Wake Forest men’s basketball program declines NIT bid: ‘Our focus shifts to the future’

Wake Forest will spend the next few weeks building a roster, rather than chasing an NIT championship.

That’s what Demon Deacons’ head basketball coach Steve Forbes said Sunday evening when the school announced it had declined an invitation to play in the NIT.

Analysts had predicted Wake Forest would get a No. 1 seed in the 32-team tournament, but the Deacons joined several other schools — South Carolina, Florida State, and Pittsburgh, among others — who said “no” to the NIT.

But the season will continue for a few other Carolinas schools, including Queens University, which announced Sunday evening it will play in the Purple College Basketball Invitational in Dayton Beach, Florida.

At least four other Carolinas schools will play in postseason events, with Elon and Presbyterian joining Queens at the Daytona Beach tournament and Furman named to the 32-team NIT field.

Still to be announced is the field for the inaugural Crown Basketball Tournament, a 16-team event sponsored in part by FOX and scheduled for March 31-April 6 in Las Vegas.

That tournament reportedly has a deal to take at least two teams each from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East conferences.

And the field also is expected to be announced early this week for the inaugural Black College Invitational Championship, set for Thursday through Sunday at Bojangles Coliseum. The field is expected to include teams from Division I’s Mid-Eastern and Southwestern Athletic conferences, along with Division II’s CIAA and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Wake Forest, however, will concentrate on building for next year, Forbes said.

“While we are certainly disappointed that we did not make the NCAA Tournament, we believe declining the invitation to the NIT is the right decision for this team and this time,” he said. “Our focus shifts to the future, as we aggressively attack the roster-building process for the 2025-26 season.”

The Demon Deacons finished with records of 13-7 in the ACC and 21-11 overall. They played in the NIT last year, beating Appalachian State in the first round before falling to Georgia in the second round.

Wake Forest athletics director John Currie noted that this is the 25th anniversary of the Deacons winning the NIT tournament, but added, “This year, it is appropriate to conclude the season ... and begin preparing for the 2025-26 season.”

Queens, Elon CBI-bound

Meanwhile, Queens and Elon will head south for the Purple College Basketball Invitational, which begins Saturday and ends March 26.

Queens, which is in its third year of transition to NCAA Division I, will be playing in its first postseason event at the DI level. Elon is in DI postseason play for the second time, having played in the 2013 College Inside Tournament.

Presbyterian is in its third DI postseason tournament, including last year’s College Basketball Invitational.

Queens is coming off a 19-14 season.

“Our team had a breakthrough season in the ASUN, and we are all excited to say that we aren’t finished yet,” Royals’ head coach Grant Leonard said. “We are very fortunate to get an invite to the CBI, and we are pumped to compete against some great programs.”

The Royals will be part of an 11-team field and will play their first-round game at 4:30 p.m. next Sunday against Northern Arizona of the Big Sky Conference.

Elon’s opener is at 2 p.m. Sunday against Army West Point, and Presbyterian faces Illinois State of the Missouri Valley Conference at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

The championship game is March 26, televised by ESPN2.

NIT’s new look

The NIT last year tried to beef up its field with teams from the stronger Division I conferences, but the tournament has more of a mid-major look this year.

Part of that might be due to defections of teams to the new Crown Basketball Tournament, which is expected to have teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East.

Major conference representatives are SMU, Stanford and Georgia Tech from the ACC and the Big 12’s Oklahoma State.

The top four seeds are SMU, Dayton, UC Irvine and San Francisco.

Furman (25-9) will open play at 8 p.m. Wednesday, traveling to North Texas, the No. 2 seed in the Dallas Region.

All NIT games will be aired on the ESPN family of networks, with some of the games set for ESPN+.

What about the Crown?

The College Basketball Crown will have a 16-team field and single-elimination play in Las Vegas, with the championship game set for April 6, the Sunday of Final Four weekend for NCAA Division I.

The tournament field, announced Monday morning, does not include any Carolinas schools.

There are five teams from the Big 12, four from the Big East, two each from the Big Ten and West Coast conferences, and one each from the A-10, Mountain West and American Athletic.

All games in the tournament are to be televised either by FS1 or by FOX.

Something to watch: All games in the tournament a week or more after the transfer portal opens for college basketball on March 24. It’s possible some teams in the event could have a different look from the regular season.

This story was originally published March 16, 2025 at 10:59 PM.