Tim Reed/FOR THE POST Ohio guard LaDrell Whitehead flies through the air in a game earlier this season. Ohio, which some expected to make the National Invitational Tournament, was snubbed last night by the tournament's committee. Toledo, which finished sixth in the regular season in the Mid-American Conference and lost to Ohio in the first round of the MAC Tournament, was the only MAC team to be invited to the NIT. Miami and Kent made the NCAA Tournament.

NEW YORK (AP) - Four Atlantic Coast Conference teams and a rematch of the memorable Georgetown-Princeton game in the 1989 NCAA tournament highlight this year's NIT field.

Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Clemson and Georgia Tech earned NIT bids yesterday from the ACC. Princeton, which nearly pulled the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history 10 years ago before losing to top-seeded Georgetown 50-49 in the first round, will play host to the Hoyas Wednesday.

There are eight 20-game winners in the 32-team NIT, including Fresno State (21-11), Mississippi State (20-12) and Xavier (21-10).

''We really felt like we earned an opportunity for the NCAA tournament,'' Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. ''We won 20 games in one of the best conferences in America. ... I don't understand why we weren't selected.''

Other intriguing first-round matchups are Jerry Tarkanian's Fresno State squad at California (17-11), an interstate battle between Northwestern (15-13) and DePaul (17-12), and Providence (16-13) at North Carolina State (18-13).

''At some point we figured we'd end up playing,'' Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill said. ''The NIT will do whatever it thinks is best for the tournament. We're just happy to be in the postseason and excited to be able to keep playing.''

The other first-round matchups are Hofstra (22-9) at Rutgers (18-12); Georgia (15-14) at Clemson (16-14); Seton Hall (15-14) at Old Dominion (24-8); Butler (20-9) at Bradley (17-11); Xavier (21-10) at Toledo (19-7); Alabama (17-14) at Wake Forest (16-13); Pepperdine (19-12) at Colorado (17-14); Southern California (15-12) at Wyoming (17-9); UNLV (16-12) at Nebraska (19-12); Texas Christian (19-10) at Kansas State (20-12); and Georgia Tech (15-15) at Oregon (16-11).