CBS Sports and SportsLine expert Matt Severance looks at Wednesday's NIT game featuring George Washington at Utah Valley
By Matt Severance Mar 18, 2026 at 8:37 am ET • 4 min read
Imagn Images Let's make our first pick from the NIT, which continues first-round play around the country on Wednesday, March 18. I focus on George Washington of the Atlantic 10 as it visits Utah Valley of the WAC with an 8 p.m. ET tip.
These schools are in the Alburquerque Region with George Washington unseeded and Utah Valley fourth. The Revolutionaries, who have just three road wins on the year (3-7 ATS), finished eighth in the A-10 and lost to regular-season champion Saint Louis in the conference tournament quarterfinals last Friday. The Revs used an early 28-4 run for a 36-15 first-half lead and still led with under two minutes left but couldn't hang on against the Billikens.
GW's best player and one of the best in the Atlantic 10 is senior forward Rafael Castro, who leads the club in scoring (15.4 PPG), rebounding (8.5 RPG), steals (1.7 SPG) and blocks (1.7 BPG). He is one of three players nationally averaging at least 15 points and 8.5 rebounds in less than 27 minutes per night. Castro missed a handful of games injured but is back now, although he struggled in the loss to Saint Louis with just seven points, five fouls and four turnovers.
Some top guys will skip the NIT and get ready for pro basketball or whatnot, but I have no word that Castro will do so. GW is averaging 82.1 PPG, second in the A-10, the fourth-highest mark in school history and the best since putting up 83.0 in 1969-70. The Revolutionaries are in the NIT for the seventh time and first since winning the 2016 championship over Valparaiso. They lost in the first round of the College Basketball Crown last year and are making back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since making four in a row from 2014-17.
GW has 11 postseason wins all-time but not since beating Toledo in the first round of the 2017 CBI. This marks the school's first-ever game in the Beehive State and first playing a current member of the WAC -- although that comes with an asterisk.
Utah Valley will be playing its final game as a member of the WAC should it lose as the Wolverines are headed to the Big West at the end of this school year. The regular-season champions were almost left out of the WAC Tournament if the school didn't give the conference $1 million in escrow, an amount equivalent to its exit fee for leaving the conference. The WAC will rebrand as the United Athletic Conference next season.
But that was all resolved with Utah Valley getting knocked off in the WAC Tournament final by No. 2 seed Cal Baptist (also headed to Big West) on Saturday 63-61 to see a seven-game winning streak end. The Wolverines led by a point with 18 seconds left but CBU's Dominick Daniels Jr. hit a 3-pointer to take the lead. Utah Valley drew up a great alley-oop lob play out of a timeout on the ensuing possession, but Isaac Davis missed the dunk with three seconds left and that was that.
Sophomore guard Jackson Holcombe leads Utah Valley in scoring (15.6 PPG) and rebounding (7.1 RPG), while junior guard Trevan Leonhardt averages 12.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists while leading the WAC in total assists and assists per game. He has set the school's single-season assists record for the second straight year and also owns the all-time steals record. Both were first team All-WAC and on the All-Defensive first team. Starting forward Tyler Hendricks (11.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG) hasn't played since Feb. 26 due to injury and his status is unclear.
The Wolverines rank among the nation's top 10 in steals per game (9.4, sixth), forced turnovers per game (15.2, eighth), assists per game (18.4, eight), blocks per game (5.5, ninth) and field-goal percentage (50.3%, ninth). It's the second straight trip to the NIT for Utah Valley, which lost in the first round at San Francisco in 2025 and is +5000 to win it this year. The Wolverines are 15-0 at home (6-6 ATS; not all games had spreads) and have won 27 in a row overall on their home court, the fourth-longest streak nationally.
These schools have never met, with the winner facing the victor between New Mexico and Sam Houston in the second round. I expect that to be the Lobos, who are among the favorites to win the tournament.
Pick: Utah Valley money line
I'm not sure how excited the Revs guys will be to travel across country to Orem, which is not exactly an easy place to reach, for a second-rate event. They have lost seven straight as underdogs.
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