Copyright by WAVY - All rights reserved Bruce Rader on the Today Show Plaza with ODU band members, Big Blue and ODU fans. March 31, 2015 (WAVY/Nathan Epstein)

Copyright by WAVY - All rights reserved Bruce Rader on the Today Show Plaza with ODU band members, Big Blue and ODU fans. March 31, 2015 (WAVY/Nathan Epstein)

NEW YORK CITY (WAVY) - The weather has warmed up a bit, and New York City is the place to be today as sports fans from Hampton Roads swarm the Big Apple for tonight's NIT Semifinal game between Old Dominion University and Stanford.

By 5 a.m. a bus load of Monarch students including the band, the cheerleaders and Big Blue were welcoming morning commuters to 30 Rock, and then put on their best TV faces for their interview with Sports Director Bruce Rader on WAVY News 10 Tuesday morning, and then a national television audience on the Today Show.

Twitter is a buzz with ODU fans announcing they are on their way for tonight's game at famed Madison Square Garden. Fans are meeting up prior to the game and we will continue our live coverage leading up to the big event beginning at 4 p.m. on WAVY.

Old Dominion, a top seed in the tourney, is back in NY for just their second appearance in the NIT semifinals, the first coming in 2006. For Jeff Jones, the first person to win the NIT as both a player and head coach (at Virginia), he will be taking ODU to MSG for just its third appearance all-time, having played in the building during the 1984 Holiday Festival.

Winners of nine of the last 10 outings overall, the one loss coming against Middle Tennessee during the Conference USA Tournament more than two weeks ago, the Monarchs have made their way to the Big Apple by taking down Charleston Southern, Illinois State and Murray State, those last two coming by a combined four points.

The victory over the Racers, which came on a desperation 3-pointer at the end of regulation, was the 24th consecutive home win for ODU.

Stanford won the only previous meeting between the programs by a score of 84-60 in Puerto Rico back in 2000.

The winner of this game will be back in action two nights from now in the championship of the tournament versus either Miami-Florida or Temple.

Three seasons after winning the tournament, Stanford returns to Madison Square Garden with many of the careers that were just beginning in the team's last visit now about to come to a close.

Some players, like senior Chasson Randle, have gone on to reach historic highs for the Cardinal, with Randle in particular almost certain to break the school's all-time scoring record over the course of the next few days.

Others have fared less well. Then-sophomore Aaron Bright, winner of the 2012 tournament's MVP award, would transfer away from Stanford before his senior year after apparently being replaced in the backcourt by Anthony Brown.

For those who remain with the team, the return to New York promises to bring a final chance to make a mark on the history of Stanford basketball. At stake is less a chance to add another year to the banners in Maples Pavilion and more a chance to define the state in which they leave the Stanford program.

The Cardinal haven't looked to be particularly troubled in the tournament thus far. Stanford breezed through its first matchups against UC Davis and Rhode Island by double-digit margins. Its quarterfinal matchup against the Vanderbilt Commodores was more competitive than the early rounds had been, but Stanford's three-point victory wasn't as close as the score line made it seem.