what would you rather have: out 1st game of the tourney or finals of the NIT

[Yonick]

For us in 1988 it was great and Calhoun used it to build the program to where it is today. For a young program either building, or rebuilding going deep in the NIT will give those players experience for the future.
Had UConn, in it's present posiion, not made the NCAA's, and accepted the NIT, this team, would be remembered for not making the big dance, and not for going deep in the NIT.
For someone like UMass this should help them for the future. But, they went to the final NIT game 4-5 years ago and still never built from that team. How they do in the future remains to be seen.
BTW, does anybody remember who were the final 2 contestants in last years NIT. I'm sure I'll get a correct answer to my rhetorical question, but, I'll bet more than 50%, including myself, cannot remember.

 

[nomar]

Going into the postseason, no question: NCAAs.

In retrospect, however, I think a deep run in the NIT can be of more value to a very young team than a 1 & done trip to the NCAA Tourny. Like the 1997 team. But hindsight's 20/20.

Even with a young team, I would never opt to play in the NIT. You could go 1 & done there, too.

 

[Waquoit]

true, but i would argue that the NIT meant more in 1988 than it does now... it had a little more clout and hype surrounding it...

Not really. The NIT was important to us in 1988 because of our long stretch without post-season play. It was still just a long consolation round. Anything was better than nothing for the program.

The NIT was back to it's proper status for UConn the very next year. That team had a chance for a trip to the Big Dance. They won a road game at Virginia against Stith and Crotty. They never put it all together and ended up in the NIT again and no one really cared about defending the title.

 

[wpq4elamin]

Not really. The NIT was important to us in 1988 because of our long stretch without post-season play. It was still just a long consolation round. Anything was better than nothing for the program.

The NIT was back to it's proper status for UConn the very next year. That team had a chance for a trip to the Big Dance. They won a road game at Virginia against Stith and Crotty. They never put it all together and ended up in the NIT again and no one really cared about defending the title.

no one I know cares about the NIT at all, and 20 years ago it def had more excitement and buzz.... that was my point.... whether that was because of the importance to UCONN or not really has nothing to do with it.... the preseason NIT is more exciting than the postseason tourney now....

 

[Waquoit]

..whether that was because of the importance to UCONN or not really has nothing to do with it....

I dunno, Clothy seems pretty damn excited about his team going to MSG this year.

 

[gibhunter]

NCAA means you had a relatively good year, obviously not in case our case. Anyways, if you have a bad year like we did, but you have a young team like SJU, you'd rather win the NIT and build off of it for next season. In our case, UConn did not truly deserve to be in. The only reason UConn was in, was because the field was pathetic this year. I'd rather we won the NIT and have some consolation that we may have made some noise instead of getting blown out by an 8 seed.

 

[Gurleyman]

Clothy's program and ours are at slightly different places. I figure Drexel fans would have been excited too. I would have been more annoyed two years ago if we made it than anything else - i.e. "too little, too late boys".

 

[rman726]

I'd rather get blown out in round 1 then miss the tournament.

 

[Kitaman]

I have no problem in playing in the NIT (of course its not the preferred choice). As long as its taken in its perspective. Its just more games and more to evaluate under pressure situations. If there are seniors on your team then I think it has a lot of value, again, in its perspective.

Sure it can seem like a demotion but in the end its still basketball for the team fans and family with much less reward but still having fun. And to me that's the perspective.

Its certainly not the worst option for a college team.

 

[Waquoit]

Clothy's program and ours are at slightly different places. ".

Yeah, but they are in roughly the same neighborhood now as our program was in 1988, which is what we were discussing.