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.

The Cardinal finished seventh in the Atlanta Coast Conference in Kyle Smith’s first year as head coach. He led Stanford to a 20-win season for the first time since 2020 and the 25th time in program history. The Cardinal boast one of the top players in the NIT in 7-foot-1 senior Maxime Raynaud, who averaged a double-double this season with 20.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

The women’s team is 4-0 all-time against Portland, beating the Pilots by a minimum of 22 points in three meetings since 2021, including an 81-51 win at Maples Pavilion last season. The Cardinal finished 10th in their first season in the ACC as Kate Paye took over for legendary coach Tara VanDerveer. If Stanford advances past Portland, it will host either Seton Hall or Quinnipiac on Sunday in the second round.

Santa Clara is making its third NIT appearance in the past four seasons under coach Herb Sendek, whose Broncos are 10.5-point favorites against Riverside. The Broncos will literally be shooting for a record tonight against Riverside as Santa Clara is three 3-pointers shy of breaking the West Coast Conference record for 3-pointers set in a season. USF set the record with 349 made 3’s in the 2022-23 season.

This year’s USF squad makes its third postseason appearance in four seasons after advancing to the WCC Tournament semifinals for the fourth straight year. The Dons finished unbeaten (16-0) on the Hilltop for the first time in 44 years — back when they won the fifth of six straight regular-season conference titles in 1980-81.