Sparse Gatherings Greet NIT

[Bay Area Billiken]

Of the 8 NIT games played last night, 4 of the 8 drew

"crowds" of less than 2,000, with Temple drawing

1,017. Stanford had only 2,519. These gatherings

would have fit into West Pine Gym.

Perhaps the NIT, now owned by the NCAA, with the

teams and matchups picked by this panel of retired

coaches, needs to rethink its new principles and

return to the good old days of gerrymandered matchups.

A friend asked me for a rundown of the first round NIT

matchups and got a real good chuckle when informed of

that Delaware State at Northern Arizona game.

And Stanford's win means the fine young Stanford men

get a trip to Springfield, MO to play the NCAA snubbed

and angry Missouri State Bears. Has someone from the

Hoover Institution given the team an itinerary? Do

they know where the State of Missouri itself is on the

map? If so, do they realize they are playing in

Springfield, near the Ozarks, and not in Columbia?

Have they ever heard of the Ozarks? Perhaps veteran

Stanford broadcaster/apologist/homer Bob Murphy will

be able to make a little side trip down to Branson. I

assume Murph has heard of Branson. And no, it is not

in Arkansas.

I suspect someone within the Hoover Institution itself

is aware that Missouri is a red state.

[billiken_roy]

the NIT will never draw them in consistently unless it becomes meaningful. and the right to claim the 66th best team in the nation isnt meaningful. make it part of the big tourney then you got something.

[Box and Won]

I have to think we would have at least drawn 6,000-7,000 for a first round game, if not more.

Or they could have played at West Pine - how amazing would that be?

[billiken_roy]

box, i bet we would have been lucky to get that many. too short notice for too little cause. what did we draw last time for the drejaj shot game vs iowa at the family arena? that is your barometer.

[Billikens_Fanatic]

According to the boxscore, we drew almost 5700 against Iowa. Much better than the average NIT game draws, especially in the first round.

[bonwich]

The NCAA ought to just face it: The NIT is nothing but a money-grab, and a rarely successful one at that.

Given the perennial complaint about teams not getting in to the Big Dance, why not turn the NIT into a 16-team play-in, yielding four teams that make the Big Dance? Hold the freakin' thing one weekend at MSG so those bozos still make their money, and make all the games completely meaningful.

Naww. Makes too much sense. (And Packer and Nance would get their panties in a bunch if too many ACC and Big East teams had to go through the qualifying round.)

[Billikens_Fanatic]

Yeah, Packer and Nance's idea would be to take 16 mid major teams and have them play for four spots in the NCAA tournament.

[billiken_roy]

bonwich, my suggestion, which i sent to greg sheehan, is for the nit to become a 64 team tourney that would be made up with the very best at large teams that are not 1. an automatic conference tourney winner from the 32 division one conferences and 2. the best 16 at large teams that did not win a conference tourney.

the nit would make one leg of the ncaa touney and the other 48 teams would make up the other 3 legs. the nit would have to be able to finish before the final four weekend, thus have to play 2 more rounds than the other 48 teams.

[Iggy]

I like that!

[willie]

Roy your probably a little young for this but in the early70's when the tourney only had 25?teams they tried to have a runner up tournament. I think they called it the commisioners tournament. All of the 2nd place teams who couldn't go to the NCAA's met here in St. Louis for a tournament. I can't remember how many teams were in it but I do remember Bobbie Knight and Indiana were here. All Bobbie did was complain and call it a losers tournament. It was not a financial success. I believe the idea was the creation of SLU's AD Larry Albus. Larry might not have been a great AD but he was a fantastic promoters. In the 70's he staged several doubleheaders at the the old arena, bringing in the best teams in the coutry to play each other. Teams like UCLA would play NC State who had the great David Thompson. In those days there was not a lot of interregional play.SLU would sometimes get to play in the second game of the doubleheader and I assume would have a good payday and greater exposure.

[billiken_roy]

that is why i say you have to make the nit amount to something or just drop it. it has been a loser for years. an excuse to just play a few more games. no one remembers anything about the tourney from year to year except those that played in it.

[huzzah]

Previously the NIT was a separate entity controlled by eastern schools. Therefore, it could not be eliminated. However, now the NCAA has control, so it can be eliminated. My suggestion: Eliminate the NIT and expand the NCAA tournament to 128 teams. The NCAA already has a play in day, so that day the 128 teams play and you get down to 64. Any school w/ a .500 record or below stays at home regardless of conference. This seems like a silly rule, but w/ people like Packard, Nance, and Vitalle you need this type of rule. Nance and Packard appear to be on the ACC payroll and Vitalle is on Duke's payroll. The way CBS cut off the NCAA spokesman Sunday was embarrassing. The person wanted to offer congrats to the 64 teams making the tournament and Packard and Nantz cut him off, still lamenting how the BCS schools got short changed. In the Duke vs BC game Vitalle kept talking Duke even while BC players were making great plays. The 3 of them need to retire. Digger Phelps needs to go to. On ESPN they put up Diggers tournament picks. He immediately claims they are not his picks, then back tracks and assumes his dutiful talking head role, talking about the picks that he did not recognize as his picks. However, here is a bigger question: Why was I listening and watching these guys? Next year I won't.

[Bay Area Billiken]

At least in the case of Nantz and Packer, I was watching the CBS Selection Show, as I have done for years. The two of them were completely out of line. Here a school like Bradley has just made its first NCAA in years and before the hour long show is even finished, Nantz and Packer were uttering some ridiculous, non-sensical diatribe that can be easily refuted.

Packer, in particular, seems to have become the Howard Cosell of college basketball. It seemed that Nantz was drinking Billy's ACC Kool-Aid.

[kevinfootes]

so it's just one set of bozos.

[gister]

I agree 100%. I think it is important to let CBS know how you feel. I know I will. And might as well let ESPN hear it about Phelps.

[billikenmetz]

What are you talking about?

[billiken_roy]

huzzah said, "Why was I listening and watching these guys?"

because they were your only choice. i would only watch the selection show if i believed the billikens were going to be announced as a participant. otherwise it just makes me sick to listen.

[billiken_roy]

i really think you just insulted howard cosell. packer wishes he was that magnatude.