NIT Bracketology

RedStormNC said:
Seniors likely don't want to play and Pitino rather focus on portal.

All for not participating. It's a meaningless tournament these days.
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But do we get punished for not playing in it if we are bubbly next season? Too many people out there love and want to feel aggrieved, and I don't want any voters feeling that way. We'd better make damn sure we win 24 games next season.
 
Maybe we can make this an NIL tournament like that one our name was floated with recently.

Sucks to be in NIT as is, but with some entertaining tweaks you'd have no one turning it down. That of course screws mid and low majors, but I root for a major being viewed as a high mid-major so every man for himself.
 
RedStormRising said:
The NIT is a huge part of our history. Set the bar high by winning basketball games. We are only 8-6 against teams in the NIT. It's not like we can claim we are too good for it. Also what about Jenkins, Soriano, Dingle, Ledlum, and even Conway - I can't imagine they just want to end their career because Pitino finds it hard to coach and recruit at the same time. Also, what happens when we are on the bubble next year you think the NCAA, which owns the NIT won't remember we told them to pound sand.

Terrible, ego driven decision.

(Sorry Ghostzapper, my anger was not at you, even though on re-read it seems to come out that way).
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I agree with pretty much everything that you said RedStormRising and BTW did not take any of it as anger directed at me.

I do think though that passing on the NIT is not unprecedented by us and that the point trying to be made by doing it was made to make a statement about the bar Pitino aspires to for the program.

I don't know if the players were asked about what they wanted to do here or not but I could see them having two different mindsets about it given the obvious disappointment of not making the big dance.

Lastly, as a New Yorker, I think the NIT being taken out of the Garden after all these years makes it a bit less attractive for St. John's. Maybe Butler can make a run to the semi-finals and playing games at Hinkle would be a big deal for the locals there.
 
I am not saying this to take a shot at the players, who I enjoyed watching play all season. But college basketball is now a professional league in all ways with real money involved. Any school who doesn’t want to participate in a secondary event because they do not believe it is in their best interests has no obligation to do so, including to the players. Each school has to decide what they want to do, the portal opens up right now and players will be entering all day. If they can act totally in their self interests starting today the schools need to have the same freedom to do so.
 
IDRAFT said:
I am not saying this to take a shot at the players, who I enjoyed watching play all season. But college basketball is now a professional league in all ways with real money involved. Any school who doesn’t want to participate in a secondary event because they do not believe it is in their best interests has no obligation to do so, including to the players. Each school has to decide what they want to do, the portal opens up right now and players will be entering all day. If they can act totally in their self interests starting today the schools need to have the same freedom to do so.
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If Pitino thinks its in the school's best interest to spend time recruiting a helpful future player instead of game planning against VCU in the NIT, I respect and agree with that decision 100%
 
L J S A said:
But do we get punished for not playing in it if we are bubbly next season? Too many people out there love and want to feel aggrieved, and I don't want any voters feeling that way. We'd better make damn sure we win 24 games next season.
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Actually, it will have the opposite effect!
Most sports pundits had us in the tournament.
NET and SOS were excellent. We were rated higher than both Seton Hall and Providence. We beat Villanova twice.
Frank McGuire gave the NCAA a kick in the ass when it turned down an NCAA bid for the NIT.
The NCAA committee has been publicly shamed by the eastern media and now knows that next time people will be paying attention.

Finally, the NIT, controlled by the NCAA, granted a monopoly to exploit lower conferences and those it could screw politically. If anything, it has become obvious that more ADs from lower conferences need a seat at the selection table.
 
Redenbacher said:
How do you do that when the best teams are playing in another tournament?
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I think you would have done this by winning the whole damned thing and dominating every single game, against good but albeit not the very best competition.

Of course the point is moot now, but my hope was that we continued to show the world that we were a team who had turned it around and could dominate our opponents. Playing more games at the high level like they had been playing at recently, would have just added some fuel to the fire about the Committee f'ing this thing up. It also would have given our players a chance to walk off the court winning 11 of their last 12 games (with the only defeat coming at the expense of the likely National Champions) and hoisting a trophy. That is a better end to the story than one of the feeling of helpless disappointment after watching us being omitted from the dance on the damned selection show.

Look I totally understand that the NIT is a second tier tournament, but I was there when Marcus Hatten led us to an NIT title and it enhanced that season for us. I also remember the 1989 team winning the NIT and getting five more wins for stalwart players like Malik Sealy, Boo Harvey, Jayson Williams, Robert Werdann, Jason Buchanan and Billy Singleton. Believe me, that was a really good thing for our Basketball program.

In the end, I totally understand and can support why the decision was made to bypass the NIT (especially with the NIT final four no longer at the Garden), but if we had decided to play it could have impacted this season's narrative positively.
 
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Moose said:
Everyone is all getting wet about Tom Crean going on about the NIT tonight.

Yes Tom Crean. Any relation ?

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Moose,
I don't think the information posted about Indiana is correct here (fake news?). Indiana played and lost in the first round of the 2017 NIT to Georgia Tech. FYI Crean was fired after the defeat and was subsequently hired to coach the Georgia Bulldogs for the 2018/2019 season.

www.espn.com

Georgia Tech 75-63 Indiana (Mar 14, 2017) Final Score - ESPN

Game summary of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Indiana Hoosiers NCAAM game, final score 75-63, from March 14, 2017 on ESPN.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
ghostzapper said:
Moose,
I don't think the information posted about Indiana is correct here (fake news?). Indiana played and lost in the first round of the 2017 NIT to Georgia Tech. FYI Crean was fired after the defeat and was subsequently hired to coach the Georgia Bulldogs for the 2018/2019 season.

www.espn.com

Georgia Tech 75-63 Indiana (Mar 14, 2017) Final Score - ESPN

Game summary of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Indiana Hoosiers NCAAM game, final score 75-63, from March 14, 2017 on ESPN.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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He played but didn't want to play at home because it would devalue the Indiana brand. So while he played they elected not to play at home. Back to Logen's point earlier just another media personality speaking for what's convenient at the time.
 
Moose said:
He played but didn't want to play at home because it would devalue the Indiana brand. So while he played they elected not to play at home. Back to Logen's point earlier just another media personality speaking for what's convenient at the time.
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Okay I understand now.

I do think though not playing at home is different than not playing at all. Also, given that his employment status was obviously tenuous at that point his statement may have been him echoing the sentiments of the athletic department and not his own personal opinion.
 
Tom Crean is still a POS for screaming at Louisville center Ellis Myles in 2003 for "faking" the injury that kept him out for over a year. Myles ruptured his patellar tendon in his right knee in a game against Marquette and was down on the court, screaming bloody murder and had to be stretchered out. Meanwhile, Tom Crean yelling at him for faking the whole thing. Classy guy.
 
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