CMJ

Again, not denying we would have been better. We may have won the regular season title! But we didn't make the tournament either year Perry was here (and we won a crap load of games with him), so it's really impossible for me to get on board with we would have easily made it this season with him.

Didn't we love James Reese? I doubt we get to, or beat, Purdue without him. We've had a few guys transfer year where it was just a stop in their playing career.

Some of Ginobli's best years were as a 6th Man.

It's definitely not the worst Kansas team since the 1980s.

We would have been better with Perry and Ousmane, but I don't think we can say we'd easily have made the NCAAs. The AAC only got two teams in, neither of which was the school that won the regular season title (with only two conference losses). We may have, and I'd like to think we would have, but it'd likely have taken at least 9-10 more wins than we had.

Some highlights from last year's NIT First Round. Hopefully the result is similar as we attempt to make another run.

I don't think returning it to MSG would matter. In the NIT's history it only hasn't been held there twice.

There's a team with a losing record this year. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think that's ever happened before. I don't care if they're a brand name. I'd have to look at the metrics and such, but I believe last year's field was stronger in the NET.

People who crap over the NIT are pretty lame. It's TOUGH to make the NCAAs. Even counting the NIT field, a much greater percentage of teams play in the postseason in basically every major North American sport. The NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB all do. Obviously college football now has 40 something bowl games. I don't think people realize how almost impossible it is to get in the Big Dance. All but....8 or 9 leagues get in only a single team. And for conference that get in multiple bids, sometimes it's only two or three (even the vaunted Big East only got 3 this year!). Really only the top few leagues consistently get five or more.

I am thrilled so many schools turned down invites, because I'm not sure we get in otherwise. Hard to know now given they've changed the way they invite AND seed the thing. Up until two years ago they had seeded the four brackets 1-8 (once seeding started, which is actually fairly new for the NIT...probably only started within the last dozen years or so). Now it's 1-4 and they throw everyone else in seemingly randomly.

It is bizarre. I swear the tournament used to have a rule that unless there were a ridiculous amount of teams from one conference (say the Big 10 gets in nine), that they did everything possible to have schools within the same league avoid each other until the Regional Final/Elite 8.

Previous game thread:

As an aside, I like that both the NIT and the WBIT will have the semis/final in Hinkle.

Not to look past the Tigers, since as the first showdown showed the game will be no gimme, but I wonder if we could host 2nd round in the unlikely event that Seton Hall goes down.

Winning this would be nice if for no other reason than we SHOULD HAVE beaten them the first time and it'd show growth.

I mean all 1st round games are on a weekday.

Biggest game in the History of Western Civilization.

The NCAA owns the old NIT

Helps that they own the head to head too.

Why should someone be made to play if they don't want to? It'd just turn into the college bowl game crisis where so many kids opt out.

It helps that several schools looked down their noses at the NIT, but I'll take it.

Holy cow

He wasn't when he was at Louisville.