Bold prediction: The B1G will win the National..

[PimpMario]

Bold prediction: The B1G will win the National Invitational tournament!

 

The big 10 has a mind numbing amount of teams with 40-100 RPI.

 

We are going to get a bunch of teams into the NIT with high seeds.

 

Just wish teams didn't have to be .500 to make it.

[49r]

Only because the Big 12 could get 8 of their 10 teams in the NCAA tourney and Oklahoma and Texas won't be NIT eligible.  The team (in the top 8) in the Big 12 with the lowest KenPom ranking is TCU...at 40.  Texas is 70 and Oklahoma is 80.

 

But otherwise, I agree.  B1G has the strongest group of NIT-ish teams in it for sure.

[PimpMario]

I am not sure that even if we had a decent record we would have gotten into the big dance because of how weak the conference is.

I think the narrative was that a weaker conference is better but I don't.

[ajb5856]

15 hours ago, PimpMario said:

 

Bold prediction: The B1G will win the National Invitational tournament!

 

The big 10 has a mind numbing amount of teams with 40-100 RPI.

 

We are going to get a bunch of teams into the NIT with high seeds.

 

Just wish teams didn't have to be .500 to make it.

 

Teams don't have to be .500 to make it.  I'm pretty sure anyway. I thought they got rid of the .500 record requirement a couple years ago. Now, no sub .500 team has been selected since they got rid of the requirement, so a bid with that poor a record isn't likely but is allowed. 

 

Somebody find this and call me out if I'm wrong. This Nebraska team would be one to press for the first sub .500 bid if we don't reach an even record.

[ajb5856]

"The NCAA announced a revamped selection process starting with the 2006 tournament. The main highlights are:

• Teams are no longer required to have .500 or greater records to receive bids. Even with this change, however, all teams receiving invitations for the NIT have had .500 or greater records."

[hhcmatt]

I'd say we have a puncher's chance at 15-16 (winning 4 of last 5, blowing first round B1G game)  or 16-17 (winning 3 of last 5, going 2-1 in B1G tourney) 

 

The thing you need to keep in mind is where do we compare to the teams that project to go in.

If you look at this site - http://www.nycbuckets.com/current-nit-bracketology/

Indiana, Ohio St, Penn St, Iowa, Illinois are currently projected in. Beating Ohio State and Illinois are important in regards to knocking one of those teams out of the NIT.

 

I know it's a 'down year for the B1G' but currently 12 of the 14 teams (everyone except for us and Rutgers) are projected into the NCAA/NIT

 

[49r]

While it may be true @ajb5856 that the .500 record isn't officially required, it remains that getting at-large bids to the NIT may be even more difficult than the NCAAs now due to the requirement for conference regular season champions that don't win their conference tourney and get NCAA at-large to get an NIT auto-bid.  Of course it kind of depends on how the mid-majors shake down, but even the Ivy League will have a post-season tourney this year for the first time...NIT bids just keep getting harder to get all the time.

 

All that said, the point is, while it may not be a hard and fast rule any more...having that .500 record is still vitally important to getting in the NIT.

[ajb5856]

1 minute ago, 49r said:

While it may be true @ajb5856 that the .500 record isn't officially required, it remains that getting at-large bids to the NIT may be even more difficult than the NCAAs now due to the requirement for conference regular season champions that don't win their conference tourney and get NCAA at-large to get an NIT auto-bid.  Of course it kind of depends on how the mid-majors shake down, but even the Ivy League will have a post-season tourney this year for the first time...NIT bids just keep getting harder to get all the time.

 

All that said, the point is, while it may not be a hard and fast rule any more...having that .500 record is still vitally important to getting in the NIT.

Agreed.  Very difficult to make the NIT. I argue this with non-basketball people all the time when they say "Nebraska sucks, can't even make the NIT" as if any team that doesn't make the NCAAs automatically gets placed in the NIT. 

[Handy Johnson]

The NIT hasn't been the same since they went away from the Red - White & Blue ABA Basketballs. What in the name of Stan Cloudy is wrong with these people?

[PimpMario]

Agreed.  Very difficult to make the NIT. I argue this with non-basketball people all the time when they say "Nebraska sucks, can't even make the NIT" as if any team that doesn't make the NCAAs automatically gets placed in the NIT. 

To be fair it's hard to argue we don't suck when we have had a losing season 5 of the least 6 years.