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NIT + CBI = LAME
By Jonathan | March 19, 2008 at 7:00 pm
At first when I heard there was going to be another post-season college basketball tournament this year, I thought it was a stupid idea. The NCAA Tournament is obviously the only one that matters, so why bother with the NIT? It’s just a tournament held for those that didn’t make it into the NCAA, and I never saw the point. Then I heard there was going to be an additional tournament for teams that didn’t make it into the NIT, and I really thought that was a stupid idea. As if being in the ‘Not in the Tournament’ tournament (NIT) was rubbing it in for sucking, we’re going to offer an alternative for the NIT…perfect for those teams that really, really suck, and may never have a chance to play in the NCAA.
It only figures that UC would play in this alternative to the alternative, also known as the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). With about five games left in the regular season, UC had a fighting chance of making it to the NCAA. It probably wasn’t going to happen, but if they would have won a few of those games and made a respectable run in the Big East tournament, it wouldn’t have been unbelievable to see UC play on Thursday/Friday this week. However, they decided to lose those last five games as well as the first round game in the Big East tourney, so even the NIT didn’t want them, especially with their losing record.
UC was not a good team this year. They won some great games against Loserville, Syracuse, Villanova, Pitt, and West Virgina, however, they made few mistakes in those games. The games that they lost (UCONN, Seton Hall, I don’t want to continue) they made plenty of mistakes to lose the games. Again, UC was not a good team. There’s no point in making excuses, they WERE NOT GOOD.
At one point Mick Cronin was talking about UC’s chance at any post-season appearances. He talked about the new CBI, and mentioned how college football has been playing tons of bowl games for years. It’s a fair comparison, and at that point I didn’t care which tournament UC played in as long as I got to see them play a couple more games. I agreed with Cronin, “If football can do it, why can’t basketball?!”
Tonight UC lost to Bradley. Bradley is a 17-15 team with a 9-9 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. On any given day, there’s no chance that UC should ever lose to these guys. UC was 13-18 overall, with an 8-10 record in the Big East. Let’s just compare the conference records…UC should have walked all over these guys. That being said, UC lost. They lost because they are not a good team. I’m embarrassed that UC lost to Bradley, not matter how bad of a season UC had this year.
Do “not good” teams deserve any post-season games? NO! HECK NO! Post-season is reserved for good teams that play good strong schedules and have a good record against all of the teams they play! That’s why we have the NCAA Tournament! 65 teams (not all are “good” but I can’t help teams like Mount St. Mary’s) that all have an equal shot at winning. The NIT is a joke. The CBI is a joke. The 30+ college football bowl games are a joke.
What happened to the days when making it to the post-season was a feat in itself, let alone winning that game? With the 30+ football bowl games offerend and only 110+ football teams, not making a bowl game means your team is really, really bad. I don’t think that’s right.
I say we get back to the days when post-season was hard to get to. Enough of this extra junk (International Bowl, Meineke Care Care Bowl, PapaJohns.com Bowl, NIT, CBI), and only let the teams deserving of post-season play in post-season!
Topics: complain, sports, UC | 3 Comments »
March 19th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
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March 19th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
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March 19th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
OSU plays in the Big 10. Doesn’t that mean they should do something other than be embarrassed by the SEC?
To paraphrase Rick Pitino, “Nick Van Exel is not gonna walk through that door! Danny Fortson is not gonna walk through that door! Kenyon Martin is not comin’ through that door!”
UC was mediocre team all season. They showed no proficiency in even some of the most basic parts of basketball. They even failed to improve their embarrassingly inability to make layups. The Bearcats had no consistent scoring from players whose last name is not Vaughn. Coach Cronin’s insistence to play overrated, over matched upper class men means that starting next year those unproven freshman will still be unproven and losing games they shouldn’t.