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NIT is a pointless tournament
Friday March 16, 2007 | 10:15:28 143 words, 6071 views
You can call me a NIT-wit if you’d like, but I have yet to hear any convincing argument to keep the post-season college men’s basketball National Invitational Tournament (NIT) alive. Seriously, who cares? Looking at the NCAA Tournament Bracket, I count 66 teams, including the two that duke it out for the final spot. (BTW, I’m glad Duke lost, too.) So what, pray tell, do the winners of the NIT chant when they receive their trophy? “We’re number sixty-seven!” Wow. Impressive, guys. A consolation game is one thing. A consolation tournament is just pathetic. It’s equivalent to all the guys who miss the cut this week at Bay Hill getting together on Saturday at a local muni and having their own tournament, where the prize is a can of warm beer and a plastic ball marker. The NIT makes golf’s “Silly Season” look sane. Comments:
Comment from: Ron Mon [Member]
The NIT exists for the teams that do not make the big one...like consolation flights in junior events and club invitationals. It exists to raise money for NY City, which would siphon off even more money from upstate NY (where Duke lost) if the tourney did not take place in the big apple. The NIT exists for tradition's sake, going back to the days when it was nearly as important as the NCAA event. And trust me, the teams that wins the NIT is not the 67th best team (or 66th, if you do the math)in the country. I'd rate the NIT victor about 35, which is certainly worth bragging about.
The NIT is, today, the consolation flight. Once upon a time it was a prestigious tourney. However, next time you watch the selection sunday show on CBS and wonder why a team like Syracuse is left out of the big dance, keep this in mind: the NCAA OWNS THE NIT! Its in their own financial interest to put a couple of big draws (Syracuse drew 27,000 tio their first round game) into a tournament they OWN! Not that I'm a conspiracy theorist or anything. well maybe I am: i.e. Tiger v Jack Vickers.....oh don't get me started!!
OK, you rankled my armpit hairs now, big boy. First, the NIT was the tournament, period. NCAA, when did that acronym start? The NIT doesn't need to be thrown out because it's been neglected the last 50 years, it needs to be nurtured and revitalized, pardon the ditsy adjectives. I see expanding the NIT and allowing other divisions. I see teams skipping the NCAA and going NIT for the hell of it. I see fairer and more impartial venues for each game. And you say "what the firetruck is he talking about?" MONEY. Plain and simple, no italics. OK, then, italics- wait, can you do italics on this blog? What the heck are XHTML tags anyway? Oh, yeah, the NIT needs money. Make it sexier, make it rebellious, market it. But please, NCAA, spend money on it.
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