NIT screws over the mid-majors

[SFspidur]

Regular season champs who don't get an NCAA bid are no longer guaranteed an NIT bid. Instead, the top two teams (by NET) from each of the P6 conferences who don't get NCAA bids will get automatic NIT bids and will be guaranteed to host in the first round.

Just took a look through and these are the P6 teams that would have earned automatic NIT bids with home games based on their Selection Sunday NETs last year. This doesn't account for any conference membership shuffling for this year.

Big 12
#43 Oklahoma State - earned a bid anyway but had to play on the road at Youngstown State, ended up advancing to quarterfinals
#63 Texas Tech - declined a potential bid after losing in Big 12 tournament opener and coach resigned

Big Ten
#40 Rutgers - earned a bid anyway and hosted Hofstra in first round but lost
#52 Ohio State - finished 16–19 and did not make the postseason

SEC
#62 Florida - earned a bid anyway and hosted UCF in first round but lost
#81 Vanderbilt - earned a bid anyway and hosted through to a quarterfinal loss to UAB

Big East
#75 Villanova - earned a bid anyway but had to play on the road at Liberty and lost
#77 Seton Hall - earned a bid anyway but had to play on the road at Colorado and lost

Pac-12
#47 Oregon - earned a bid anyway and hosted through to a quarterfinal loss to Wisconsin
#69 Colorado - earned a bid anyway and hosted Seton Hall in first round before losing to UVSU at home

ACC
#46 UNC - declined a potential bid
#60 Clemson - earned a bid anyway and hosted Morehead State in first round but lost

I am unclear what happens if one of these teams declines a bid. Are they now required to accept, or can they still decline and if so, does it then fall to the next team on the list from that conference, or does that conference forfeit an auto spot? Looks like only one team (Ohio State) outright didn't get a bid last year, but there were several others who had to play on the road who would have been guaranteed home games under the new system.

NIT Board announces changes to NIT and use of experimental rules

The NIT has announced a number of changes to the tournament format, including the selection process, court regulations and timeout policy.

www.ncaa.com

 

[Spiders4ever]

Honestly, who gives a rats ass about the NIT?

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

ha, SF, you just answered my question from the other thread, and mentioned the other question I had. All those teams would have gotten NIT invites anyway, except Ohio St. and that will likely be the case for most going forward.

 

[SFspidur]

Regarding what happens if a team declines, here's what would have been the situation if it slides to the next team in the conference:

- Big 12 (Texas Tech declined): #68 Oklahoma (lowest in the 10-team Big 12, which had 7 NCAA bids)
- ACC (UNC declined): #76 Virginia Tech

 

[spiderman]

it's a meaningless tournament now.
expand the NCAA to 96 teams and mothball the NIT.

 

[kneepadmckinney]

It's better than the CBI and other nonsense, and an opportunity to play a P6 team at home. It's not worthless. Especially when you are a team that is a little younger and on the rise, it provides pretty good post-season exposure.

One of my favorite UR games ever attended was the NIT win against West Virginia.

And before some clown decides this means I think the NIT is an acceptable goal... calm down. I am just saying it isn't nothing and worthless. And these changes are bullshit.

 

[Section9.RowD]

It's better than the CBI and other nonsense, and an opportunity to play a P6 team at home. It's not worthless. Especially when you are a team that is a little younger and on the rise, it provides pretty good post-season exposure.

One of my favorite UR games ever attended was the NIT win against West Virginia.

And before some clown decides this means I think the NIT is an acceptable goal... calm down. I am just saying it isn't nothing and worthless. And these changes are bullshit.

Agreed and now less chance for UR to host in the first couple of rounds … bet we draw better than BC or SMU in a 1st round NIT game

 

[RichmondNative]

Agree with @kneepadmckinney and of course @SFspidur with the appropriate thread title. The scary part is what can the mid-majors do if the NCAA decides to change the rules for the primary tournament too? As has been pointed out by many pundits, it is all about the money and the P6 schools are the ones with the huge student populations which means the most eyeballs. The tournaments (and bowls) aren’t for the fans, they are for the marketing dollars.

 

[urmite]

It's better than the CBI and other nonsense, and an opportunity to play a P6 team at home. It's not worthless. Especially when you are a team that is a little younger and on the rise, it provides pretty good post-season exposure.

One of my favorite UR games ever attended was the NIT win against West Virginia.

And before some clown decides this means I think the NIT is an acceptable goal... calm down. I am just saying it isn't nothing and worthless. And these changes are bullshit.

West Virginia, Syracuse, and further back Temple were all great opportunities. But as the rules keep changing we will see how many non P6 teams get in and how many get home games.

It is better than CBI at el because there isn’t a fee. But if it becomes simply an opportunity to play a below .500 P6 away, I think it is diminished.

 

[urmite]

Honestly, who gives a rats ass about the NIT?

Are you saying this isn’t the 80s?

 

[SpiderTrap]

The NIT is a worthy consolation prize to the NCAA, especially for those mid-majors who win their league title. I always liked that idea. It typically would give those lower tier teams who win their league, but lose in the conference tourney a chance to play some good teams in the post-season, play on ESPN, and possibly end up in MSG (not sure if that will continue). This is a terrible move by the NIT, but a typical and predictable move as they are being pressured by dollars and money and its better to have a 17 win Clemson, than a 22 win Monmouth team.
Don't expand the NCAA tourney - that will make it worse, not better.
Keep the NIT the way it was with league champs.
Get rid of the other tourney's - CBI, etc. Those are money-grabs.

 

[PalmTreeSpidUR]

But there is usually a lot of press/chatter/etc when a mid-major upsets a big name school and most people get excited about that. So they better be careful they don't prevent that from happening by favoring the big schools entirely.