When you are a parent, things are never quite normal. Take this morning for instance. My older son Matthew had a nightmare and came into our room at 3:00 am. He came into bed with us and curled up to my wife in between us. Since now I was somewhat awake, I needed to go downstairs to the bathroom.
Now fully awake, I checked the late scores of last night's NCAA Tournament. Cal proved that the PAC 10 isn't really so bad as they clocked Louisville and made the conference 2-0 in the tournament while the Big East has seen half of its teams get eliminated in the first two days. Maryland pulled away from Houston in a typical high scoring game featuring a Tom Penders team that often ends up on the losing end, as it did last night.
So after checking what time the St Mary's - Villanova game was today (1:20 PM eastern) and watching TV for a little bit, I headed up to bed a little while ago. There to find my son sprawled out partially on my side of the bed, with my dog curled up on the rest of my side on the bed. A very cute picture no doubt, but no room for yours truly. So here I am writing this article at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday.
It was only a few days ago, I went to see a doubleheader with Tieff. We decided to watch the first half of the 7:00 PM Hofstra-IUPU game, then leave at halftime for the Illinois-Stony Brook game that was at 9:00 PM. After being two of the 952 people that were at the Hofstra game and watching a terrible first half performance by the Pride, it made things easier to leave at halftime.
Stony Brook is probably out in the middle of Suffolk County and that still is a pretty far trip from Hempstead in Nassau County - nearly an hour by car. I don't think people fully realize how large Suffolk County is. It takes about two hours to drive from my house in North Bellmore to go to Montauk Point on the eastern end of Suffolk County and Long Island. It also took us a while to find a parking spot on campus that was anywhere near the arena and we took the seemingly ten minute walk from the parking lot to the arena.
The first thing we noticed when we walked up the steps of the Stony Brook Arena was the huge sign "SOLD OUT". We already though had tickets waiting for us at will call. Section 109, Row N, aisle seats as it turned out. When we walked in, we saw a giant sea of Seawolves Red. And despite it being Saint Patrick's Day, we were totally out of place in our green, in my case my Wayne Chrebet's Jets jersey.
The game had just started and immediately the first thing I noticed was both ends of the court completely packed to the brim with Stony Brook Students and on the right side end of the court, the large Seawolves pep band. It's not really an arena, but a large gym that seats 4400. But that's ok, because that made the game more intimate, much to the dismay of Illinois Coach Bruce Weber.
What also stands out to me and I hadn't noticed the other time I was at the arena for an Iona-Stony Brook women's game, is the lighting is brighter on the court and it's dimmer where the fans sit. And I think that's fantastic, because it makes the game the focus of your attention. At Hofstra and at some other school arenas I have been at, the generic lighting is spread out the same throughout the arena, and it takes away your focus from the game.
And when you did look out at the crowd, outside of a smattering of Illinois fans here and there that made the trip out from Champagne, it was all Stony Brook fans clad in red. Many of them wearing T Shirts that said on the front "What's a Seawolf?" and on the back it read "I AM A SEAWOLF". Nice.
And talk about a difference between two game crowds. At the Hofstra game, where Jerry Beach had an entire section of seats to himself, you could hear Jaguars coach Ron Hunter in all his splendor chirping at the refs. Here at the Stony Brook game, it was loud, raucous and most importantly fun. As soon as we sat in our seats, I turned to Tieff and said "Now this is what a postseason game should be like!" I couldn't keep the smile off my face the entire night.
You had not just a lot of students here, but a lot of Stony Brook alumni and the community coming out to root on their Seawolves and they let it be known that they were happy to be at Stony Brook's first ever postseason Division I tournament game, let alone hosting it. We had a Stony Brook alum next to us talking all night about the basketball team and the football team (now that they had the only Division IA football team left on the Island). You could feel his sense of pride (no pun intended there Mr. Beach) for his school.
And a stoked Seawolves team fed off the energy of the crowd and jumped out on the Fighting Illini. When Weber called timeout for his team immediately after Chris Martin's layup gave Stony Brook a 7-0 lead, the crowd's eruption nearly took the roof off the place. And it was a good timeout by Weber. Despite Wolfie urging the crowd on, the Illini righted themselves and scored the next eight points to take the lead.
But the first half proved to be a battle of mini spurts, and the Seawolves would score the next five points to go back up 13-8. Stony Brook maintained a five point lead 18-13 on a Bryan Dougher three. But again, Illinois would come back with a 9-o run, which included one of Demetri McCamey's three three pointers on the night, to take a 22-18 lead.
But once again, the Seawolves would comeback and a Muhammed El Amin layup put the Seawolves up 34-30 with 2:30 left in the first half. However, again the Illini came back and ended the half on a 8-2 spurt capped by a McCamey jumper to put Illinois up two at halftime 38-36. Stony Brook played as a good half as it possibly could, keeping within two of one of the final bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament.
And Illinois came out in the second half showing Stony Brook why it felt it should have made the Tournament. McCamey and D.J. Richardson buried threes as part of a 10-2 run that put the Illini up ten, 48-38 with seventeen minutes left in the game. The Seawolves would then cut it back to five. But then a 7-0 spurt by the Illini gave them their biggest lead of the game, twelve at 55-43 with 12:54 left. It looked like the Big Ten's fifth best team during the regular season was too much for the America East's best regular season team.
But the Seawolves reminded Bruce Weber and the Illini why they were the regular season America East champion. Over the next nearly six minutes, Stony Brook whittled the lead in half to 59-53 with exactly seven minutes left on a Martin layup and he was fouled. Before Martin could hit the free throw for the three point play, Weber called timeout and looked up at the scoreboard. It was as if he was saying to himself, "How much time is left before we can escape out of here? I didn't expect this!"
And the crowd as it had been just about all night was loud, urging their team to make the comeback complete. Martin hit the free throw to cut it to five, 59-54. The Seawolves had two chances to cut the lead even further, but as he had been off all night, El-Amin, the America East Kevin Roberson Player of the Year, again missed a three pointer. The Illiini would extend the lead back to nine as Mike Tisdale hit one of two free throws and Richardson nailed another three pointer.
The Seawolves would keep it within six, 65-59 with about two minutes left and had several chances to cut the lead even further. But again El Amin was off with a shot and a Tisdale three with 1:29 left put Illinois up by nine. Stony Brook never got any closer the rest of the way, losing 76-66 in their first Division I postseason game.
As the clock expired on the game, all the fans in the arena stood up and gave a standing ovation to a game Seawolves team that played its heart out. Perhaps had El Amin had a better shooting night (he was 6 of 20 from the field), the outcome might have been different.
Still, the electric crowd reminded me that the NIT still has a little pull its now old, though perhaps irrelevant age. Mike Francesca stated on his radio show Friday that the NCAA moving to 96 teams is "a done deal" because that's the only way the NCAA will get a new television deal similar to the one they currently have with CBS. As a result, the NIT might be a done deal too.
But for one night in Stony Brook, it meant the world to a fledgling Division I program, its team and 4400 very supportive fans. The game showed the promise of what a good basketball team with the proper support can bring. There is nothing better than a good college basketball game in front of a sold out, electric crowd. And the Seawolves got two new fans for next season in Tieff and me, as we told each other we'll go to more games. I was really glad I stayed up past midnight Monday morning to get tickets. This was truly worth it.
I thought this was what a lot of Power 6 teams were saying to themselves after their games yesterday. Plus, I love "Toy Story" and now my two boys do as well.
Before I am "Back with the happy recap!" as Bob Murphy used to say, I wanted to note Jerry Beach's latest article on the Pride, er Dutchmen losing their CBI game to IUPUI(which I noted to him sounds like Eupi, the Montreal Expos mascot). Take a look at all of those CBI attendance figures Mr Beach lists. Even the defending CBI champion, Oregon State couldn't fill a third of their arena. Appropriate song for the CBI, Jerry - "Goodbye to You".
As I sat in my office or at home or at the Main Event in Plainview NY watching the games, or from all of yesterday's tweets I was following from Beach and Kyle Whelliston, who God bless him, picked the perfect regional to go to in Providence. One thing became apparently clear and this text late last night from my friend Mo Goldman in Arizona said it all.
Best opening day you can recall?
My answer "For mid majors? Absolutely!" Yes, March 18, 2010 will go down as one of the greatest days for mid major teams in the first round of NCAA Tournament in history. You had six mid major teams - Old Dominion, Murray State, St Mary's, Butler, Northern Iowa and Ohio (Oh My God, Ohio!) all win their first round games. You had a two seed, Robert Morris, come within a MouphtaouYarou layup and several questionable referee calls from beating Villanova in regulation. And several other teams such as Montana, Sam Houston State and Lehigh gave very respectable showings in their games.
Where to begin? Well, I think the most impressive game was Ohio's absolute annihilation of Georgetown last night. The game was never really close from when D.J. Cooper hit his three to put the Bobcats up 20-18. The lead was SEVENTEEN with thirteen minutes left in the second half. The Hoyas cut it to seven with four and a half minutes left, and they had a chance to cut it even further, but Chris Wright missed a three. And Cooper then hit another three to put the Bobcats up ten and ball game.
The only thing left to decided was whether Ohio was going to give us all free tacos by scoring 100 points (sorry old Taco Bell promotion). But 97 points put on the Hoyas by a team that was ninth in the MAC? Well you have to watch ArmonBassett in action and then you'll see why. He was terrific last night.
The game that gave me the greatest pleasure though was watching Butler put a fifty spot in the second half on UTEP, which turned a six point halftime deficit into an eighteen point romp for the Bulldogs. Shelvin Mack buried three after three in the second half for Butler. And there I was sitting alone on my couch with the windows open on a beautiful March early evening, clapping my hands, cheering every Mack three pointer. It was absolute fun for a team I have watched all season and believe is one of the best sixteen teams in the country.
And there will be a guaranteed mid major in the sweet sixteen as Butler will face Murray State, who used a Danero Thomas buzzer beater to knock off #4 seed Vandy 66-65. The Racers got their 31st win on the season, which is just flat outstanding.
Down six at the half, Blaine Taylor switched to a zone just like he did late against VCU in the CAA semifinal and the Monarchs stunned Notre Dame 51-50. Typical Monarchs score and they held Luke Harangody to four points.
Omar Samhan showed Richmond why he was the WCC player of the year as he had 29 points and 12 rebounds as the Gaels squashed the Spiders 80-71. Mickey McConnell added 23 points as he buried five three pointers.
UNI used an Ari Farokhmanesh three pointer with about five seconds left to get past UNLV 69-66. Farokmanesh who nearly singlehandedly dismantled ODU in their bracketbuster game led the Panthers with 17 points.
The only disappointment was to see Robert Morris lose their game to Villanova in overtime after being ahead for just about the entire game. The refs helped out with some at best questionable calls but the 23 Colonials turnovers didn't help either.
But other than that, it's hard to quibble with such great results. And with teams like Siena, Gonzaga, Xavier, Utah State and the Cornell vs. Temple game, we could see easily another four-five mid majors in the round of 32. Would be a wonderful thing.
"Strange Things" are certainly happening for the power conferences. And those are good things.
I want to give you three numbers. 667. 877. 952. What do they all have in common? Those were the attendance figures for Green Bay - Akron, Duquesne - Princeton, and IUPUI - Hofstra CBI games. Yes, that's how many people showed up for each of those games. Talk about flat out embarrassing.
And speaking of flat, that's what the Pride were when they came out and saw that nobody attended this game. The Jaguars jumped out to a 21-2 lead with 12:34 left in the first half as their athletic forwards Alex Young and Robert Glenn just ran rings around a Greg Washington-less Pride frontcourt (Washington had sprained his ankle last week and tried to go in practice earlier in the day and couldn't).
Meanwhile Hofstra couldn't hit the side of a barn for the first seven and a half minutes. The Pride shot 1 for 10 from the field, missed both free throw attempts and committed six turnovers in that span. Coach Tom Pecora was so frustrated at the play of Chaz Williams that he sat him for the last twelve and a half minutes of the first half.
Hofstra would come back led by Charles Jenkins and Halil Kanacevic as they combined for fifteen points during their 21-8 run to get the Pride back within six, 29-23 with 3:14 left, but the Jaguars would respond with a 8-1 spurt to end the half. John Ashworth's three point jumper at the buzzer capped the spurt to put IUPUI up 37-24 at the half. Glenn had 16 points to lead all scorers while Young added 12 for the Jaguars. IUPUI shot 53 percent from the field in the first half while Hofstra shot 31 percent including 0 of 8 from beyond the arc.
That's all that we would watch live as Tieff and I headed out to Stony Brook for the Seawolves - Illini NIT game. I put 88.7 WRHU FM on the radio and we listened to the start of the second half. And it was no better than the start of the first half. Jenkins finally hit first three pointer for Hofstra on the night to cut the lead to ten, 39-29. But IUPUI would score the next seven points to extended the lead to seventeen, 46-29.
And we could have turned the radio off right there. And well we did after we lost reception somewhere on the Northern State Parkway in Suffolk county. The Pride did though make a little run to cut the lead to nine 50-41 on a Charles Jenkins three point play with 6:59 left. But that's as close as Hofstra came the rest of the way as IUPUI won their 25th game on the season convincingly 74-60.
The senior Glenn led all scorers with 32 points on 9 of 18 shooting from the field and 14 of 17 from the line. Young added 18 for IUPUI. As usual, Jenkins led Hofstra with 21 points, but was held to 13 FG attempts (making six of them) and was 8 of 9 from the line. The Pride was held to nearly 36 percent from the field and shot a miserable 2 of 19 from beyond the arc.
Compared to the sold out raucous fun atmosphere we experienced at Stony Brook later in the evening (more on that in a post tomorrow), the crowd for the game was incredibly disappointing and the play of Hofstra matched it. There were only sixty more people here on a beautiful warm March evening for this game than the blizzard/noreaster Drexel-Hofstra game on February 10, which Tieff and I were at as well.
After defending Hofstra's decision to spend an inordinate amount of money to host a CBI game, I can assure you Hofstra will never do this again. Where were all the fans that got on the CAAZone board last year and criticized the Hofstra Administration for not playing in a CBI or CIT game? Hofstra spent the money, made the effort, sent out the promised e-mail to all their season ticket holders and Pride club members and publicized the event.
Perhaps too many were busy celebrating St Patty's Day like the one student I saw being ejected by Public Safety 15 minutes before game time. And perhaps many people saw the contest as an exhibition game as Whelliston might put it and stayed home with their green beer instead. Though they missed a pretty good IUPUI team. Glenn and Young are impressive.
Unlike several of the NIT games last night that got good crowds like Memphis, Wichita State and Stony Brook, the CBI has not done well at all attendance wise. If the cost was really $60,000 to host a game, then Hofstra spent $63 per person who attended. Somehow that money can be better spent somewhere else in the basketball program. And if the other games' attendance figures last night are any indication, then the CBI has a short shelf life. A very short shelf life indeed.
It's first Hofstra hosting IUPUI. Then Tieff and I are leaving at halftime and heading to Stony Brook. It's the Seawolves vs. the Illini. Follow my tweets at gmoore21566.
Apologies for the long title, but trust me, it's perfect for this article. My two favorite sports are college basketball and baseball. And I always loved Peanuts and I have had a special affinity for Charlie Brown, the ultimate underdog.
What I always really admired about Chuck, or how Charles Schultz made him out to be, was that he loved the game of baseball. The Peanuts gang never won a game and Chuck would get line drives smacked up the middle that resulted in him tumbling over with all his clothes flying apart. But Charlie never gave up, he always tried to win, but more importantly, he always wanted to play. How many times would you see Charlie in the rain, standing on on the mound like this picture, ready to throw the next pitch? Even if his glove was floating away from him.
And I always was like that in intramural basketball and later in life with softball. In organized softball leagues, I played on 22-2 championship teams and 2-22 last place teams. Winning is always sweeter (and food and beer always taste better after a win), and I love to win, believe me I am very competitive. But deep down, I just wanted to play. I loved the camaraderie of playing with friends and more importantly just the game itself.
I remember one of my last times playing organized softball was in a law school tournament down in Virginia. Our team got killed, but there I was pitching on the mound with a smile on my face for the run rule game. The umpire and I struck up a friendship and from talking he knew I played in a lot of leagues and that this was just for fun for me. Our team manager, now an alum I am still friendly with, admired the fact that I never got upset, though our team was making a ton of errors around me. I said to him, "It's just fun to be playing and being out in the sun."
You see, I knew that once I had kids, my softball playing days would be done and my days would be spent following their exploits. And I would just miss playing. So I enjoyed every moment of that last game in the tournament. If you ever saw the movie Major League, after Taylor, Vaughn and Willie Mays Hayes make the Indians, Taylor takes them out to dinner. In his toast before Dinner, Taylor ends with "And for me, here's to one more good year in the sun" (the scene is at the end of this clip). That was the feeling I had.
Once I retired from playing organized softball, I took up my other passion, following college basketball. And that's how this blog started. It doesn't matter to me if it's the power six conferences, mid majors, Division II, Division III, or women's basketball, I will cover them all. I just love the game itself. Always have. Always will.
So I found it very fitting that two of my favorite internet writers, Kyle Whelliston, founder of the best sites on College Basketball;the Mid Majority and Basketball State, and Jerry Beach, author of the always entertaining Defiantly Dutch, wrote two sides of the coin articles on post season college basketball.
Before I delve into their articles and give you my thoughts, I have been very fortunate to be able to get to know the both of them very well this year.
Kyle is a brilliant man, incredibly insightful, but down to earth and very funny. He is tireless, thought provoking and a tweeting, blogging machine. And I really feel he is the best college basketball writer in the country. He was kind enough to spend time with Tieff and I after the Hofstra-VCU game (which he was covering). And it was one of the best experiences of this season hanging out with him. And I can't wait for the Bally Book. I signed up for a copy the first day he announced it.
I am proud to say I have broken bread with Mr. Jerry Beach at the CAA Tournament and found out that he too has a wife named Michelle. As I have previously noted, all great women have the name Michelle (a shout out to Mrs. Moore). Also his wife's initials are MLB, which were my wife's initials before we got married and she changed her middle name to Bosco, her maiden name. As previously noted, I have a love of baseball. Nothing better than a wife with initials MLB!
Jerry is the ultimate researcher. He finds facts that are astounding and I am like, "where did he dig that up from?" Jerry was a former beat writer for the Red Sox and it shows. He is a terrific writer and he writes with passion (as does Kyle). He is the ultimate Hofstra supporter, but is fair and is not afraid to criticize. Beach is a straight shooter. Defiantly Dutch is also often delightfully daffy and often a laugh out loud howl. Beach is just like Kyle, a blogging, tweeting machine. I wonder if those two ever sleep.
So when they wrote their respective articles at the same time, I thought a followup article about them both would be a perfect article for my site. I have once in a while done a take on Kyle's articles, including the captivating "Empty City", which goes in depth about the near death of NYC basketball. So I am pretty sure he won't mind me discussing his latest article. And I reached out to Beach about my idea and he was honored, so here it goes.
Recently, Kyle wrote an article entitled "Love vs. The Loophole." It's an article about how there should be finality in college basketball, an end to the season. Kyle's view is that the two weeks of conference tournaments should provide finality. His basic view is either win the conference tournament and thus go to the NCAA Tournament, or go home. Later on, discussing our country's history as an underdog, yet it's propensity for giving second chances, Kyle notes this.
"A loss in context should be terminal, because there's no lesson otherwise. (Would we give the British another shot to defend their North American empire? Hell, no!) It should be the end, goodbye, that's it. It's a big reason why l love the Olympics so much -- there's no National Invitation Podium, and that's why those five rings inspire such ultimate, urgent performances."
Kyle goes on to further say that 35 years ago, is when the two weeks of the season really mattered. Prior to 1975, the NCAA Tournament consisted of only one team per conference, the conference champion. And for those not fortunate enough, they went to the NIT, which Kyle now calls the "Irrelevant First Tournament". Now thanks to the 34 at large bids, the NIT, the CBI and the CIT, there is no longer finality in college basketball. And Kyle believe that affects the play of college basketball teams, especially now in the mid major conferences.
"...the CBI and CIT are eating into the do-or-die drama of the Other 24 conferences' tourney events. You can see it in the faces of the players this week -- they know there's an escape hatch, a slipknot, that can keep the team together for another couple of weeks. Just like in high school, they think there is always going to be another game. Winning isn't paramount."
And for a long period of time, I most certainly agreed with Kyle (and I still see his point). In fact, I wrote an article nearly a year ago about defending Hofstra's decision to not play in the CBI or CIT. My article talked about how despite the negative press that Hofstra got on CAAZone, Hofstra did the right thing on not playing in either tournament. My main reason was in tough economic times, a school shouldn't pay to play in a postseason tournament, which is what you have to do to host a CBI or CIT game. I went on to say the following;
"A friend of mine very aptly put it. 'It's games for the sake of games'. You are paying sixty grand or twenty-eight grand per game for what? So that you can say you beat the leftovers of the NIT? Seriously, that money can be better spent for example on recruiting that next big player in 2010-11, or financing a preseason tournament trip to say the Charleston Classic or the Great Alaskan Shootout. Tournaments with real big conference teams in them (again the inaugural Charleston Classic had THREE out of the eight teams there make the NCAA tournament. Not bad)."
Yes, you have to pay $28 grand to hot a CIT game and $60 grand to host a CBI game. It's unlike a Bowl game, which in my article I refuted one CAAZone board writer who said "It would be like a MAC school refusing to participate in a lesser bowl..." That's because the team GETS money from the bowl game to play. And that's a big difference.
Finally, I finished my article with the following;
"Hofstra had a nice season, 21-11. They just weren't good enough for the NIT. They have a good future with probably one of the two best returning players in the CAA coming back for two more seasons in Charles Jenkins (ODU's Gerald Lee the other). A seemingly good recruiting class. If you're a Hofstra basketball fan, appreciate the season you had and hope for a good future. The future isn't going to change because you're not in the CIT or CBI. Trust me on that."
And I believed that and still do to this day. Plus that team had six graduating seniors and it made very little sense for that team to continue playing for the sake of playing. But one of the reasons I wrote that article was because I, along with other season ticket holders and Pride Club members, received a letter from Jack Hayes and Tom Pecora stating their reasons they chose not to be in the CBI or CIT. It turns out a lot of people felt otherwise. They felt Hofstra was worthy of playing in those games just like other teams of similar ilk and why wasn't Hofstra making a commitment to its basketball team.
Which brings me to today and Jerry Beach's articles, all of which have a common theme about postseason play. In his first article, "Let Them Play! Let Them Play", which of course has a "Bad News Bears" Youtube clip, Jerry writes the following.
"I knew I’d sit here at some point in the week leading up to Selection Sunday and write that the Dutchmen should seek an invitation to either the CBI or the CIT, the two newer and admittedly second-tier tournaments, because the team deserved another game (or four) after turning its season around in such remarkable fashion."
Beach would go on to give an additional reason why Hofstra should make the investment to play in the CBI or CIT.
"The season began with a game at top-ranked Kansas and four games in the preseason NIT. Participating in the CIT or CBI won’t be as prestigious, but what if further solidifies the foundation for an NCAA Tournament run next year?
The administration need look no further than Monday night for proof it’s possible. Freshly minted CAA champion Old Dominion won the CIT last year (and had three home games before beating Bradley on the road in the title game). Hard to argue that the feeling and experience of winning a title, no matter how secondary, didn’t have something to do with the Monarchs returning to the big dance this year."
And to further prove Beach's point, UTEP was in the CBI last season and made the tournament final before losing to Oregon State in three games. The Miners got an at large bid this season to the NCAA Tournament. Oakland played in the CIT and perhaps that propelled them to their dominant season in the Summit League, which was capped by winning the league tournament and a date with Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Finally, Beach hit home with his final comment;
"I also applaud Mason’s decision because that’s what schools without football do: They make a commitment to basketball, even if it means playing in the hoops version of the Tangerine Bowl. If Hofstraisn’t going to pour extra resources into the basketball programs now—with football gone and the men’s team having earned the opportunity to keep playing with 10 wins in its last 12 games—then when will it?"
Beach makes an excellent point. With the Hofstra Football team now defunct and the Administration's promise that the budget money spent on the football program would not be cut, why not make an investment with the basketball team? As Beach noted in an article last season criticizing the decision not to play in the CBI or CIT , if there is a fan base willing to put five pages of negative comments about Hofstra's decision not to play in the CBI or CIT, why not invest the money in playing a tournament.
I was always curious to get a little insight on how the CBI or CIT got started, and Beach was able to feed that curiosity, by getting an interview with CIT Committee member Rich Zvosec. In the interview, Zvosec, the former head coach of St Francis (NY) and UMKC, talked about how a few years ago, Akron lost on a heart break three pointer in the 2007 MAC championship game. The Zips, the best team in the MAC regular season were 26-7, yet didn't play in the NIT.
When Zvosec contacted his good friend and Akron coach Keith Dambront, he said to him "It was a shock seeing you guys are too good for the NIT, you turned them down." Dambront responded "Rich, we never got a call." Think about it, a 26-7 team never got a phone call. And it makes sense, because the NIT is an "Invitation Tournament. And when you have CM Newton and the boys, you end up getting teams like North Carolina and North Carolina State in the NIT over teams like IUPUI, Charlotte and Akron who have higher RPIs (Akron and IUPUI each eventually took a bid in the CBI while Charlotte is at home and Coach Bobby Lutz got fired as a result).
As Zvosec puts it, the CIT "was set up with the idea of rewarding mid-major teams who have a good year and get left out of the NCAA or NIT". And if you look at the tournament field, it's all mid majors. In fact the CIT gave the Great West champion an automatic bid to the Tournament. Thus South Dakota got to play in a postseason game where most likely they would not have if there was no CIT.
So after thinking about how the NIT Tournament committee is possibly even a more warped group than the NCAA tournament committee (and courtesy of Brian Mull, here is further proof), I can now see why teams like Hofstra should play in the CIT or CBI.
And here's another thought, why are fans willing to come out and pay $10 to see an NIT, CIT, CBI game, as I can tell from the large crowds at UTEP and Oregon State last season or for the NIT games I have watched the past several seasons? And why are Hofstra fans willing to type five pages of criticism about Hofstra not playing in the CBI or CIT?
Answer - Because those fans are like you and me. They love college basketball and if they think their team is worthy to play postseason, they are willing to go pay and see them. And I am evidence of that. Tonight, I am going to the first half of the Hofstra-IUPUI game, then travel to Stony Brook to see the Seawolves host Illinois in the first round of the NIT. Besides, what else will we do. Watch hours of non stop Tiger Woods is playing in the Masters coverage? Or in our case in NY, watch the horrible NHL or NBA teams?
And that thinking changed the minds of Pecora and Hayes, though I think the fact that they have a younger team with only two seniors graduating also had a lot to do with it. Here's what Pecora said in Beach's article.
"Last year I turned down the opportunity because we had six seniors. This year with all the freshmen, I think it’s important for us to play. If we got one more game, that would be great. If we can get two, even better. Keep on winning, you know?”
Hayes went on further to say in an interview with Jerry the following;
"Five of the top seven players, in terms of minutes, are people that would be coming back next year. When you have a team that’s going to return the Player of the Year in the conference, a member of the all-defensive team and two members of the all-rookie team, we felt like ‘Let’s continue to play as long as we can.’ And in conversations with the CBI and the CIT, we communicated to them that we would be interested in playing if we were invited."
So there you have it, two sides of the coin. Whelliston's belief of "Finality" and Beach's belief "Let Them Play". So, who's right?
There's a lot of merit to what Whelliston says. A lot of power six conference teams and even I believe the Mountain West teams didn't play with a sense of urgency this postseason and got knocked off in their tournaments by teams who did have that sense of urgency. This is because those teams without a sense of urgency knew that they had a locked up bid in the NCAA Tournament.
However, having been at the CAA Tournament seven of the past eight years, I definitely see a sense of urgency in those teams. And this season, I saw a lot of heartbreak and the end of the Hofstra-Northeastern, VCU-ODU and Northeastern-William and Mary games, those players all left their hearts on the floor. Many of those players at the end of those games were sprawled out on the court, with their heads in their hands in disbelief. That's because in a one bid conference like the CAA, the NCAA Tournament is the ultimate prize.
But, I still agree with Kyle about the CBI and CIT. It seems like a sort of basketball extortion to have to pay upwards of $60,000 to host a basketball game. In football bowl games, even the lowly ones like the New Orleans or GMAC Bowl, the bowls invite your team and pay your team to play. This isn't the case here.
And as long as you have the CBI or CIT, I worry that the NCAA will have justification to expand the NCAA Tournament to 96 teams. And if the NIT is any indication of who those extra 32 teams will be, then the good ol boys like CM Newton will say "That's ok, those little fellas have the CIT or CBI tournaments." And also, judging by the crowd I saw at GW for last night's CBI game vs. VCU, the CBI at least may have trouble existing over the next few years.
But I see Beach's side as well. If there is no 96 team expansion, as long as you have CM Newton and the boys running the NIT, thus teams like Akron, St Louis, IUPUI and Charlotte will get jobbed out of bids. And they have been for the last several years.
Also, if teams are willing to invest in their basketball programs, especially those without football, isn't that a good thing? This is especially important for the mid major teams that we want to have compete on a level with the Power 6 and maybe this will result in more bids for non Power 6 teams. It apparently worked for ODU and UTEP this season.
And more importantly, if the players want to play and fans want to see them, why not? Ultimately, there is finality for many of these teams. First for 250 teams, nearly 70 percent of the teams in NCAA Division I, there is finality at the end of the conference tournament season. No NCAA, No NIT, No CBI, No CIT.
And second for those who do get to play in the non NCAA tournaments, one loss and that's it for their college basketball and often their basketball career. It's not like high school, where there is AAU in the summer. Many of these kids are graduating. A very select few will play in the NBA, a few more will play professionally overseas. But most will end their basketball careers and go into the job sector. So why not let them be Charlie Brown and "let them play".
So who's right? Well it's not a question of who's right, because both Whelliston and Beach are entitled to their thoughtful opinions. There is one thing certainly they will agree on. Their love of college basketball (and that comes through their brilliant writing).
It was such a nice day, I actually left work early (early being 5:15) so I could get home and get outside. After somewhat cleaning up all the branches that the Noreaster had knocked down from our trees, I played soccer and baseball with my older son, Matthew. Finally, he wanted to ride his bike. And I decided to take a picture. And of course, he did his "cheshire cat smile" face when I took this.
So for the second year in a row, I am honoring Mr. Whelliston's tradition of NOT filling out a bracket. I enjoyed the games more last year when not pondering over a bracket. And once again, I am not going to fill out a bracket. I will give some predictions and my sleeper picks. However, I warn you, my first pick of Winthrop over Arkansas Pine Bluff is not looking so good at the moment.
I was in Lawrence, Kansas for my first basketball game of the season, when I watched Kansas dispatch Hofstra. And as much as I am a midmajor guy at heart, I thought then and throughout the entire season that Kansas was the best team in the country. And nothing changes that now. The Jayhawks are too talented, too deep, too disciplined and the best all around team.
Now as for other teams, I have some thoughts. UTEP is getting a lot of sleeper love from the prognosticators. But I have seen a lot of Butler during the season, especially down the stretch. This is a Sweet 16 team at least. Howard, Hayward and Mack. They are that good.
Cornell is another team that's getting a lot of sleeper love. And I like Wittman and Foote a lot. But they deserved a higher seed than a 12 and the result is a first round match with Temple. The Owls have had an outstanding non conference schedule and they will be ready for the Big Red. In fact, I like Brooks, Fernandez and Allen and company to go to the Elite 8. Yes, I have them beating Kentucky.
Baylor is another team that I see going really far as in Final Four far. The question will be how well they play defense. But I love Dunn, Carter and Udoh. They should have a dandy of a game in the Sweet Sixteen. The question will be who will they play Villanova, Richmond or St Mary's. I can see any of those three coming out from there. There are great players there like Omar Samhan, David Gonzalvez, Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Kevin Anderson. Love the bottom of the South bracket.
Teams I see pulling off upsets - ODU over Notre Dame. Perfect team for ODU to face. Irish guards are nothing special and the Monarchs can stay with the Irish frontcourt. Gerald Lee needs to have a big game though to offset Luke Harangody.
I think Murray State plays Butler in the round of 32. They shoot the ball really well, underrated defensively and their offense should exploit a soft Vanderbilt team.
Xavier is going to make a sweet 16 run. They can grind with Pittsburgh. Siena is the wrong team for a wounded Purdue team to face. The Boilermakers won't generate enough steam to stop a veteran Saints team that has won a first round NCAA tournament game in each of the past two years. I could see Siena going to the Sweet 16 as well.
Teams that are getting sleeper love but that I would stay away from - San Diego State, Utah State and Minnesota. The Aztecs haven't won a significant non conference game all season, the Aggies are 2-3 non conference neutral and road, and Minnesota is playing a good Xavier team.
My final four - Kansas, Syracuse, West Virginia and Baylor. Final - Kansas over West Virginia.
It's finally sunny and nice here in New York. Spring is here and with Spring here, hope is always eternal at the College Hardwood. And with the Spring, comes the best time of season, March Madness.
I just wanted to clarify something. The reason I call the Play-In-Game, aka the P.I.G, the "You're Not Worthy Game", is not that I think the teams aren't worthy. Oh contrare, any team that wins their conference tournament and gets an "automatic bid" is truly worthy to be in the NCAA Tournament. It's the committee members who decided after the Mountain West conference was formed that there should still be thirty four at large bids. And thus the 30th and 31th ranked auto bid teams have to play their way in. It's these geniuses who think these teams aren't worthy.
So, I consider it a sham that two "automatic bid" teams have to play their way in to the Round of 64. If you have to "play your way in", you don't have an automatic bid. Now when the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee was faced with the same problem, they did the right thing and got rid of one of the at large bids. There is no play in game. All the teams get to play in the round of 64.
Think about it, one team tonight Winthrop or Arkansas Pine Bluff will not experience the Round of 64, despite earning their way in. The players of one team won't get the chance to face a #1 seed and tell their kids they got to face Kansas or Duke or Kentucky in the tournament.
And this is nothing against the Dayton fans, who do an absolutely terrific job of coming out and supporting these two teams in UD Arena. I am watching the game right now and the place seems packed and the crowd is loud.
But these two teams got automatic bids, thus they should play in the round of 64. Let the last two at large teams play the play in game. Based on the bubble talk the past few days, these are the teams apparently not worthy.
But then again, I would rather have the P.I.G. than 96 teams. Any day.
Kyle Whelliston calls the Play In Game, aka the P.I.G., the "Most Honest Game in Sports". I call it the "You're Not Worthy Game" . And there can only be one Sixteen Seed vs. Duke, so I like Winthrop in a low scoring game over Arkansas Pine Bluff 58-49. As for the rest of the Tournament, I will tell you later.
So when I found out last night that Stony Brook was HOSTING Illinois in their first round NIT matchup, due to a scheduling conflict for Illinois, I got on Stony Brook's web site and found out the tickets were going on sale at midnight. So I made up my mind to get two tickets for Tieff and me. Midnight struck, the tickets went on sale and I snapped up two tickets at midcourt reserved for the game. I thought this was great!
Later on thanks to both Jerry Beach and another friend, I was following a Chicago Basketball blog site that was following Twitter and university site feeds as far as teams getting bids to the CIT and CBI. And it noted after midnight that Hofstra had got a bid to the CBI, but was awaiting confirmation.
Then Beach tweeted "YOU'RE GOING DOWN REDZONEIUPUI!!!!" and linked to the CBI bracket. And there was Hofstra hosting IUPUI...on March 17. So before I went to sleep, I knew I had a dilemma. Had the Stony Brook tickets, but for those of you know, I have season tickets for Hofstra. But I figured Hofstra would host their game at 7:00 pm, while the Stony Brook/Illinois game started at 9:00 pm. The Hofstra Athletics site confirmed this later.
Thus I have hatched a plan that calls for watching the first half of the Hofstra game, then take the long drive to Stony Brook in time for the 9:00 pm start. So now I will call Tieff this morning with the details. Knowing him, he will be up for the two games in one night viewing. But if not...anybody interested in two tickets for Stony Brook/Illinois?
I have had a history of bashing the committee for their selections or non-selections in the past. Whether it was the gross injustice of not taking Hofstra or Missouri State in 2006, or taking Arizona the past two years when the Wildcats had no business being in either one, or the exclusion of St Mary's, the NCAA often failed come Selection Sunday. And thus, why I call them the No Clue At All.
But this year, no complaints on teams omitted. They selected Utah State and UTEP, though they were both two of the last teams in the tournament. Utah State and UTEP were selected over the likes of Virginia Tech, Illinois and Mississippi State, among others. I detailed the bubble possibilities yesterday.
Of course you had those who were upset about being snubbed. Seth Greenberg was on ESPN and stated "There were a lot of teams with a similar profile." Really? Didn't know that other teams had a 339 non conference strength of schedule. And that was definitely the reason the Hokies were left out. Utah State at least had a huge non conference win over BYU, something Virginia Tech didn't have. I thought UTEP might have been left out, but the committee gave the Miners credit for the 17-1 conference record and making the conference finals.
I was of course surprised by Florida making the tournament. I certainly thought they were on the bubble and losing in the quarters to Mississippi State didn't help matters. But the win over Michigan State on a neutral site, seemed to matter more than the 1-8 vs. the RPI Top 25 or their 6-6 record over the last ten games. Illinois or Mississippi State were the teams snubbed out to due Florida's inclusion.
Now while the Committee did a great job with the overall selection of teams, they did a bad job with seeding. Temple deserved to be a three seed, not a five. Tennessee getting a sixth seed was also far too low. Cornell and Siena were also way too low as far as seeds, but Siena gets a good draw with Purdue. The Big Red almost beat Kansas and they were very good when I saw them win the Holiday Festival at MSG. Butler should have been a four seed but then they would have drawn Murray State, who will knock off that soft Vanderbilt team in the first round.
Seeds that were too high - Villanova did not deserve a two seed the way they finished the last month of the season. Vandy isn't worthy of a four seed and they will find out the hard way when they lost to Murray State. California has absolutely no business being an eight seed. But that's ok too when Louisville sends the Bears home in the first round.
On Tuesday, I will give you my picks for the tournament. I think there will be a fair share of upsets and I think some mid major teams are going to do well. Very well indeed.
You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring Waiting for someone to tell you everything Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring Maybe a diamond ring
For some teams on Selection Sunday, no lyrics are more true. Besides, I have always wanted to put a Traveling Wilburys' song into a blog article. As much as I like Petty, I love the Traveling Wilburys even more. "Handle with Care" is one of my life theme songs. But with this being the last day before "the end of the regular NCAA season" and the start of the NCAA Tournament, I thought "End of the Line" was appropriate. The original song is on Youtube here, but there is no embed code ( "Why Wilburys, why?"). So why not put the Petty version on! YES!
Jerry Beach tweeted early in the week stating "Why can't I shake the feeling that more mid-majors than usual are going to get screwed this year b/c the bubble is so lousy?" I responded with "Nah. All the good teams that r deserving won conf tournaments sans Utah St. W&M is possibility but Wake loss to the U hurt."
And despite stating the case for W&M a couple of days ago, I believed deep down the bad losses to Towson, UNCW, James Madison, and the televised Bracketbuster to Iona, were the nails in the coffin. And Wake struggling down the stretch, including their 20 point first round loss to Miami in the ACC tournament, was weakening that W&M win.
And I really thought it was a good tournament season for the mid majors. Northern Iowa, Butler and Gonzaga were already in. Two of them, the Panthers and Bulldogs won their conference tournaments anyway. Outside of W&M and perhaps Wichita State, all the other mid major possible bubble teams got the job done - Old Dominion, Siena, and most importantly St Mary's won their conference tournaments. Cornell won the Ivy title, which has no post season tournament. Despite my respect for the Tribe and the Shockers, I thought they are more flawed than other teams that have been left out before. This year, I believed there would be no St Mary's, no Missouri State, no Drexel and especially no Hofstra.
Then "Last Night" occurred (cue another Wilburys' song) as potentially, both Beach's and my tweets might have sadly been a foreshadowing. Last night, New Mexico State stunned number one seed Utah State in the final of the WAC 69-63. The 27-7 team that went 14-2 in the WAC regular season is now sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Hoping for that diamond ring - the NCAA Tournament. I think they are in. But I am not a member of the No ClueAt All Tournament Committee.
Utah State had won 17 straight games before the loss to NMSU, had going into yesterday a RPI of 26, and a non conference SOS of 83. The Aggies best win is a ten point home win over BYU, a "lock" to make the NCAA Tournament. The question is, will a 27-7 team be left out of the equation?
Right now, as I write this Lunardi's last two teams in are Virginia Tech and Minnesota. He has Utah State in as well right now as an eleven seed. His first three teams out are Mississippi State, Illinois and Florida. But will the NCAA see it that way. Not sure. Let's compare the teams in, shall we? And for further breakdown of how these teams' fates should be decided, read the Moore Primer.
Utah State - 27-7 . RPI- 26, Non Conf SOS-83, vs RPI Top 25 - 1-0, vs RPI Top 26-50 - 1-0, vs RPI 51-100 - 8-4. Last 12 games record - 11-1. Best wins - BYU, Wichita State (both home) Worst Loss - at Utah (Utah RPI - 156..um not good).
Virginia Tech - 23-8. RPI - 57, Non Conf SOS -344, vs RPI Top 25 - 0-3, vs. RPI Top 26-50 - 3-1, vs. RPI 51-100 - 5-3. Last 12 games record - 7-5. Best wins - at Georgia Tech, Clemson (home). Worst Loss - at Boston College (BC RPI - 119).
Minnesota - 21-12. RPI - 69, Non Conf SOS - 61, vs. RPI Top 25 - 3-3, vs RPI Top 26-50 - 2-3, vs. RPI 51-100 - 1-2. Last 12 games record - 8-4. Best wins - Michigan State, Purdue (Big Ten Tournament), Butler (neutral site). Worst Loss - at Indiana (Indiana RPI - 215 - Ugh!).
Mississippi State - 23-10. RPI - 64, Non Conf SOS - 209, vs. RPI Top 25 - 1-4, vs. RPI Top 26-50 - 1-0, vs. RPI 51-100 - 6-2. Last 12 games record - 7-5. Best wins - ODU neutral site, Vandy (SEC Tournament), Florida (SEC Tournament), Worst Loss - Rider at home (Rider RPI - 140) Illinois - 19-14. RPI - 70, Non Conf SOS - 130, vs. RPI Top 25 - 3-3, vs RPI Top 26-50 - 2-5, vs. RPI 51-100 - 1-1. Last 12 games record - 6-6. Best wins - at Clemson, Wisconsin (road and Big Ten Tournament), Michigan State (home). Worst Loss - Utah (neutral site - Utah RPI - 156 eek!)
Florida - 21-12. RPI - 54. Non Conf SOS - 121, vs. RPI Top 25 - 1-8, vs. RPI Top 26-50 - 2-0, vs. RPI 51-100 - 5-2. Last 12 games record - 6-6. Best wins - Michigan State (neutral), Tennessee (home). Worst Loss - South Alabama at home (South Alabama RPI - 211, OMG!)
Now the Bulldogs could win the SEC tournament today vs. Kentucky and that would mean Minnesota would be last in. But then the Gophers could win the Big Ten Tournament today as well and make that moot as well. Only Va Tech and now Utah State would have their fates to be determined.
Let's say both lose and these are the last six teams we are debating. Immediately eliminate Virginia Tech for that horrible non conference SOS and not having one good non conference win. Also for similar reasons, let's eliminate Mississippi State for that bad non conference SOS and because we think they will lose to Kentucky today. And we will eliminate Florida for a mediocre last 12 games record, the loss in the SEC quarters, plus the bad loss at home to the Jaguars.
That leaves Minnesota, Illinois and Utah State getting in. I believe Minnesota is going to get in because they have a) a good neutral site win over Butler, b) a good record over the last 12 games - 8-4, plus a good record vs. the RPI Top 50 (5-6). Similar, I think Illinois gets in because of their record vs the RPI Top 50 (5-8). And finally, Utah State sneaks in with their record over the last 11 games and the BYU win is better than any non conference wins Miss State or Virginia Tech have.
Here's the 65 Teams I have making the tournament;
America East - Vermont (auto) Atlantic 10 - Three - Temple, Richmond, Xavier. ACC - Six - Duke, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson and Florida State. Atlantic Sun - ETSU (auto) Big 12 - Seven - Kansas (auto), Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma State Big East - Eight - West Virginia (auto), Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Marquette and Notre Dame. Big Sky - Montana (auto) Big South -Winthrop (auto) Big Ten - Six - Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois Big West - UCSB(auto) Colonial - Old Dominion (auto) Conference USA - Two - Houston (auto), UTEP (though don't be surprised if they are on the bubble) Horizon - Butler (auto) Ivy - Cornell (auto) MAAC - Siena(auto) MAC - Ohio (auto) MEAC - Morgan State (auto) Missouri Valley - Northern Iowa (auto) Mountain West - Four - San Diego St (auto), New Mexico, BYU, and UNLV NEC - Robert Morris (auto) Ohio Valley - Murray State (auto) PAC 10 - Two - Washington (auto) and California Patriot - Lehigh(auto) SEC - Three - Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Tennessee Southern - Wofford(auto) Southland - Sam Houston State (auto) SWAC - Arkansas Pine Bluff (auto) Summit - Oakland (auto) Sun Belt - North Texas (auto) West Coast - Two - St Mary's (auto) and Gonzaga WAC - Two - New Mexico St (auto) and Utah State But we have been here before. St Mary's last year. Drexel three years ago And of course, Hofstra and Missouri State four years ago. So I don't know what Dan Guerrero and friends have in store for all of us, especially Utah State.
Two things Selection Sunday has taught me over the years. One, controversy is what the No ClueAt All lives for apparently. And most importantly, two, what team has a friend on the ten member committee. There is a bright side. It won't be three years in a row that Arizona controversially gets in the dance. That streak ends this season thank God! (Sorry Mo Goldman).
As for Utah State, as far as the NCAA Tournament goes, hopefully it's not really "The End of the Line".
When you are a parent, things are never quite normal. Take this morning for instance. My older son Matthew had a nightmare and came into our room at 3:00 am. He came into bed with us and curled up to my wife in between us. Since now I was somewhat awake, I needed to go downstairs to the bathroom.
It was only a few days ago, I went to see a doubleheader with Tieff. We decided to watch the first half of the 7:00 PM Hofstra-IUPU game, then leave at halftime for the Illinois-Stony Brook game that was at 9:00 PM. After being two of the 952 people that were at the Hofstra game and watching a terrible first half performance by the Pride, it made things easier to leave at halftime.
The first thing we noticed when we walked up the steps of the Stony Brook Arena was the huge sign "SOLD OUT". We already though had tickets waiting for us at will call. Section 109, Row N, aisle seats as it turned out. When we walked in, we saw a giant sea of Seawolves Red. And despite it being Saint Patrick's Day, we were totally out of place in our green, in my case my Wayne Chrebet's Jets jersey.
And talk about a difference between two game crowds. At the Hofstra game, where Jerry Beach had an entire section of seats to himself, you could hear Jaguars coach Ron Hunter in all his splendor chirping at the refs. Here at the Stony Brook game, it was loud, raucous and most importantly fun. As soon as we sat in our seats, I turned to Tieff and said "Now this is what a postseason game should be like!" I couldn't keep the smile off my face the entire night.
And a stoked Seawolves team fed off the energy of the crowd and jumped out on the Fighting Illini. When Weber called timeout for his team immediately after Chris Martin's layup gave Stony Brook a 7-0 lead, the crowd's eruption nearly took the roof off the place. And it was a good timeout by Weber. Despite Wolfie urging the crowd on, the Illini righted themselves and scored the next eight points to take the lead.
But once again, the Seawolves would comeback and a Muhammed El Amin layup put the Seawolves up 34-30 with 2:30 left in the first half. However, again the Illini came back and ended the half on a 8-2 spurt capped by a McCamey jumper to put Illinois up two at halftime 38-36. Stony Brook played as a good half as it possibly could, keeping within two of one of the final bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament.
But the Seawolves reminded Bruce Weber and the Illini why they were the regular season America East champion. Over the next nearly six minutes, Stony Brook whittled the lead in half to 59-53 with exactly seven minutes left on a Martin layup and he was fouled. Before Martin could hit the free throw for the three point play, Weber called timeout and looked up at the scoreboard. It was as if he was saying to himself, "How much time is left before we can escape out of here? I didn't expect this!"
The Seawolves would keep it within six, 65-59 with about two minutes left and had several chances to cut the lead even further. But again El Amin was off with a shot and a Tisdale three with 1:29 left put Illinois up by nine. Stony Brook never got any closer the rest of the way, losing 76-66 in their first Division I postseason game.
Still, the electric crowd reminded me that the NIT still has a little pull its now old, though perhaps irrelevant age. Mike Francesca stated on his radio show Friday that the NCAA moving to 96 teams is "a done deal" because that's the only way the NCAA will get a new television deal similar to the one they currently have with CBS. As a result, the NIT might be a done deal too.
