An NIT post before the real Madness hits

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:32 am

Was wondering what everyone thought of a couple rule changes the NIT put into effect for this season. One I'm a big fan of, the other not so much.

The one I like is that if a team wins their conference regular season title they are automatically invited to the NIT if they don't qualify for the NCAA tournament. A nice way to reward the winning teams of the smaller leagues who suffer conference tournament upsets and then would often times get overlooked for 8th and 9th place teams of the power conferences.

The one I don't really like is that a team is no longer required to have a .500 or above record to be NIT eligible. For caysh purposes that will probably mean teams with some cache having a crappy year, Texas Tech this year for example, might get an undeserved trip to the postseason.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:50 am

Agree with you on both counts. Sub .500 teams do not deserve to go to a post season tournament after conference tournaments are played.

SunCoastSooner · Post by **SunCoastSooner** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:14 am

I concur. Post season play is a reward for a successful season. A losing record is not successful.

Sky · Post by **Sky** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:19 pm

Shine, you are right on with those points. On the subject of the NIT, am I correct in saying the NCAA owns/runs it now? Are they going to continue it or is it on its last leg?

helmet · Post by **helmet** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 2:08 pm

As far as I know, they'll continue playing it. I wouldn't be surprised to see the preseason NIT disappear, though.

SunCoastSooner · Post by **SunCoastSooner** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:07 pm

helmet wrote:As far as I know, they'll continue playing it. I wouldn't be surprised to see the preseason NIT disappear, though.

I have been hearing the opposite of that. that it more likely the preseason tourney expand (like the old days of college basketball) and the post season NIT dropped in a couple of years.

Where are you hearing this from Helmet.

Terry in Crapchester · Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:08 pm

Agree with Shine on both, in theory. In practice, however, I'm not a fan of the first rule change. Due to conference tourney upsets, Fairleigh Dickinson, Georgia Southern and Northern Arizona are all NIT-bound, possibly at the expense of more deserving teams from a tougher conference.

If they include regular season co-champs, Lipscomb and IUPUI will get NIT bids as well.

Terry in Crapchester · Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:10 pm

SunCoastSooner wrote:
helmet wrote:As far as I know, they'll continue playing it. I wouldn't be surprised to see the preseason NIT disappear, though.
I have been hearing the opposite of that. that it more likely the preseason tourney expand (like the old days of college basketball) and the post season NIT dropped in a couple of years.

This would appear to make more sense. I've always thought the preseason NIT at least had the potential to be the most prestigious of the preseason tournaments. Unfortunately for the NIT, however, few people pay attention to the postseason tourney except for fans of the teams in the tourney.

The Assassin · Post by **The Assassin** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:06 pm

either way pencil in UNLV again this year. :cry:

the_ouskull · Post by **the_ouskull** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 2:36 pm

Shiner... nice to have you back, man. Hell, now that you're around, I might start posting again. :D

So, I guess the baby's old enough to not require TOTAL around-the-clock supervision, eh? Lol. Welcome back to "your fix."

the_ouskull

helmet · Post by **helmet** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:27 pm

I'm not hearing anything....those are just my thoughts.

The Assassin · Post by **The Assassin** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:05 am

The Assassin wrote:either way pencil in UNLV again this year. :cry:

Whoops!

Can't even rely on that anymore.