And should have had a 10th win against the team that beat a depleted PC last night; we'd definitely beat BC if we played them now imho.
NIT Poll
- Thread starter Moose
- Start date
I'm honestly not going to miss this team play, but I definitely think we could've won the whole thing. Not like the NIT is a team full of world beaters
Awfully big of USC to decline with an overall record of 15-18. Guess the NIT wanted to help their ratings with Bronny.
Xavier had 7 wins against the NIT field, more wins against the NCAA field than us, and they lost in the first round of the NIT.
The field is 32 deeply flawed teams and there is no matchup math that will ever make sense of it.
Xavier beat Providence by 20 and lost to Georgia in the NIT, who Providence beat. Providence also beat Xavier by 4 in their matchup.
It’s just speculation at this point, but I don’t think this is the kind of team that could make that run.
Then there is the whole disappointment/senior angle. They have nothing to play for. How do you get motivated for the NIT as a 5th year senior after being screwed by the NCAA? I feel like younger teams and experienced teams from one-bid conferences have a big advantage there.
Regardless, I think we can all agree there was little to gain and everything to lose.
They went on that type of run to close the season, and hung in tough with UCONN.
But I agree, the second paragraph is why I think we should not have played.
Actually X only had 5 wins against the NIT Field.
A field they only made because 17 teams declined before them. My point is you can’t just make a blanket statement that SJU wouldn’t win two games without factual data.
Nothing to gain with wilcher and zuby playing big minutes? I remember you talking about the importance of guys playing in a win or go home and the future benefits an NIT run could have for guys. Sir Dom game winner?
Far be it from me to correct the amazing ESPKen, but according to
Xavier athletics site they beat:
Cincinnati
Seton Hall
St. John’s
Butler 2x
Nova
Providence
They also have more wins against NCAA tournament teams (so does basically everyone). In addition, they lost to Houston 66-60, Marquette 86-80, Villanova by 1, Providence by 4, and UConn by 5 so they can go tit for tat with us there.
You are correct on Cincy, which I overlooked, but I did not include SJU since we are not in the field. So X has 6 wins in the NIT field.
That is specifically why I wrote “little to gain” instead of nothing
I do think win or go home games are important for returning players.
The NCAA tournament would have been amazing for our young guys to experience. The Big East tournament was huge for them and Dublap getting 7 minutes in the semifinal game will pay dividends down the road.
The NIT has kind of become a joke since the Pointer days with this portal madness, free transfers, and so many teams declining bids.
The minutes allocation probably doesn’t change much either IMO.
I only included St. John’s because in the hypothetical we are discussing they would have to be in it to win
If we didn’t decline, I would have fully expected the NCAA to make us their prime target to screw. Providence got a 3 seed even after all the declined bids and were given Boston College first round. That seems deliberate to me.
So- with similar sentiment echoed by a number of people here... It doesn't seem there will Ever be a season people want the school to Accept an invite to the NIT...That is specifically why I wrote “little to gain” instead of nothing
The NIT has kind of become a joke since the Pointer days with this portal madness, free transfers, and so many teams declining bids.
Granted- we all hope we are never in a position To Accept... but seeing the caliber of schools playing (5 teams from our Conference) and Who have participated in the past 5 years... I just find it surprising a Program that has been a semi-doormat like St Johns has the last 20years... would think they are Above participation...
I only included St. John’s because in the hypothetical we are discussing they would have to be in it to win
Then again if we would have accepted, then X would not have gotten an invite since they were the only team in the field with a losing record.
As Captain America would say………..
Attachments
If the portal opened after all post-season play and there was a cash prize for the players + team that won, I'd be all-in for playing.
I would never want to accept an NIT bid again — at least during the Pitino era — unless the transfer stuff becomes somewhat reasonable.
If a Pitino team is bad enough to be in the NIT going forward, just blow it up and rebuild in the portal because something has gone horribly wrong.
16 other teams passed. I think it's up to the individual teams. How many people who think they should have accepted intended to buy tickets and attend? I only saw one poster say they would. I can't blame SJU for not wanting to open the doors for a game for just me and Mrs. IDRAFT.