{"id":613446,"date":"2024-03-19T23:55:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T20:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/nit-is-practically-obsolete-as-teams-just-blow-it-off-blame-the-ncaa\/"},"modified":"2024-03-19T23:55:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T20:55:35","slug":"nit-is-practically-obsolete-as-teams-just-blow-it-off-blame-the-ncaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/nit-is-practically-obsolete-as-teams-just-blow-it-off-blame-the-ncaa\/","title":{"rendered":"#NIT is practically obsolete as teams just blow it off. Blame the NCAA."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4103ff8b479\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4103ff8b479\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/nit-is-practically-obsolete-as-teams-just-blow-it-off-blame-the-ncaa\/#Its_a_shame_that_playing_more_college_basketball_in_the_NIT_has_lost_value_But_thats_the_world_the_NCAA_has_built_It_should_adjust_or_drop_the_NIT_altogether\" >It&#8217;s a shame that playing more college basketball in the NIT has lost value. But that&#8217;s the world the NCAA has built. It should adjust or drop the NIT altogether.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div id=\"\"><story-emphasis util-module-path=\"elements\/story\" section=\"sports\" link=\"\/sports\" layout=\"has-lede\"><\/story-emphasis><\/p>\n<hr class=\"colorbar section-sports\">\n<h2 class=\"display-5 subhead spacer-small\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Its_a_shame_that_playing_more_college_basketball_in_the_NIT_has_lost_value_But_thats_the_world_the_NCAA_has_built_It_should_adjust_or_drop_the_NIT_altogether\"><\/span>It&#8217;s a shame that playing more college basketball in the NIT has lost value. But that&#8217;s the world the NCAA has built. It should adjust or drop the NIT altogether.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>After all these years, we\u2019ve finally figured out what gets college basketball fans fired up about the NIT: The audacity of teams who don\u2019t want to play in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"600\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\" momentum=\"\"><\/partner-banner>\n<p>On a Selection Sunday where plenty of grievances were aired about who did and didn&#8217;t get into the men\u2019s NCAA Tournament, one of the most widely shared <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a>-media clips <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaveConnellySG\/status\/1769543959963910560\">came courtesy of Tom Crean,<\/a> the former Indiana and Georgia coach who went on ESPN and railed against the teams \u2013 like St. John\u2019s, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma and Memphis \u2013 that opted against playing in the NIT.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no question about it, I would want to coach,\u201d Crean said, his voice rising with practically every syllable. &#8220;I would want to develop my team. You\u2019ve got bigger staffs than you\u2019ve ever had. There\u2019s plenty of time for the portal. There&#8217;s plenty of time to talk to recruits. There\u2019s plenty of time to negotiate NIL deals. There\u2019s <em>not<\/em> plenty of time to play. There\u2019s <em>not<\/em> plenty of time to get your players on the floor and give them a chance to get better. There\u2019s <em>not<\/em> plenty of time for guys to continue to play that may never get to play again, and that to me is absolutely ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the broad scope of things, Crean is absolutely right. As dis<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ointing as it is for teams that barely missed out on March Madness, everyone in college basketball has limited opportunities to play. It&#8217;s a shame that many programs and players no longer embrace the idea of keeping their season going as long as possible and ending the year on a high note.\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-banner><partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-inline>\n<p>But like many things in sports, the NIT ain&#8217;t what it used to be. The current state of college sports has made it practically obsolete. And the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the entity that owns and operates the NIT: The NCAA.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">MORE: <\/strong>How to watch men&#8217;s 2024 NIT<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While 32 teams indeed accepted NIT invitations, this year&#8217;s field includes teams that finished\u00a0in 11th place in the Big 12 (UCF and Cincinnati), SEC (Georgia) and ACC (Boston College), along with a Xavier team that played 33 <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>s and won just 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-inline><cta-atoms-container-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/cta\" class=\"spacer-large\"><\/cta-atoms-container-inline><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, several teams that were close to getting in the NCAAs decided to just pack it in for the year. Oklahoma cited the \u201cwell-being of our student-athletes,\u201d while a statement from Rick Pitino indicated that St. John\u2019s thought it was best to \u201cprepare for next season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A decade ago, this would have been unthinkable. If you got snubbed by the NCAA selection committee, you sucked it up and played. Maybe you mailed it in, but you played.\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"600\" outstream=\"\" momentum=\"\"><\/partner-banner>\n<p>Little by little, though, the culture around these consolation prizes has changed.<\/p>\n<p>We have seen it in college football, where many teams struggle to put a representative product on the field for bowl games because of how many players opt out or transfer the moment the regular season ends.\u00a0And now we\u2019re seeing it in basketball, which has made the NIT seem completely optional and secondary to where the real action is this week: The transfer portal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><media-gallery-promo asset-id=\"4551995001\" class=\"column ten-column no-gutter spacer-large\"><\/media-gallery-promo><\/p>\n<p>While the NCAA has no choice but to reduce transfer restrictions to almost nothing thanks to the litany of lawsuits it\u2019s fighting, somebody had the bright idea to open up the transfer portal Monday.\u00a0In effect, that means free agency has already started. And at that point, human nature is going to take over for a lot of players who are far more invested in their next team than the one they\u2019ve been on for the last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the reality of the current environment, and it goes for the coaches as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the past, one of the great benefits of playing in the NIT was the chance to keep developing players and building momentum for the next year. Even though nobody really <em>wanted<\/em> to be in that tournament, teams and fan bases who advanced through the first couple of rounds suddenly had a trophy to play for and a reason to be invested again in the outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-inline>\n<p>For younger teams in particular, it was fairly common to see them use an NIT championship to springboard a deep NCAA run the following season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-banner>\n<p>But in the transfer-portal era, the majority of coaches no longer view their rosters as long-term projects. Everything is year-to-year. Even if they want to retain all of their players, some of them are inevitably going to think there\u2019s a better situation out there to pursue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Also, if you didn\u2019t make the NCAA Tournament, it most likely means there will be pressure from fans and administrators to improve the roster. So what\u2019s more valuable: The time spent practicing and playing for an NIT championship or diving into the portal to start recruiting upgrades?<\/p>\n<div id=\"videoWrap\" class=\"spacer-large videoWrap\" style=\"position:relative\"><media-video video-id=\"73014419007\" title=\"March Madness 2024: Tips to help you fill out your NCAA tournament bracket\" poster=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/images\/smg\/2024\/03\/18\/USAT\/73011567007-USP-NCAA-Basketball_-NCAA-Tournament-First-Round-S.jpeg?crop=8000,4501,x0,y416\" util-module-path=\"elements\/media\" placement=\"snow-video-story-priority\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"uwVideoPlaceholder\" slot=\"placeholder\" style=\"z-index:19;width:100%;padding-bottom:56.25%;position:relative\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/images\/smg\/2024\/03\/18\/USAT\/73011567007-USP-NCAA-Basketball_-NCAA-Tournament-First-Round-S.jpeg?crop=8000,4501,x0,y416\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"vidplaybtn\" style=\"display:-moz-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:-webkit-flex;display:flex;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.4);border:2px solid #fff;border-radius:80px;cursor:pointer;height:80px;width:80px;position:absolute;top:50%;left:50%;transform:translate(-50%,-50%);z-index:10\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div slot=\"videoDetails\" id=\"videoDetails\" class=\"videoDetails\" style=\"padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px\">\n<div id=\"videoDetailsContainer\" class=\"videoDetailsContainer\">\n<p>March Madness 2024: Tips to help you fill out your NCAA tournament bracket<\/p>\n<p>March Madness is finally here and Mackenzie Salmon has tips to help you fill out your NCAA tournament bracket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/media-video><\/div>\n<p>What makes this situation even more self-defeating is the NCAA\u2019s decision last year to stop awarding automatic NIT bids to regular-season champions who lost in their conference tournaments. Previously, this had given a lot of good mid-major teams a platform to keep their seasons going and get national television exposure they might not have received otherwise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the NCAA was spooked by <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> that the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten were in conversations with Fox, their television partner, to hold a 16-team postseason event in Las Vegas that would essentially be a direct competitor with the NIT.<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-banner>\n<p>So in response, the NIT got rid of its automatic bids, opening up more spots for power-conference teams. Then, lo and behold, a bunch of power-conference teams decided the NIT wasn&#8217;t worth their time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">WINNERS, LOSERS: <\/strong>Winners and losers from NCAA men&#8217;s tournament bracket include UNC, Illinois<\/span><\/p>\n<partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-inline>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s each coach&#8217;s choice, I get it,&#8221; Crean ranted. \u201cYou take away a chance to play the games, to put your team on the floor. Let them opt out, all right? The bowl season has it all the time. Let it happen, who cares. Give your players and coaches a chance to keep coaching and playing and don\u2019t shortchange \u2013 if a guy doesn\u2019t want to play, go sit down. If a coach doesn\u2019t want to coach, go recruit. But there\u2019s got to be enough people to put five, six, seven people on the floor and go play. It makes absolutely no sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a perfect world, Crean would be spot-on. It&#8217;s a shame that the mere act of playing more college basketball has lost value and even become a burden to roster-building for some programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s the world the NCAA has built. It should either adjust or get rid of the NIT altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"><\/partner-banner><lit-timestamp class=\"column ten-column no-gutter spacer-small\" slot=\"timestamp\" publishdate=\"2024-03-18 20:40:03 +0000 UTC\" updatedate=\"2024-03-18 21:02:10 +0000 UTC\"><\/lit-timestamp><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/columnist\/dan-wolken\/2024\/03\/18\/nit-rejection-college-basketball-ncaa-tournament\/73019999007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a shame that playing more college basketball in the NIT has lost value. But that&#8217;s the world the NCAA has built. It should adjust or drop the NIT altogether. After all these years, we\u2019ve finally figured out what gets college basketball fans fired up about the NIT: The audacity of teams who don\u2019t want&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":613447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2024\/03\/18\/USAT\/73022142007-stjohns.jpg?auto=webp&crop=5017,2820,x0,y48&format=pjpg&width=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}