South Alabama thought it would be playing postseason basketball after bowing out prematurely in its conference tournament, therefore, missing out on an automatic bid to March Madness.

On Sunday, the Jaguars, regular season co-champions of the Sun Belt Conference, received an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) by way of UC Riverside declining to participate in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

But that invitation was quickly rescinded after conference commissioner Keith Gill and NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt learned UC Riverside had gotten out of its commitment to the CBI and instead chose to accept the NIT's invite, per AL.com.

"I tell [Gill and Gavitt], 'I'm going to tell my guys.' They're like, 'Go ahead.' So I tell the team," head coach Richie Riley said. "[They] call back, whatever time it was, 10:45, 11 o'clock. Dan's like, 'No, UC Riverside is back in. I hate that we had to do this.'"

The NIT called South Alabama's invitation "premature" and apologized for the confusion in a statement written by Gavitt and released Monday. But that didn't ease Riley's indignation.

"This is unacceptable. You can't do that," Riley said.

The Jaguars finished 21-11, earning the top seed in the Sun Belt tournament but ultimately getting upset by Arkansas State in the semifinal. UC Riverside (21-12) finished third in the Big West Conference.

To add even more insult to injury, Arkansas State received and accepted an invitation to the NIT despite losing to South Alabama twice in the regular season.

The Red Wolves, however, are ranked higher than the Jaguars in the RPI and NET rankings — metrics used to determine postseason qualification for at-large teams.

"We understand the emotional impact this confusion created," Gavitt said in the NIT's statement. "And we sincerely apologize to South Alabama, head coach Richie Riley and all the student-athletes for the error."

UC Riverside is scheduled to face Santa Clara in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday.