NIT

[Mug Costanza]

We'd probably be an NIT bubble team all things being equal, but the NIT powers that be would make sure to put us in if there's any case to be made. They want the NYC team from the Big East in it especially with the semis and championship in MSG

 

[MakingPlays]

I just don't get where this disdain for the NIT comes from. As players, you get a chance to end the season on a less disappointing note. You get to play with your teammates for at least one more time. Maybe even winning it all for your school. That vacated NIT won by St. John's when Hatten was here was very exciting for the players and the fans. If they get a NIT invite, they should happily accept it, and then give it their all-which they almost always do.

I think the NIT is a good building block if you are returning a good portion of your roster.  As Adam has alluded to it gives you team more tournament experience and builds momentum heading into the next season.  If this team returns all the guys that are expected to return it's a no brainer they should accept the NIT bid it will be very beneficial for them.

And this season has been eerily similar to CMA's 3rd season at Arkansas.  A team that had a top 5 recruiting class that featured Bobby Portis (Future SEC POY) and Moses Kingsley (Future Pre-Season SEC POY).  Like this year's St. John's team high expectations for that team a lot of people thought they should have been a lock for the tournament.  Like this team there was a lot of new pieces and some heart breaking losses, that team was one or two wins away from making the tournament.  A 2 point loss against South Carolina in the second round of the SEC tournament sealed their fate and was almost as heart breaking as the loss last night.  That team ended up being a 3rd seed in the NIT.

The reason I bring that up is because they accepted the NIT tournament, got to play a couple more games, and got a taste of post season basketball. Then they had a quiet off-season and returned majority of the roster. The next year they won 27 games, finished second in the SEC, and played in the SEC championship game and won an NCAA tournament game.  Should have went farther and made the sweet 16 that year, was some very questionable calls in the North Carolina game that even national pundits pointed out but I won't get into here.  

Staff should accept the NIT, make sure they keep the core in tact and don't lose any key players to transfer, and bring in some shooters, they do that, I think everyone will be much happier with next year's results. 

 

[ADORAZ]

Had St. John's gone last year then maybe they would've had a better year this year. Certainly couldn't have been much worse. They choked in every big situation and could've used more big game experience. Yes, the NIT games are still big. ...

Since only three of last year's players returned this year -- coupled with eight new players on the roster -- I don't think being in last year's NIT would have been of much benefit, if any at all, on how things played out this year's play -- especially if we didn't go deep in that tournament.

I disagree because Champ and Posh are often the players with the ball during late game sequences, such as last night. That's when games are won or lost.

Both players are awesome and I'd take them any year, but neither thus far has been a clutch "winner" like Ponds or Harrison. Maybe all it would've taken was some additional confidence from a couple NIT wins last year, which could've translated to more wins this year. On the other hand, a bad NIT loss could've pushed them more during the off-season the way Lavin's team that lost to Robert Morris came back and made the Tournament the following year. I really see no upside to declining an invite, and believe had we accepted last year we'd at a minimum be on the bubble this year.

I'm not blaming any one player, maybe Champ, Posh and Wusu wanted to play last year but the rest of the team didn't. That said, avoiding things has been a major issue with this team, from avoiding the NIT last year to avoiding a remotely challenging OOC schedule this year. It hasn't worked and hopefully the entire team is on board with an NIT invite. I really wanted to see them play in it last year and I'm looking forward to Selection Sunday this year.

I get it, I lived in Raleigh for many years (the heart of ACC country). Many consider the NIT a joke, but avoiding the NIT is a much bigger joke IMO.

Adam, do you really think having Champ and Posh play in, say, two or three NIT games would've turned them into "clutch winners" this season? I have to disagree. Besides -- and this is all conjecture, of course -- there's no way of knowing if they'd even be playing in games that they be called on to close out.

First, it was only a 16 team field last year, so they very easily could've won or gotten to the finals.

Second, I think it absolutely would've helped. We don't necessarily need to be "clutch winners", but the team was unbelievably bad in close games this year. We were clutch losers. Had we won just half of them we'd be in decent shape right now. We also failed in every game with national exposure this year.

It's like all things in life, the more experience the better. It's kind of like trying to do a presentation, most people are better off starting with just a few people rather than presenting in front of an entire company. Playing in a nationally televised tournament on ESPN I'd bet would've helped this team.

 

[GardenCity62]

Along with poor outside shooting SJUs offensive performance in the last couple of minutes of play was the major reason they are not dancing. You can attribute ten losses to poor offensive play/ strategy at the end of games. This is not bad luck or the law of averages. This is terrible planning.Playing in the NIT would allow for the staff to come up with some changes because of the extended practice time.
Can Posh attempt to get to the rim, or get fouled , or pass the ball to one of the bigs for a shot from the paint or pass the ball into the corner for a twenty foot attempt. Let him select the best way to score or have Wheeler drive the ball to the hoop The usual plan to pass the ball around twenty five feet from the basket with someone taking a shot has never worked . Whatever strategy can be worked on these next few days would be an improvement as to what has been tried these past two years.

 

[Mullins Revenge]

When do they announce the NIT teams?  I believe it starts on Tuesday.

 

[paultzman]

When do they announce the NIT teams?  I believe it starts on Tuesday.

Usually right after the Dance brackets are revealed

 

[Knight]

SUNDAY, 8PM, ESPNU

 

[rcatalano]

Who gives a shite!!!!!!!

 

[Delaware]

9 pm Sunday night. 

 

[ADORAZ]

Alright let's do this.

[URL]https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/[/URL]

6 seed (2nd- playing 3 Florida). According to this there are 9 auto bids and 2 are ahead of us (North Texas and ironically Iona). There are only 3 at-large teams behind us, so we are "in" by only 3 spots.

[URL]https://thebarkingcrow.com/nit-bracketology/[/URL]

7 seed (1st- playing 2 Notre Dame): According to this there are 10 auto bids (different from above, so maybe dratings hasn't updated yet). There are ZERO at-large teams behind us, so we're the last team in.

[URL]https://nitbracketology.blogspot.com/p/current-nit-bracket.html[/URL]

5 seed (1st- playing 4 St. Bonaventure): safely in here.

 

[monte]

 
First, it was only a 16 team field last year, so they very easily could've won or gotten to the finals.

Second, I think it absolutely would've helped. We don't necessarily need to be "clutch winners", but the team was unbelievably bad in close games this year. We were clutch losers. Had we won just half of them we'd be in decent shape right now. We also failed in every game with national exposure this year.

It's like all things in life, the more experience the better. It's kind of like trying to do a presentation, most people are better off starting with just a few people rather than presenting in front of an entire company. Playing in a nationally televised tournament on ESPN I'd bet would've helped this team.

Adam I agree that the more experience the better, and playing in the NIT last season could have only helped our 3 returning players, however IMO that would have only helped to any significant degree early in the season,  and if we had played a tougher OCC schedule. At this point in this season, whether or not we played in last season's NIT would have little to no impact IMO. Our kids had this entire season to become better clutch players. It never happened. Part of that is on the kids, part is on the staff. 

 

[ADORAZ]

 
First, it was only a 16 team field last year, so they very easily could've won or gotten to the finals.

Second, I think it absolutely would've helped. We don't necessarily need to be "clutch winners", but the team was unbelievably bad in close games this year. We were clutch losers. Had we won just half of them we'd be in decent shape right now. We also failed in every game with national exposure this year.

It's like all things in life, the more experience the better. It's kind of like trying to do a presentation, most people are better off starting with just a few people rather than presenting in front of an entire company. Playing in a nationally televised tournament on ESPN I'd bet would've helped this team.

Adam I agree that the more experience the better, and playing in the NIT last season could have only helped our 3 returning players, however IMO that would have only helped to any significant degree early in the season,  and if we had played a tougher OCC schedule. At this point in this season, whether or not we played in last season's NIT would have little to no impact IMO. Our kids had this entire season to become better clutch players. It never happened. Part of that is on the kids, part is on the staff. 

That's possible, and I do think there are multiple factors, but let's say you're right in that it only would've helped early in the season. That'd mean we would've beaten Indiana, Pitt, or both, and at that point we wouldn't have the overwhelmingly negative narrative to start Big East play. The issue is our awful OOC schedule, in combination with us failing to beat the only 3 Power teams we played, really put us in a big hole early. It's not fair to the team that basically every game after our Kansas loss became a "must win" at the time. I think had we secured a solid OOC win earlier in the season we would've won at least one or two of the close BE losses and that would've probably been enough to go dancing.

Anyway, it's impossible to know for sure, but I really think playing in the NIT last year (in addition to scheduling better) would've helped this team. Fortunately I haven't seen any talk of the team declining an invite this year, so I think it'll just come down to whether we're selected. I think we will be.

As sad as it sounds, playing in the NIT would be our second best season of the last 7 years. I'm not excusing how poorly this season went, but really the only teams with the right to complain about being selected for the NIT are 1 seeds who barely miss out on the Tournament. For teams like St. John's it can only be viewed as an opportunity.

 

[Porgyman]

Alright let's do this.

[URL]https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/[/URL]

6 seed (2nd- playing 3 Florida). According to this there are 9 auto bids and 2 are ahead of us (North Texas and ironically Iona). There are only 3 at-large teams behind us, so we are "in" by only 3 spots.

[URL]https://thebarkingcrow.com/nit-bracketology/[/URL]

7 seed (1st- playing 2 Notre Dame): According to this there are 10 auto bids (different from above, so maybe dratings hasn't updated yet). There are ZERO at-large teams behind us, so we're the last team in.

[URL]https://nitbracketology.blogspot.com/p/current-nit-bracket.html[/URL]

5 seed (1st- playing 4 St. Bonaventure): safely in here.

Florida, Notre Dame or the Bonnies would be challenging, especially on the road.

 

[Andrew]

Alright let's do this.

[URL]https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/[/URL]

6 seed (2nd- playing 3 Florida). According to this there are 9 auto bids and 2 are ahead of us (North Texas and ironically Iona). There are only 3 at-large teams behind us, so we are "in" by only 3 spots.

[URL]https://thebarkingcrow.com/nit-bracketology/[/URL]

7 seed (1st- playing 2 Notre Dame): According to this there are 10 auto bids (different from above, so maybe dratings hasn't updated yet). There are ZERO at-large teams behind us, so we're the last team in.

[URL]https://nitbracketology.blogspot.com/p/current-nit-bracket.html[/URL]

5 seed (1st- playing 4 St. Bonaventure): safely in here.

Florida, Notre Dame or the Bonnies would be challenging, especially on the road.

Like most teams we played this year we are capable of beating or losing to most teams in the NIT.

 

[monte]

 
First, it was only a 16 team field last year, so they very easily could've won or gotten to the finals.

Second, I think it absolutely would've helped. We don't necessarily need to be "clutch winners", but the team was unbelievably bad in close games this year. We were clutch losers. Had we won just half of them we'd be in decent shape right now. We also failed in every game with national exposure this year.

It's like all things in life, the more experience the better. It's kind of like trying to do a presentation, most people are better off starting with just a few people rather than presenting in front of an entire company. Playing in a nationally televised tournament on ESPN I'd bet would've helped this team.

Adam I agree that the more experience the better, and playing in the NIT last season could have only helped our 3 returning players, however IMO that would have only helped to any significant degree early in the season,  and if we had played a tougher OCC schedule. At this point in this season, whether or not we played in last season's NIT would have little to no impact IMO. Our kids had this entire season to become better clutch players. It never happened. Part of that is on the kids, part is on the staff. 

That's possible, and I do think there are multiple factors, but let's say you're right in that it only would've helped early in the season. That'd mean we would've beaten Indiana, Pitt, or both, and at that point we wouldn't have the overwhelmingly negative narrative to start Big East play. The issue is our awful OOC schedule, in combination with us failing to beat the only 3 Power teams we played, really put us in a big hole early. It's not fair to the team that basically every game after our Kansas loss became a "must win" at the time. I think had we secured a solid OOC win earlier in the season we would've won at least one or two of the close BE losses and that would've probably been enough to go dancing.

Anyway, it's impossible to know for sure, but I really think playing in the NIT last year (in addition to scheduling better) would've helped this team. Fortunately I haven't seen any talk of the team declining an invite this year, so I think it'll just come down to whether we're selected. I think we will be.

As sad as it sounds, playing in the NIT would be our second best season of the last 7 years.

If we have nice showing in the NIT, and if we retain most or all of our potential returning players, and if we pick up a couple of impact transfers, then I'll feel pretty good going in to next season. But that is an awful lot of "ifs"

 

[Andrew]

Alright let's do this.

[URL]https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/[/URL]

6 seed (2nd- playing 3 Florida). According to this there are 9 auto bids and 2 are ahead of us (North Texas and ironically Iona). There are only 3 at-large teams behind us, so we are "in" by only 3 spots.

[URL]https://thebarkingcrow.com/nit-bracketology/[/URL]

7 seed (1st- playing 2 Notre Dame): According to this there are 10 auto bids (different from above, so maybe dratings hasn't updated yet). There are ZERO at-large teams behind us, so we're the last team in.

[URL]https://nitbracketology.blogspot.com/p/current-nit-bracket.html[/URL]

5 seed (1st- playing 4 St. Bonaventure): safely in here.

There are a lot of  auto bid leagues still playing so this will come down to the end.

 

[paultzman]

Per the Torch & hopefully a good opponent for fans

Breaking: The #SJUBB Athletic Dept. is making preparations in advance of the NIT bracket reveal tomorrow night, per source. 

Possible home games for St. John's are Tuesday, March 15 at 6 or 7 p.m and Wednesday, March 16 at 6 or 7 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.

 

[fordham96]

The issue is motivation especially for schools that fully expected to be in NCAAs. Going to NIT is a major letdown and being motivated to play is a big issue.

 

 

[IDRAFT]

Per the Torch & hopefully a good opponent for fans

Breaking: The #SJUBB Athletic Dept. is making preparations in advance of the NIT bracket reveal tomorrow night, per source. 

Possible home games for St. John's are Tuesday, March 15 at 6 or 7 p.m and Wednesday, March 16 at 6 or 7 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.

If there is a home game one of those two days I will go in support of the kids, but the school needs to be very aggressive giving away tickets, etc. or it is going to be an embarrassing atmosphere. And they won't have much time.

 

[paultzman]

Per the Torch & hopefully a good opponent for fans

Breaking: The #SJUBB Athletic Dept. is making preparations in advance of the NIT bracket reveal tomorrow night, per source. 

Possible home games for St. John's are Tuesday, March 15 at 6 or 7 p.m and Wednesday, March 16 at 6 or 7 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.

If there is a home game one of those two days I will go in support of the kids, but the school needs to be very aggressive giving away tickets, etc. or it is going to be an embarrassing atmosphere. And they won't have much time.

We got this!
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