Was SLU snubbed by the NIT? I'm not so sure

[Quality Is Job 1]

By the way, just heard that we accepted a CBI bid and are playing against Indiana State at home on Tuesday.

Coach Majerus has said on the radio that he would not be interested in either of the two minor tournaments, so I would be surprised if this were true.

I was prepared to post that SLU must be the Rodney Dangerfield of the college basketball world, but then I thought about it some more and decided that SLU probably turned down a bid to the NIT. Here's my reasoning:

Majerus has said on the radio that he would have to really think about accepting an NIT bid. He's concerned about the additional missed class time. The student-athletes have missed a lot of time because of the travel this season, and I don't think he wants to continue that for a tournament that's not the NCAA Tournament. The Big Dance is played on weekends (mostly), so less time is spent traveling. The NIT is played more during the middle of the week. That would mean a lot more missed class time for the athletes. I suspect that if the Bills would have been seeded as a #1 (or maybe even a #2) and gotten home games, the invitation would have been accepted. But they probably fell to a seed which would have to travel if they advanced, so the invitation was declined.

IF a CBI bid was accepted, I'm sure SLU would have to get home games for Coach Majerus to agree.

[Bizziken]

Interesting....do you think we will ever find out the truth then?

[cheesycow]

Interesting....do you think we will ever find out the truth then?

I don't think there's any way in hell SLU turned down an NIT bid in favor of the CBI. Sure it's more palatable, but it'd be nuts.

[Bizziken]

I don't think there's any way in hell SLU turned down an NIT bid in favor of the CBI. Sure it's more palatable, but it'd be nuts.

I don't either, but i would like to hear Majerus talk about the NIT and what he thought about our chances...

[gister]

Coach Majerus has said on the radio that he would not be interested in either of the two minor tournaments, so I would be surprised if this were true.

I was prepared to post that SLU must be the Rodney Dangerfield of the college basketball world, but then I thought about it some more and decided that SLU probably turned down a bid to the NIT. Here's my reasoning:

Majerus has said on the radio that he would have to really think about accepting an NIT bid. He's concerned about the additional missed class time. The student-athletes have missed a lot of time because of the travel this season, and I don't think he wants to continue that for a tournament that's not the NCAA Tournament. The Big Dance is played on weekends (mostly), so less time is spent traveling. The NIT is played more during the middle of the week. That would mean a lot more missed class time for the athletes. I suspect that if the Bills would have been seeded as a #1 (or maybe even a #2) and gotten home games, the invitation would have been accepted. But they probably fell to a seed which would have to travel if they advanced, so the invitation was declined.

IF a CBI bid was accepted, I'm sure SLU would have to get home games for Coach Majerus to agree.

No way did they turn down the NIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pick and Roll]

Coach Majerus has said on the radio that he would not be interested in either of the two minor tournaments, so I would be surprised if this were true.

I was prepared to post that SLU must be the Rodney Dangerfield of the college basketball world, but then I thought about it some more and decided that SLU probably turned down a bid to the NIT. Here's my reasoning:

Majerus has said on the radio that he would have to really think about accepting an NIT bid. He's concerned about the additional missed class time. The student-athletes have missed a lot of time because of the travel this season, and I don't think he wants to continue that for a tournament that's not the NCAA Tournament. The Big Dance is played on weekends (mostly), so less time is spent traveling. The NIT is played more during the middle of the week. That would mean a lot more missed class time for the athletes. I suspect that if the Bills would have been seeded as a #1 (or maybe even a #2) and gotten home games, the invitation would have been accepted. But they probably fell to a seed which would have to travel if they advanced, so the invitation was declined.

IF a CBI bid was accepted, I'm sure SLU would have to get home games for Coach Majerus to agree.

That is an interesting theory. I know that players were watching the selection show and were pretty mad about it. Don't you think RM would have prepared the guys for this beforehand. I would be pretty upset if RM rejected the NIT for a home game at the CBI. Interesting.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Interesting....do you think we will ever find out the truth then?

I don't know if we will.

[Soderball]

This is a completely ridiculous analysis.

Majerus cares about school, but he is here to coach a BASKETBALL TEAM, not friggin STUDY HALL.

He's not being paid a million dollars a year to hand out diplomas...(I'm not advocating Calipari or Hobbs-style programs, I'm just saying you are taking it overboard.)

[Quality Is Job 1]

This is a completely ridiculous analysis.

Majerus cares about school, but he is here to coach a BASKETBALL TEAM, not friggin STUDY HALL.

He's not being paid a million dollars a year to hand out diplomas...(I'm not advocating Calipari or Hobbs-style programs, I'm just saying you are taking it overboard.)

My analysis is ridiculous? Hmmm. Have you heard ANY interviews of Rick Majerus? I see SLU is going to stay home for the CBI. Most NIT bracket projections would have had them on the road after the first round of the NIT, if not the 1st rd., also. Having heard Coach Majerus's thoughts about the travel and the missed class time, I don't think my speculation is far-fetched, at all.

[dlarry]

FWIW

Bernie said that Majerus is really PO about getting snubbed by the NIT

[Quality Is Job 1]

FWIW

Bernie said that Majerus is really PO about getting snubbed by the NIT

Okay, but is it possible that, in RM's mind, not getting a seed higher than #4 — or higher than Dayton and Rhode Island, whom SLU finished ahead of — is what he considers "being snubbed"?

Hey, I don't know this is what happened, but it wouldn't surprise me. He wouldn't want to have to take his team on the road for two games this week. But I'm not saying I'm sure of this. That's why the title says, "I'm not so sure."

[billikenbill]

My analysis is ridiculous? Hmmm. Have you heard ANY interviews of Rick Majerus? I see SLU is going to stay home for the CBI. Most NIT bracket projections would have had them on the road after the first round of the NIT, if not the 1st rd., also. Having heard Coach Majerus's thoughts about the travel and the missed class time, I don't think my speculation is far-fetched, at all.

Good theory, plausible, but wrong.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Good theory, plausible, but wrong.

Okay. Good enough. I'm happy the Billikens will play some more, but the NCAA (who runs the NIT), really disrespected SLU. NORTH CAROLINA????

[Hawk]

Okay. Good enough. I'm happy the Billikens will play some more, but the NCAA (who runs the NIT), really disrespected SLU. NORTH CAROLINA????

NCAA really disrespected the A-10 today, not just SLU. Besides our snub, they put Temple as a 5 seed (should have been higher) against a team that honestly could have also been a 5 seed. X as a 6, and Richmond as a 7... So much for our strong conference play...

[Bizziken]

Here's my two cents....I think Rick Majerus was FULLY EXPECTING an NIT bid. I think the players were FULLY EXPECTING an NIT bid. When we didn't get a bid, everyone was extremely shocked and disappointed. I think Majerus didn't want to end this season on a negative note, so he quickly accepted a CBI bid that allowed us to play virtually all of our games at home.

[normanorr]

No way in hell did Rick turn down the NIT for the CBI. Absolutely wrong analysis. Yes, the players have missed lots of class. However, Rick wouldn't turn down the NIT for only a few more missed days of class.

[moytoy12]

I agree that RM wouldn't have turned down the NIT. Also, I think the whole "players missing class" thing has been a bit overplayed by RM. I'm not saying RM doesn't truly care deeply for the kids' academics, but I don't think he is nearly as worked up about academics as he leads on.

[ARon]

No way in hell did Rick turn down the NIT for the CBI. Absolutely wrong analysis. Yes, the players have missed lots of class. However, Rick wouldn't turn down the NIT for only a few more missed days of class.

word from Bernie Miklasz is that RM is quite upset over NIT slight.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Okay. Good enough. I'm happy the Billikens will play some more, but the NCAA (who runs the NIT), really disrespected SLU. NORTH CAROLINA????

It looked to me that there was no one on that NIT College of Retired Coaches Committee that would advocate SLU's position.

That NIT followed the RPI with 4 exceptions: Marshall, VCU, Charlotte (probably out in reality, possibly replaced by SLU had there been another spot?), and Louisiana Tech were replaced by St. John's, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Northwestern (that Big Ten school with an RPI of 117- 30 spots worse than SLU).

Note that head of the old NIT Committee is still on the new committee- that explains St. John's. Les Robinson, the ex-NC State Coach, is also on the committee = North Carolina and NC State.

I thought SLU clearly belonged in the NIT, given that SLU beat Dayton twice, once on Dayton's home court, and finished 3 full games ahead of Dayton. For that matter, SLU finished 2 games ahead of Rhode Island.

If Coach Majerus was not happy with the NIT, he had every right to be upset in my opinion.

But at this point, I'm happy SLU is in the CBI, getting to play at home, and per reports on the other thread, getting to play in a prestige preseason tournament in 2011. I'm presently surprised by the developments since I came home from Sunday night dinner.

This CBI reminds me more of the old NIT- the old one that gave SLU 3 home games in Anthony Bonner's Senior season- the way it should be!

[Schasz]

NCAA really disrespected the A-10 today, not just SLU. Besides our snub, they put Temple as a 5 seed (should have been higher) against a team that honestly could have also been a 5 seed. X as a 6, and Richmond as a 7... So much for our strong conference play...

It was not very long ago that even the talking heads on ESPN were mentioning 6 A10 teams for the NCAA. I do think that Temple deserved at least a 4 seed.

[slu72]

Okay, but is it possible that, in RM's mind, not getting a seed higher than #4 — or higher than Dayton and Rhode Island, whom SLU finished ahead of — is what he considers "being snubbed"?

Hey, I don't know this is what happened, but it wouldn't surprise me. He wouldn't want to have to take his team on the road for two games this week. But I'm not saying I'm sure of this. That's why the title says, "I'm not so sure."

Thicks, get a grip. Do you really think RM would slap his kids in the face and nullify all their hard work by turning down a chance to play in the NIT? NO, it's not the big show, but it's National, it has a decent field, it has a tourney atmosphere. I'm not happy with how the field was selected. We had better RPI's than 4 or 5 teams and our play at the end of the year should have counted for something, especially when you consider UD got in. So, we get the CBI. Hopefully, the Billikids win it and it's used a big boost going into next year. They have to play someone to get the bad taste of the URI game out of their mouths.

[kshoe]

My analysis is ridiculous? Hmmm. Have you heard ANY interviews of Rick Majerus? I see SLU is going to stay home for the CBI. Most NIT bracket projections would have had them on the road after the first round of the NIT, if not the 1st rd., also. Having heard Coach Majerus's thoughts about the travel and the missed class time, I don't think my speculation is far-fetched, at all.

Thicks, you get credit for thinking out of the box, but based on some of the responses in this thread regarding the players reaction and RM's reaction to the NIT selection show, it seems pretty obvious to me your theory is not correct. SLU got screwed by the NIT. Its that simple.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Thicks, you get credit for thinking out of the box, but based on some of the responses in this thread regarding the players reaction and RM's reaction to the NIT selection show, it seems pretty obvious to me your theory is not correct. SLU got screwed by the NIT. Its that simple.

I think I already conceded that I was wrong. No need to pile on.