The Mississippi State Bulldogs are getting ready to play in the Final Four.

No, not those Mississippi State Bulldogs.

And not that Final Four.

The other ones. And the other one.

Mississippi State’s men’s basketball team returns to the court Tuesday night for the NIT semifinals against Penn State (24-13). The NCAA’s consolation tournament might lack the prestige of the main 68-team bracket, and the male Bulldogs’ run has been overshadowed by the women’s team’s run to its second NCAA Tournament Final Four, but it hasn’t diminished the accomplishment one bit to those involved.

“When I hear people talk about how they look at it as a consolation, that to me is a very arrogant point of view, and I don’t agree with that,” Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said at a press conference Friday, before the team left for New York. “I think it is an incredible honor to be in postseason play. Obviously, we would have preferred to be in the NCAA Tournament, as everybody would, but that didn’t happen so we’re excited, and I think our team has shown they are enjoying playing basketball this time of the year.”

Getting this deep into the NIT has certainly helped generate extra enthusiasm. The Bulldogs (25-11) beat Nebraska, Baylor and Louisville in a six-day span to earn the trip to New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden.

“It’s a great moment, and I’m very excited,” MSU junior forward Aric Holman said. “This will be something I can tell my nieces and nephews about and my future children.”

Mississippi State is the first Southeastern Conference team to reach the NIT semifinals since Alabama in 2011. Only five teams from the league have won the tournament in its 80-year history. The Bulldogs also reached the semifinals in 2007.

At this point, however, they’re the last SEC team still playing this season. All eight teams that reached the NCAA Tournament bowed out in the Round of 16 or earlier.

That has added to a sense of appreciation for the opportunity the NIT has provided.

“We were lucky to still be playing because a lot of teams aren’t. We took that, and it’s helped us play harder,” freshman guard Nick Weatherspoon said. “A lot of players aren’t playing right now, and we could easily be sitting at home right now. We’re taking advantage of it.”

All four semifinalists emerged from the middle of the bracket. Mississippi State, Penn State and Western Kentucky (27-10) were all No. 4 seeds. Even No. 2 seed Utah (22-11) had to go on the road for its quarterfinal game.

Western Kentucky and Utah will play in the first semifinal Tuesday at 6 p.m. Mississippi State and Penn State will tip off afterward, around 8:30.

For Howland, that has just given the Bulldogs even more chances to get the most out of their postseason experience. They beat top-seeded Baylor on Quinndary Weatherspoon’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer, and then routed Louisville 79-56 in the quarterfinals.

“The team is getting better and better. We played our best game of the year without question at Louisville the other night — for 40 minutes, both ends of the floor, defensively, offensively, sharing the ball, holding them to 35 percent. They had 12 points in the first quarter,” Howland said. “I was really proud of our team; how hard we played, how tough we played, how well we passed the ball and moved the ball. We had a lot of assists in that game and really shared it well. So, I am really happy for our team because this was a goal to try and get to New York City and Madison Square Garden for a chance to keep playing this time of year.”

As happy as he is to be playing now, however, Howland is optimistic that this postseason run will help his team to still be playing this time next year — in a different tournament.

“I have been around long enough to know the history and tradition of the NIT and having coached a couple other teams at different schools that went on to the NIT and used that as a spring board to the following year. I know how that has worked in the past at Northern Arizona and Pittsburgh, so I knew this would be a great experience for us,” Howland said. “It depends on your team. We aren’t a senior laden team. We are a team that doesn’t have a senior on it. The postseason, to play Baylor at Baylor, Louisville at Louisville, if we aren’t in the NIT we aren’t playing those games. I think we have grown a lot from that experience.”

NIT ON TV
Tuesday
6 p.m. ESPN – Western Kentucky vs. Utah
8 p.m. ESPN – Mississippi State vs. Penn State
Thursday
6 p.m. ESPN2 – Championship game