the Big Ten Tournament and they added George Washington, which finished seventh in the Atlantic 10 Conference and Washington State, which finished sixth in the West Coast Conference.

The College Basketball Crown was originally pitched as almost an invitational for power conference blue bloods, but it quickly turned into getting as many teams as they could to fill the field. It will be interesting to see how long the event lasts beyond this year.

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