It was a season of milestones for Northeastern, which won an outright Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title - the school's first in 20 years. The Huskies also advanced to the championship game of the CAA tournament for the first time since joining the league in 2005-06. However, Northeastern came up short of making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991 when they were upset by fourth place James Madison 70-57 in the title game. Northeastern had to settle for its second NIT invite in the last four years. "One of our goals each season is to advance to the postseason play, so we're excited to participate in the NIT," coach Bill Coen said.Alabama joins Kentucky and Tennessee from the Southeastern Conference in the NIT and earned one of four No. 1 seeds. The Crimson Tide lost to Florida, a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament's South Region, 61-51 in the semifinals of the SEC tournament on Saturday after defeating Tennessee 58-48 in the quarterfinals. The matchup with Northeastern is something of a homecoming for Alabama coach Anthony Grant, who coached Virginia Commonwealth to three straight CAA titles and two NCAA berths from 2006-09 before heading to Tuscaloosa. "I am familiar with their program having coached in the CAA and coach Coen does a great job," Grant said.TV: 9 p.m ET, ESPN2ABOUT NORTHEASTERN (20-12): The Huskies were expected to be a middle-of-the-pack CAA team this year because of a young front line but cruised to the regular-season title behind the coaching of Coen, a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award which goes to the nation's top mid-major coach, and the senior backcourt duo of Joel Smith and Jonathan Lee. Smith (16.1) leads the Huskies in scoring and has connected on 43 percent of his 3-point attempts while Lee (13.8) is second on the team in scoring and also averages four assists and 4.4 rebounds per game. Lee capped a dramatic Northeastern comeback from a 24-point first half deficit in the CAA semifinals against George Mason with a drive and game-winning layup with three seconds remaining to pull out a 69-67 victory.ABOUT ALABAMA (21-12): The Crimson Tide last appeared in the NIT in 2011 and reached the finals in New York where they lost in the championship game to Wichita State. Alabama starts three sophomores and two juniors and plays strong defense, ranking 26th in the nation allowing 59 points while holding opponents to 41 percent shooting. Junior Trevor Releford (15.4) leads the team in scoring and is shooting 43.8 percent from 3-point range while sophomore guards Trevor Lacey (11.7) and Rodney Cooper (10.3) also average in double figures. The Tide struggles shooting the ball, ranking 11th in the SEC and 229th nationally with an average of 5.6 3-pointers per game while also shooting 69.2 percent from the free throw line.TIP-INS1. Alabama is 60-13 in four years under Grant when holding an opponent to 60 points or fewer, including 17-4 this season.2. Northeastern finished the regular-season ranked sixth in the nation in free throw shooting (75.5 percent) but shot a season-low 53.8 from the stripe in the CAA title title game.3. Releford, a first team all-SEC pick, has 61 steals this season, the third straight year he has recorded 60 or more. The junior already owns the school's career steal mark with 185.PREDICTION: Alabama 58, Northeastern 52