On April 1, New York City Sports Commissioner Kenneth J. Podziba will welcome the MasterCard National Invitation Tournament (NIT) to New York City. The NIT is the nation's oldest college basketball tournament, and this year's event culminates at Madison Square Garden with a semifinal double-header on April 1 and the finals on April 3. The University of Florida will face the University of Massachusetts in the first semifinal game beginning at 7:00pm, followed by the University of Mississippi taking on Ohio State University at 9:00pm. The winners will battle in the championship game beginning at 7:00pm on April 3.

"Over the past 70 years, the National Invitational Tournament has provided college basketball enthusiasts with some great postseason action at Madison Square Garden," said Commissioner Podziba. "This year's championship rounds will be as competitive as ever as the remaining teams include the two teams that competed for the NCAA National Championship last season - the University of Florida and Ohio State University - as well as the University of Mississippi and the University of Massachusetts."

"The MasterCard NIT is pleased to return to New York City for its 71st championship," said Greg Shaheen, president of the NIT, LLC. "The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the student-athletes from Florida, UMass, Ole Miss and Ohio State to come to America's favorite city and play in Madison Square Garden is a memory they'll never forget. Such is the rich tradition of the National Invitation Tournament in New York City. We are thrilled to be back!"

Billy Donovan's Florida squad defeated San Diego State and Creighton in the opening rounds before knocking off #1-seed Arizona State by a score of 70-57 in the quarterfinals. The Gators, who shot a season-high 60.5% from the floor, defeated Arizona State with the play of their guards Walter Hodge and Nick Calathes. Hodge had a game-high 18 points and Calathes added 11 points and nine assists.

Ohio State earned a spot in the semifinals by defeating North Carolina-Asheville and California on the way to defeating Dayton 74-63 in the quarterfinals. The Buckeyes were led by first team All-Big Ten senior point guard Jamar Butler's 12 points and seven assists and 7-foot freshman center Kosta Koufos's game-high 21 points in their win over Dayton.

Mississippi advanced to the quarterfinals by beating UC Santa Barbara and Nebraska in the opening rounds. Freshman Chris Warren's 22 points led Ole Miss to a 81-72 quarterfinal victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Rebels were able to take advantage of their size against the Hokies, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds and shooting better than 49% as a team.

UMass defeated Stephen F. Austin and Akron to reach the quarterfinals against #1-seeded Syracuse. Trailing by 19 at halftime to the Orangemen, the Minutemen stormed back to win 81-77 to advance to the semifinals. Sophomore Ricky Harris led UMass with 23 points, while Etienne Brower added 19 points and five assists. It was the first time an opponent had beaten Syracuse twice in the same season at the Carrier Dome.

From its inaugural season in 1938 until 1977, the NIT was played in its entirety at Madison Square Garden. Since 1977, the opening rounds of the tournament have taken place at campus sites across the country where the winners are awarded with a trip to New York City to compete in the semifinals and finals. As the tournament evolved, it expanded from the original field of 6 teams to the current format of 32 teams.

Throughout the history of the tournament, there have been many great memories that will live on forever in college basketball lore. One of those memories came in 1970 from Al McGuire of Marquette who turned down the NCAA bid to play in the NIT. His Warriors won the tournament that year with New York City native Dean "The Dream" Meminger leading the way. Other great players who have participated in this tournament throughout the years include: George Mikan, DePaul (1945); Lenny Wilkens, Providence (1960); Walt Frazier, Southern Illinois (1967); Ralph Sampson, Virginia (1980); and Reggie Miller, UCLA (1985).

The tournament field was selected by a committee including Hall of Famers C.M. Newton and Dean Smith, as well as Don DeVoe, Reggie Minton, Carroll Williams and Jack Powers. All members of the NIT Selection Committee have experience as head basketball coaches. In an effort to maintain quality play, a rule stating that teams must have a .500 record to qualify for the NIT has been imposed. In addition, all teams that won regular-season conference championships but failed to earn NCAA tournament bids are guaranteed places in the NIT. Thus, more teams from the low-major conferences may qualify.

For more information on the NIT, please visit: www.nit.org.

Tickets can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden box office or through Ticketmaster either by calling (212) 307-7171 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

The New York City Sports Commission is the mayoral agency charged with attracting, facilitating and promoting professional, amateur and scholastic sports events in New York City. The Sports Commission has played an integral role in creating or developing many new sporting events, including the NFL Kickoff Live from Times Square, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series™ Champions Week, the BMC Software NYC Cycling Championship, the AVP Brooklyn Open, the NAUTICA NYC Triathlon, the NYC Half-Marathon, the Union Square Street Sessions presented by Jeep®, the Wild Onion Urban Adventure Race, and the Men's Health Urbanathlon.