Saint Mary’s may be the Bay Area’s only men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament, but four other local schools will also be participating in the postseason this coming week.

Hours after the NCAA Tournament was revealed Sunday, Stanford, San Jose State, San Francisco and Santa Clara all accepted invites to the men’s National Invitational Tournament.

Stanford (20-13) will be taking part in the postseason for the first time since 2018 when it hosts Cal State Northridge (22-10) tonight at 8 at Maples Pavilion. Santa Clara (20-12) plays host tonight as well when it faces UC Riverside (21-12) at 8 p.m.

Both USF and San Jose State will play at home Wednesday night in the 32-team NIT. The Dons (24-9) will play Utah Valley (25-8) at War Memorial at 8 p.m. Meanwhile, the Spartans (15-19) are set to make their first NIT appearance since 1981 when they face Loyola Chicago (22-11) at 8 p.m.

The Stanford women (16-13), whose streak of 36 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances came to an end, will play Portland (29-4) in the WBIT at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Maples Pavilion. Saint Mary’s women (14-16) will keep on playing as part of the WNIT field, beginning Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Texas Southern (16-15).

Despite their sub-.500 record, San Jose State’s men are enjoying a bit of a renaissance under coach Tim Miles. Their 15 victories gives them their most wins over a three-year span (45) since the school won 46 games from 1985-88.

San Jose State may have been one of the beneficiaries of more postseason spots being available this year. There were a number of teams that declined to play in the NIT in order to participate in the new, Fox-sponsored College Basketball Crown. That 16-team tournament will be held in Las Vegas from March 31-April 6. West Virginia and Ohio State are among the schools expected to participate in the inaugural tournament.

Stanford’s men will have history on their side when they take the floor tonight. The Cardinal are 11-2 at home all-time in the NIT, including nine straight wins from 2006-18. Plus, they have advanced to the second round, or further, in each of their past five appearances.

The matchup with Northridge will be the eighth in program history, with Stanford holding a 7-0 all-time record in a series that began in 1976. With a win tonight, Stanford will host St. Bonaventure or Kent State in the second round.