Going out in the 1st Round of the NCAA or Winning the NIT?

rebeloke · Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:33 am

Which is better? I know everyone is going to probably say that at least you had a chance to win it all by going to the NCAA, but I would say there is a remote chance that by throwing a tiny pebble at my windshield it could hit it just right and shatter the whole thing. I could throw a thousand pebbles and it would not happen. Pebbles bounce off of windshields. Now large stones will crack my windshield more often that not and huge boulders will crush it every time. So it is with the NCAA. Unless you are a top 4 seed you are not going anywhere near the final four more than likely. If you are seeded above ten you can forget it. Now as far as media exposure goes you get way more press out of the NCAA. But a once and done is not much press if you asked me. I think that winning the entire NIT is better than going out in the first round and I will tell you why. For one it allows you to finish your season on a winning note, NOT so with the going out in the 1st round. Also it allows you to beat some quality teams and get some good experience winning a tournament. I would argue that many of the teams in the NIT are far better than the lower ranked teams in the NCAA, Ole Miss for starters. If Ole Miss was not going to win it all and they were not then we were never in danger of winning it all anyway. With the NIT we can not win it all but go out a winner, unlike the NCAA.

BigTrev34 · Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:50 am

Win the NIT. You will be in the record books and people will remember you. South Carolina won 2 years straight but i bet you cant name the last team in last year

oxfordrebel · Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:08 am

I asked this same thing a couple of years ago and it was a resounding "NCAA regardless". I think going deep into the NIT helps more in the long run than being 1 and done in the NCAA for a young team like we have. Let them taste success and stay hungry for it. Plus several teams have won the NIT one year and gone pretty deep in the NCAA the next year. Kind of a springboard effect.

But the goal is to make the NCAA every year, not the NIT. But if you end up in the NIT then go a deep as you can.

MtownRebel · Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:33 pm

Yeah, South Carolina did it twice. Where are they now?

Memphis did it and have become an perennial top seed in the Tournament.

Still, I would rather us stay in the tournament. You make a run to the sweet 16 and people remember you. More people remember teams like Georga Mason, Gonzaga, etc. than they do who won the NIT last season. We haven't played on a real TV channel during the NIT yet. Do you even remember who SC was playing in the NIT championship games? I sure as hell don't.

I do remember some teams that went one and done last year though. Even if you are not getting the publicity in the major media markets for being in the tournament millions of people fill out a bracket each year and they will remember what team they read. That's how I know teams like South Alabama, LaSalle, and Belmont are decent mid-major schools. I remember seeing their name in past brackets.

It's also easier to build off of in recruiting with the NCAA. With the NIT you can say look how close we were to getting into the tournament and we probably deserved it by winning the NIT. With an NCAA berth you can tell playesr that they can be that piece not to get you into the dance but to start making more noise in the dance. As a player coming out of high school you do no think say I want to go to X because they have done well in the NIT, you say I'm going to Y because tehy were just in the tournament and will have some hype around them next season because of that.

Redbluedude · Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:53 pm

Of course, I'd rather us go to the Dance but I feel pretty sure that we would have been a 1 and done this year. The NIT will help us next year. Tourney experience will help.

Looking at Memphis and coach Cal, his first 2 years they went to the NIT and won it their second year. Since then, they have been to the NCAA 5 of the last 6 years, they went NIT the other year.

I think it will help us the next couple of years. No, I don't think we will be like Memphis, but it took Cal 2 years to get his players in place and with floor experience. It will probably take AK 2-3 years. Next year we will have several guys who will have a year or 2 of AK under their belt and I think it will help us, A LOT. We will have better players and better athletes and I believe it will translate to better offense and better defense on the court.

done · Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:48 pm

For the experience for next year...the NIT.

As for prestige...one and done in the NCAA. Winning the NIT wouldn't mean much more than winning the thing in Puerto Rico to me. When Southern won it I said it meant they were 65th at best....I would be a hypocrite to say otherwise for us.

To give you an idea how insignificant the NIT is...ESPN is televising it, but if you go to ESPN.com it is difficult to even find one story about the NIT.

Redbluedude · Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:36 pm

Well, we're not in this Tournament, which I didn't even know existed. I had heard some talk but didn't know that they were playing it this year.

The CBI

http://www.gazellegroup.com/cbi/index_main.htm

ekmjr1 · Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:51 pm

I had never heard of this? Just looking at the scores, it looks like there were a lot of very competetive and close games though. Was this the next 16 after the NCAA and NIT had their picks?

RebelBond · Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:04 pm

The tourney season is like the bowl season, you use it for the extra practice time and for recruiting. There are more games for the recruits to watch and more publicity which is always a good thing.

RebelBond

Redbluedude · Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:08 pm

ekmjr1 wrote:I had never heard of this? Just looking at the scores, it looks like there were a lot of very competetive and close games though. Was this the next 16 after the NCAA and NIT had their picks?

That's what it looks like. Most of the teams had a little better than .500 record. Some had pretty good records but were in smaller conferences. Cincy, actually, had a losing record.

The site says that teams were picked after the NCAA bids. But I'm sure if the teams had a NIT bid they would have taken it.

fastbrk4 · Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:50 pm

Redbluedude wrote:Of course, I'd rather us go to the Dance but I feel pretty sure that we would have been a 1 and done this year. The NIT will help us next year. Tourney experience will help.

Looking at Memphis and coach Cal, his first 2 years they went to the NIT and won it their second year. Since then, they have been to the NCAA 5 of the last 6 years, they went NIT the other year.

I think it will help us the next couple of years. No, I don't think we will be like Memphis, but it took Cal 2 years to get his players in place and with floor experience. It will probably take AK 2-3 years. Next year we will have several guys who will have a year or 2 of AK under their belt and I think it will help us, A LOT. We will have better players and better athletes and I believe it will translate to better offense and better defense on the court.

Redbluedude, We could be like Memphis--just change conferences--SEC to "Conference America" as I like to call it. Beat a bunch of losers and you're in. Take Auburn or Georgia and put them in C-USA and they would be 2nd in the conference and competing for an NCAA bid!!! Memphis would have lost 5 or 6 games in the SEC this year and would have been 2nd at best in the conference giving them a 4 or 5 seed. Mississippi State should have beaten them Sunday and it's funny how D. Rose looks when Gordon is popping 3's in his face from 24'. Also Hansborough taking CDR to the rack time after time is nice too. Memphis' "athletes" look good against high school competition but put them against TN or MSU and suddenly they look a little slower. Michigan St will give them hell too and probably win, and this is not a great Michigan St team.

oxfordrebel · Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:42 pm

Redbluedude wrote:Well, we're not in this Tournament, which I didn't even know existed. I had heard some talk but didn't know that they were playing it this year.

The CBI

http://www.gazellegroup.com/cbi/index_main.htm

Heard about this the other day. Basically it's after the NCAA and NIT take their picks then this thing gets its games. Didn't realize they were playing this year. Thought it was starting next year.