Las Vegas 16 Becomes Vegas 8
- Thread starter IdahoAlum
- Start date
Louisiana Tech, East Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Old Dominion, Northern Illinois, Towson, UC Santa Barbara and Oakland.
It's interesting (though maybe not surprising) how few teams fell into NU's boat - power five team, plus .500 record, not in the NIT. My quick survey included, I think, K-State, Washington, Alabama (Arkansas at .500), LSU (preemptively opted out), and nobody from the ACC.
Still, I do wish NU were playing in Vegas, mostly due to do-or-die exposure, but also because I like watching NU basketball, and because, in my opinion, every non-ncaa tourney is equal for its lack of status.
Still, I do wish NU were playing in Vegas, mostly due to do-or-die exposure, but also because I like watching NU basketball, and because, in my opinion, every non-ncaa tourney is equal for its lack of status.
I had thought this might be a good tournament to go to but now it sounds a little weak. Perhaps March madness is simply too big to make anything else have value.
Value is in the eye of the beholder. Would an extra week or two of practice and game preparation be of value? Would any post-season experience be of value to a program that hasn't been to the post-season for several years? Would any post-season appearance be of recruiting value? Would another couple of weeks away from the classroom be too much of a drain on players who have effectively been in the gym since September? All questions that each program has to answer for itself. It's pretty obvious NU's answer was "no" to the first few questions, and "yes" to the last.
I saw a tweet today from a former Division 1 athletic administrator, that I got to know a little when I was in college, essentially lauding teams for passing on these third tier tournaments. He basically said they were the equivalent of participation trophies.
It's that thing we really wanted that we didn't get
The NIT has been around, and has some history to it. I think the NCAA runs it now...kind of a consolation prize, more so than a participation trophy in some eyes, I suppose. I'm not sure, do teams have to pay to play in the NIT?
For me the NIT is the answer for the fact that some lower tier champions don't really have the talent to be in the big dance but get in because they want to give everyone a chance, meanwhile some pretty solid teams are left out and deserve a chance to say, "I told you so."
The NIT is the original college basketball tournament, it started a year before the NCAA.
While it serves as a consolation prize now, it's still a reward for teams that finish in the top 20 to 25 percent of D1 basketball. There are some excellent teams that play in the NIT every year.
Its also NOT a pay-to-play event.
If it's about not wanting to pay or it's about looking out for the players, I don't have a problem with skipping these tournaments. But if it's just about ego, that's silly. Like, I just think it's weird for a basketball team to pass up doing more of what it does (play basketball) just because it's supposedly beneath their program. Personally, I like watching our team play games and would have loved to see them play more. I take at face value the explanation about NU's decision, though, so it's not a criticism of our team's decision.
Furman was on Sportscenter last night for a buzzer-beater win in the CIT and their fans and players were going nuts. Good for them, this is all supposed to be fun after all and their school is having fun being part of a "participation trophy" tournament. I just don't understand the mentality of being derisive about teams that continue to want to keep competing.
