Did we turn down a bid to the N.I.T. ?
- Thread starter Alvious
- Start date
We preemptively turned down any postseason tournaments besides the NCAA, so yes.
It might be that we didn't want to play in either the Crown or the NIT. Or it might be that we would be contractually precluded fron playing in the NIT in favor of the Crown, and we didn't want to play in the Crown, so our only recourse was to turn down both tournaments.
It might be that we didn't want to play in either the Crown or the NIT. Or it might be that we would be contractually precluded fron playing in the NIT in favor of the Crown, and we didn't want to play in the Crown, so our only recourse was to turn down both tournaments.
In the final presser, Collins said:
When I first read that, I parsed it out as injuries. However, given that the portal opens on March 24, there's room for interpretation for that may also be a reason why they don't have "enough bodies to practice..."
One would hope were moreso regaining a couple scholarship slots to fill with players from the portal
Bunch of teams in the Crown with losing records. DePaul (14-19), Arizona State (13-19), Colorado (3-17 in the Big 12) You've got to be kidding. Ohio State obviously turned them down. So did Indiana. Nebraska and USC (16-17) are BIG teams in there. At least NIT has teams with winning records.
I emailed Mark Jackson about this and he had a very thoughtful response (which I think was actually written by him btw):
I want to assure you that this decision was made after thoughtful discussions with the entire team, our administrative staff and myself as well – it wasn’t determined by just a handful of individuals. As is often the case in these situations, multiple factors played a role, many of which Coach Collins addressed in his postgame press conference. A few key considerations included the start date of the new Crown tournament, the current health and depth of our roster, and – something I’m particularly proud of – our student-athletes’ commitment to focusing on their academics and finals. It’s been a uniquely challenging season for this group, and they came to a decision that they believe is best for the program and I’m completely supportive.
I want to assure you that this decision was made after thoughtful discussions with the entire team, our administrative staff and myself as well – it wasn’t determined by just a handful of individuals. As is often the case in these situations, multiple factors played a role, many of which Coach Collins addressed in his postgame press conference. A few key considerations included the start date of the new Crown tournament, the current health and depth of our roster, and – something I’m particularly proud of – our student-athletes’ commitment to focusing on their academics and finals. It’s been a uniquely challenging season for this group, and they came to a decision that they believe is best for the program and I’m completely supportive.
In hindsight, this decision has aged well. With Tre Singleton and his team won the Indiana state championship this past weekend, Collins and some of his staff were there. (so was the new IU coaching staff apparently - with many fans in the arena and in the IU twittersphere suggesting Tre should be at IU). Good time for CCC to be 'present'. Also, I would not be surprised if other conversations were had by CCC while in Indiana.
I think the real reason we turned down the NIT is that we knew the road to the championship would put us up against Loyola-Chicago, and we're afraid to play against Loyola for some reason.
It is that we had to rebuild our roster so then needed to put the emphasis there. If they hadn't we would not have the people visiting that are having
Chattanooga vs. Cal-Irvine final. That ought to draw a huge crowd and TV audience. LOL. I remember when this used to be a great tourney with some great players (Walt Frazier, Chet Walker et al) that finished at Madison Square Garden but that was before the NCAA went to 64 (now 68 teams), and now the Crown is draining off even more teams. There was excitement here when the Cats made the NIT the first couple times in the 80s and 90s, but it just keeps getting more irrelevant.
We had capacity crowds watch NU beat Notre Dame at the Horizon in 1983 and lose a heartbreaker to DePaul in round 2. Filled Welsh-Ryan for games with DePaul and Xavier in 1994 but I don't recall anything like that for the 2009-12 appearances.
Huh.
2009 and 2010 we started as the away team and lost both, but the team made the post season and that felt like a sea change to me.
I don't recall the crowd size, but I remember the baby-faced assassin dropping 25 on Milwaukee to advance in 2011 - the next game, at Boston, all our starters were in double figures scoring as the cats beat the one seed.
The next year (post Juice), Crawford, Shurna, and Cobb dropped 70 points and narrowly defeated the Zips to move on to the infamous trip to Washington in the blizzard.
Maybe it's recency bias, but those were pretty exciting games for me.
2009 and 2010 we started as the away team and lost both, but the team made the post season and that felt like a sea change to me.
I don't recall the crowd size, but I remember the baby-faced assassin dropping 25 on Milwaukee to advance in 2011 - the next game, at Boston, all our starters were in double figures scoring as the cats beat the one seed.
The next year (post Juice), Crawford, Shurna, and Cobb dropped 70 points and narrowly defeated the Zips to move on to the infamous trip to Washington in the blizzard.
Maybe it's recency bias, but those were pretty exciting games for me.
Last season's final between Seton Hall and Indiana St. (with Cream Abdul-Jabbar) was a barn burner in front of a sellout crowd.
Fox trying to force P5 teams to play in the Crown resulted in many good teams sitting out of both the Crown and the NIT that would have played in the NIT just last year.
Last year the two finalists (Indiana State and Seton Hall) were both deserving of an NCAA bid.
This year UC-Irvine certainly deserved one.
This year UC-Irvine certainly deserved one.
Pretty sure that Akron game drew only 3,000. Problem with the NIT for NU has always been that it comes during finals week.
Was curious about the fields for both tourneys, so I looked them up. Based off of Kenpom ratings on Selection Sunday:
The NIT had:
The 16th-best team from the #3 conference, KP#100 (Top 7 teams made the tourney)
The 5th, 8th and 10th-best teams from the #5 conference, KP#47, 82, 94 (Top 4 teams made the tourney)
The 8th-best team from the #6 conference, KP#165 (Top 3 and 5th-best teams made the tourney)
The 3rd and 4th-best teams from the #7 conference, KP#57, 65 (Top 2 teams made the tourney)
The 2nd through 7th-best teams from the #8 conference, KP#74, 78, 79, 102, 106, 109, 113 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd and 3rd-best teams from the #9 conference, KP#119, 123 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd and 3rd-best teams from the #10 conference, KP#95, 101 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd through 5th-best teams from the #11 conference, KP#72, 103, 115, 134 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd through 4th-best teams from the #12 conference, KP#66, 107, 145 (Top team made the tourney, 4th-best team should've played in CBI)
The 1st, 2nd and 4th-best teams from the #13 conference, KP#110, 116, 137 (3rd-best team made the tourney)
The 2nd-best team from the #15 conference, KP#114 (Top team made the tourney)
The top team from the #21 conference, KP#91 (2nd-best team made the tourney, 3rd-best team was screwed out of an invite)
The top team from the #22 conference, KP#122 (2nd-best team made the tourney)
The 2nd-best team from the #23 conference, KP#136 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd-best team from the #24 conference, KP#111 (Top team made the tourney)
The CBC had:
The 12th and 14th-best teams from the #2 conference, KP#54, 63 (Top 8 teams made the tourney)
The 9th and 11th through 14th-best teams from the #3 conference, KP#55, 68, 70, 76, 81 (Top 7 teams made the tourney)
The 6th (declined NIT?), 7th, 8th (declined NIT?), and 10th-best teams from the #4 conference, KP#56, 77, 87, 118 (Top 5 teams made the tourney)
The 4th-best team (declined NIT) from the #6 conference, KP#50 (Top 3 and 5th-best teams made the tourney)
The 5th and 6th-best teams from the #7 conference, KP#85, 124 (Top 2 teams made the tourney)
The 8th-best team from the #8 conference, KP#113 (Top team made the tourney)
The 6th-best team from the #11 conference, KP#138 (Top team made the tourney)
Teams that were better than others postseason participants in their conference but did not play in the postseason themselves:
The 9th (declined CBC), 10th, 11th, 13th, and 16th-best (declined CBC) teams from the #2 conference, KP#39, 45, 48, 60, 75
The 8th (declined CBC), 10th (declined CBC) and 15th-best teams from the #3 conference, KP#53, 67, 86
The 9th-best team from the #4 conference, KP#97
The 6th, 7th and 9th-best teams from the #5 conference, KP#61, 71, 89
The 6th and 7th-best teams from the #6 conference, KP#80, 92
So yeah, I agree with you @FeralFelidae that Fox seems to be the reason for the watered-down NIT. I guess it also depends on your preference, do you want the "next-best" set of teams that consists of mediocre major-conference teams who had losing records in conference play, or do you want mid and low-major teams with winning records and decent Kenpom ratings who missed out on the NCAA tourney and might be more motivated to play?
Of the teams who didn't make the NCAA tourney from the top 6 conferences, only 6 had winning conference records and 3 had .500 records. The CBC has 2 of the above .500, the NIT has 2 above and 1 at .500, and the other 4 teams opted out.
Thanks for breaking that all down, Cappy.
Shows how the NIT actually makes an effort to put on a good tournament, admittedly by taking the 2nd best teams from the mid-majors and below. But thats actually a good way to do it - and most of these teams play hard.
I have no use whatsoever for the College BBall Crown.
I became a fan of Mark Jackson when I first heard him speak at the NU - Washington Game Tailgate. Here is my video for those who missed it:
The period from 2009-12 was not that bad but what they have done since has been pretty bad