Just one year removed from a Sweet 16 appearance, DJ Cooper and the Ohio Bobcats will be a 6-seed in the NIT. The Bobcats' opponent will be the Denver Pioneers, who finished 21-9 overall and 16-2 in the WAC, good enough for a share of the regular-season championship. In their last game, Denver was upset in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament by Texas State.

If the Bobcats advance, they will play the winner of (7) Niagara and (2) Maryland. The last time Ohio appeared in the NIT was in 1995, where they beat George Washington before falling to Iowa.

The game in Denver will be Tuesday night at 9:15, and can be seen on ESPN3.

Ohio is playing in the Alabama bracket, which looks like this:

(1) Alabama vs. (8) Northeastern

(4) Stanford vs. (5) Stephen F. Austin

(3) Denver vs. (6) Ohio

(2) Maryland vs. (7) Niagara