No one thought that Georgetown got snubbed when the Hoyas weren’t offered a bid in the NCAA Tournament. The Red Raiders of Texas Tech, however, felt much differently after Selection Sunday came and went without an invitation to compete for the national title.

The slight did not faze Raiders’ Head Coach Bob Knight, who had already returned his $250,000 salary to the school’s athletics department because the team had failed to meet his personal standards during the regular season.

Knight is no stranger to the postseason, having won three NCAA titles during his tenure at Indiana. He has also played in the National Invitational Tournament five times – taking his Army team three times and his Indiana team twice. In 1979, his Indiana team beat Purdue 53-52 to capture the NIT crown.

Following the Red Raiders’ Wednesday win over Georgia Tech, Knight honored the band, the cheerleaders, the seniors on the team and radio announcer Jack Dale, who is planning to retire at the end of this season after 50 years of calling Texas Tech basketball games.

Dale had mentioned to Knight earlier this year that he had never been to Madison Square Garden. “So that’s a hell of an anniversary present,” Knight said. “Let’s get ready to go to New York.”

Texas Tech (21-12) has never advanced past the Sweet 16 round in any postseason tournament. The team reached that round in the NCAA tournament in 1996 but has not played in the NIT since 1995.

Georgia Tech challenged the Red Raiders in the first half of the Wednesday quarterfinal but fell apart just seven minutes into the second stanza, allowing Texas Tech to go on an 18-3 run. The Yellow Jackets failed to mount a successful comeback, only getting as close as four points with 1:03 to go.

Junior guard Andre Emmett propels the Raiders’ offense with 22.1 points per game and leads team starters with 49.9 percent shooting from the field. He has scored in double figures in every game this year except one – the NIT second round match against San Diego State. In that effort, though, Emmett had a game-high 15 rebounds. Senior forward Kasib Powell contributes the second most points, 14.9 per contest. In the postseason, junior forward Robert Tomaszek has also lit up the scoreboard, notching 10, 14 and 19 points in his team’s last three games.

In the NIT semifinal tonight, the Red Storm of St. John’s (19-13) play host to the Raiders. The Storm have experienced much success at home this year, going 11-6 at Madison Square Garden. Their biggest win of the season – a 72-71 victory over then-No. 5 ranked Duke – came at the Garden on March 1.

St. John’s senior guard Marcus Hatten also has benefited from playing at home. In the Storm’s last home game of the regular season (March 6 vs. Rutgers), Hatten had 44 points – the most points scored by a single player in a single game at the Garden since 1968. He shot 16-of-26 from the floor, knocking down four treys and making 8-of-9 from the charity stripe.

The Red Storm and the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers played a tight match in their quarterfinal contest Thursday. The Storm had an 11-point lead with 7:40 remaining in the first half, but the Blazers mustered a response and tied the contest at 34 with the first field goal of the second half. The teams were evenly matched until St. John’s finally broke the game open with just under five minutes remaining, when an 11-2 run gave the Storm a 64-58 advantage. They won the game by eight, 79-71.

Hatten and three of his teammates scored in double digits against the Blazers: senior forward Anthony Glover (16), junior forward Grady Reynolds (14) and junior forward Kyle Cuffe (10). Hatten had 15 points.

Tip-off is immediately following the conclusion of the Georgetown-Minnesota game.