The Big Dance vs. NIT

NDT · March 31, 2006

Would you rather make the NCAA tournament and lose in the first round or win the NIT?

MeanGreenBuzz · March 31, 2006

Win the NIT as the winner is usually a team that could have gone atleast 2 rounds deep in the NCAA but probably would have gotten such a bad seed in the NCAA they don't go anywhere. It brings alot more press to win the NIT then to lose in teh first round of the NCAA.

eeally · March 31, 2006

I would say the big dance:

Here is the logic. Millions of people fill out brackets and see the name UNT.

Exposure is priceless. Playing in the final of the NIT may be just as good for exposure but when players start the season they have one goal in mind and that is to make it to "the big dance"

NTEagle08 · March 31, 2006

Making the NCAA Tournament would be a bigger deal. Just look at ESPN.com right now, zero mention on the front page of the NIT, hell most people didn't even know who was playing in the NIT tourny. The NIT gets relegated to select games on the ESPN networks, shoved to the back pages of newspapers, and most people really don't care. Now maybe if it wasn't right up against the NCAA Tourny it might be a different story, but it's not. Most novice sports fan right now probably couldn't even tell you who won the NIT this year or even who made it to the Final Four in New York.

As someone already mentioned, with making the NCAA Tournament, you get the school's name on millions of brackets to be filled out by bracket pools. You get your score mentioned on CBS and more than likely get the game televised in several markets.

CMJ · March 31, 2006

Win the NIT. I agree with MeanGreenBuzz, South Carolina most likely would have won a game if they'd snuck in. They defeated Florida twice this season.

gksmith · March 31, 2006

That's a hard one.

From a recruiting standpoint, I don't think just going to the NCAA and bounced in the first round would be as impressive for a program as WINNING the NIT. At least with winning the tournament (NIT or any of the early season tourneys) you get a trophy to show to recruits and say "Hay...look what we did. We want you to be part of this in the future."

Getting bounced in the first round of the NCAA you get 1 day of TV time (as far as games). Winning the NIT you get several days of TV time, but it isn't for a national championship.

March 31, 2006

For a school like UNT it is necessary to win their conference tournament to make the NCAA, so those two things combined are probably better than winning the NIT. But on the other hand, having a good enough record and resume to make it to the NIT from a conference like the Sun Belt, and then winning the NIT would probably be a better accomplishment. But there would probably still be better exposure from making the NCAA.