'It will be good practice:" Marquette to face Harvard at Al McGuire Center as No. 2 seed in NIT Tournament

MILWAUKEE -- The Marquette University men's basketball team has been selected to play in the 2018 NIT Tournament as a No. 2 seed. It will host Harvard at the Al McGuire Center on Wednesday, March 14 at 6 p.m. This after the team failed to make this year's NCAA Tournament.

"Marquette had flashes of good play, but we weren't able to make it come together when it mattered," said Tim Houge, MU grad student.

"It was very disappointing, but in the end I think it will be good practice for the very young team, because our team is so young," said Sofia D'Acquisto, MU student.

"At least we made NIT. Granted that's not the same as NCAA march madness, but it's at least something," said Kyle Urbanik, MU student.

Wednesday's game will not be played at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, but instead, the Al McGuire Center, named after the coach who led the team to an NIT title and its only NCAA basketball championship.

"For some people, I can understand why they might be upset. It kind of takes away some of the hype of a Marquette game," said D'Acquisto.

With students on spring break, campus was quiet on Monday, March 12, but Dave Sobelman, owner of Sobelman's, said he's hopeful that students who stayed on campus, and alumni will want to watch the game on home turf.

"We're going to support the team whether they win or lose, whether they make it to the big tournaments, whether they don't. We love the school. We love the athletes. We love the teams. We are Marquette," said Sobelman.

The Al McGuire Center seats nearly 4,000 fans. Representatives with the Marquette University Ticket Office said they expect a full house -- and by Monday afternoon, we learned that Wednesday's game is sold out.