ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Lobos are set to compete in their first game of the National Invitational Tournament Wednesday night at The Pit against Sam Houston.
The Pit was chosen to host the first round and may host a second round match.
The last NCAA Tournament at The Pit was in 2012. Since then, there has been a 14-year drought.
Director of Athletics Ryan Berryman said The Pit will need upgrades if there’s any hope of bringing the NCAA Tournament back to Albuquerque.
“There’s still some structural limitations that exist in The Pit that make that challenging to host,” Berrryman said.
A $60 million renovation in 2010 aimed to modernize The Pit, though it barely scratches the surface of the NCAA’s 80-page specification list.
One of those preferences is for a center video board.
“The roof wasn’t built with supports, right? You don’t see big beams coming down, and so it can’t support a giant center hung video board,” Berryman said.
The biggest challenge would be renovating the floor to fit NCAA Tournament courts.
“We’d be talking about probably bringing multiple rows of the concrete back, which is a big lift,” Berryman said.
He also emphasized The Pit’s significance, calling it a “cathedral” of college basketball, and hoping the NCAA might make a future exception.
Berryman said they plan to continue submitting bids while making small improvements. The next bid period is for the 2028 through 2031 academic years.
