Houston, Wichita State to represent American Athletic Conference in upcoming NCAA Tournament; SMU, Memphis to NIT

03.14.21

FORT WORTH, Texas — Houston and Wichita State both earned bids to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and are headed to Indiana, as announced by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Sunday, March 14.

Houston (24-3), which won the 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Sunday with a 91-54 win over Cincinnati, earned a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and will face off against No. 15 seed Cleveland State on Friday, March 19 at 7:15 p.m. Eastern on truTV.

The Cougars are the second American Athletic Conference squad to earn a No. 2 seed, joining Cincinnati in 2018.

Wichita State (16-5), which captured its first American Athletic Conference regular-season championship, earned a No. 11 seed will play in the First Four on Thursday, March 18 against Drake at 6:27 p.m. Eastern on TBS. The winner will take on No. 6 seed USC on Saturday, March 20 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT.

In addition, Memphis and SMU earned bids to the 16-team National Invitation Tournament, which will be played entirely in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Memphis earned a No. 1 seed and will face Dayton on Saturday, March 20 at noon Eastern in Denton, Texas. SMU is a No. 3 seed and will play Boise State on Thursday, March 18 at 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Should both Memphis and SMU advance, they would face each other in the quarterfinals.

COURTESY THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE