Arrow-right Camera

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

NIT puts GU in scheduling bind

Gonzaga’s season opener is approximately 3 1/2 months away and five of its non-conference games are still TBD. (The Zags had 13 non-conference games in the 2013-14 regular season.)

The main hold-up is the NIT Season Tip-Off, which hasn’t delivered on its original format for host schools Gonzaga, Georgia, Minnesota and St. John’s (two home games, win those two you advance for two games at Madison Square Garden). The NIT hasn’t been able to fill out a 16-team field.

The NIT’s next proposal was one home game & three at the MSG (one a quasi guarantee game against Stony Brook that would fall between the semifinals and the championship/consolation and have no bearing on the final day pairings (yes, that makes no sense).

Gonzaga is hoping the NIT can find a better solution, possibly one with the Zags hosting one game and then playing two in MSG, provided it wins at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Not ideal, but it’s late in the scheduling process to find suitable replacements.

The other snag is finding a foe for the annual Battle in Seattle. The matchup was thought to be ready for an announcement a couple weeks ago but it fell through.

Also, longtime basketball director of operations Jerry Krause will step down following the season.

More on the schedule and Krause here .

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "SportsLink." Read all stories from this blog