2006 NIT: Still a Chance to Make Something Out of Nothing...

[JohnBM01]

This thread is all about NIT selections. Usually, nobody cares about the NIT because it's nowhere near as prestigious as playing for the National Championship. Still, I think it is an award for teams who didn't make the field of 65. It gets you ready for the next season. To use college football analogies, getting into the NCAA tournament is like getting to a BCS Bowl Game. Getting into the NIT is like getting into a regular Bowl Game. Either way, you are still a winner... just not National Championship material, at least not this season. Last season, South Carolina won it all in the NIT. Having said this, let's talk NIT and the 40 teams who will part of the new NCAA-owned NIT:

( Source: http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nit/genrel/auto_pdf/cumulative-stats )

OPENING ROUND: March 14
- REGION A -
#10 Fairleigh Dickinson at #9 Manhattan
#8 Rutgers at #7 Penn State

- REGION B -
#10 Lipscomb at #9 UTEP
#8 Akron vs. #7 Temple

- REGION C -
#9 Northern Arizona vs. #10 Delaware State
#8 Virginia at #7 Stanford

- REGION D -
#10 Georgia Southern at #9 Charlotte
#7 Miami (Ohio) at #8 Butler


For the rest of the NIT games, take a look at the link I've provided. Other teams in the NIT include, but not limted to:

Louisville
Maryland
Houston
Florida State
Wake Forest
Miami (OH)
Fairleigh Dickinson
Cincinatti
Brigham Young
South Carolina (defending champions)
Western Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Miami
Akron

That link again is: http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nit/genrel/auto_pdf/cumulative-stats

I'll likely update scores either with quick results or the long version. The NIT is underway, and the first NCAA-owned season for the NIT.

 

[JohnBM01]

Here are all NIT scores. This isn't about just letting a few teams off. I'm including all of them since this is of greater importance. Many scores will be short and sweet.

* Akron at Temple
It wasn't known if John Cheney would continue coaching if Temple won. Thing is, they got Zipped by Akron, thus ending a potential Owl campaign. (80-73, OT; Akron - Advances to First Round)

* FDU at Manhattan
Chalk up a win for the Jaspers of Manhattan College as they checkmated the Fairleigh Dickingson Knights. (80-77; MANHATTAN - Advances to First Round)

* Delaware State at Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona was sort of an underrated team, but the Lumberjacks couldn't chop down the Delaware State Hornets. (58-53; Delaware State - Advances to First Round)

* Rutgers at Penn State
Scarlet Knights will advance in taking down Pennsylvania State's Nittany Lions. Now that Penn State's done, let's hope their football team can continue their success. (76-71; Rutgers - Advances to First Round)

* Virginia at Stanford
(65-49; STANFORD - Advances to First Round)

* Miami University (Ohio) vs. Butler
(53-52; BUTLER - Advances to First Round)

* Georgia Southern at Charlotte
(71-66; CHARLOTTE - Advances to First Round)

* Lipscomb at UTEP
(85-66; TEXAS-EL PASO - Advances to First Round)



TUESDAY ELIMINATIONS:
Temple, Fairleigh Dickinson, Penn State, Northern Arizona, Miami University, Georgia Southern, Lipscomb, and Virginia

Wednesday, First Round action will begin. Locally here, Houston will host BYU. So I'll have those results and more.

 

[JohnBM01]

Time to do a little NIT-picking. Wednesday Action is up as the First Round is under way. Here goes.


--- NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT: FIRST ROUND ---


"Don't Give a Dame" Vanderbilt at Notre Dame
(79-69; NOTRE DAME)

* Wake Forest at Minnesota
It was 39-33 in favor of the Minnesota crew at the half. Afterwards, the postseason Wake Forest was thankful enough to make, all ends with a loss to Minnesota. Minnesota's been stumbling at times whereas Wake Forest ran out of gas all season. WF has a HELL of a lot to do to get back in winning form. Golden Gophers hold together in this blowout of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. (73-58; MINNESOTA)

"Cougar Clash" BYU at Houston
Hometown love, GTPlanet. I'm a Houston boy, so I'm talking about the University of Houston. I was asked this in a thread whereas I was attacked: "what's so special about the University of Houston?" Well, the Houston Cougars are a current product of the wonderful curly-haired coach, "Turnaround" Tom Penders. I don't know as much about college basketball as I'd like to, but I'd say that Tom Penders to NCAA Basketball is like what Urban Meyer was to the Utah Utes in NCAA Football before joining Florida. It is Houston's second trip to the NIT, and one thing is for sure- Cougars will win. But will it be the Houston Cougars? Or BYU's kitties? BYU stands for Brigham Young University. If you follow football, you may know about the Cougar Comeback of the 1980s (1981, I beleive) by BYU. BYU's basketball team isn't bad either. The BYU Cougars are going to be part of a family reunion gone bad. It's a Cougar clash. Which kittens will outdo the other? The score was 36-26 at the half in favor of Houston's Cougars. And by a dime, Houston is money over BYU. (77-67; HOUSTON)

* Western Kentucky at South Carolina
Defending NIT Champs got it done. It wasn't even close as the Gamecocks got cocky enough and taking the Hilltoppers off the mountain. WKU's heading back to Bowling Green, KY in sadness. (74-55; SOUTH CAROLINA)

* Louisiana Tech at Clemson
The Tigers gave L. Tech's Bulldogs a Tech-nical Knockout. (69-53; CLEMSON)

* Oklahoma at Miami
The Hurricanes swept away Oklahoma State's dismal season. Wild west trends may be in fashion, but the OkSU Cowboys were a fad this season. (62-59; MIAMI)

* Old Dominion at Colorado
Old Dominion is a much better than Colorado, so losing to them would be a shame. Thankfully, it was Old Dominion's Monarchs who made the Colroado Buffaloes old news. (79-61; Old Dominion)



As I bring these scores to a close, there was a nice feature on three specific Houston Rockets. What was the feature about? It was about three of Houston's ballers who were b-ballers for the University of Kentucky. The three Wildcats who played for Kentucky at the same time were Chuck Hayes (2001-2005), Keith Boggans (1993-2003), and Gerald Fitch (2000-2004). So, these three all played at once in Kentucky between 2001 through 2003 before many of them graduated to the NBA. I know I try to expose Kentucky a little too much, but I also enjoy getting more schools involved in my posts. Speaking of the Rockets, we do have a player who I actually like, Luther Head from the University of Illinois. He's been a pretty good baller for Illinois, and hey... Houston will take this former Fighting Illini. Now, he's a pretty sizable threat on the court in the NBA.

Other information, Paul Westphal is no longer the head coach of the men's Pepperdine Waves team after five seasons.

 

[FoolKiller]

Hmm, it appears the NIT has been forgotten. Big surprise there.

All I can say is that one of the tournaments has ben won by an SEC team (South Carolina). Can the big tourney end the same way? My money says yes.

 

[JohnBM01]

I know. I haven't updated the NIT because I was so focused on the usual Men's March Madness. A lot of tournaments happen. What I will do to make up for it it come up with an NIT review. I may update this post so you can check out the results.

Anyhow, the South Carolina Gamecocks won the NIT again. They become the first time to win the NIT back-to-back since St. John's did it back in the 1940s(?). Things I WILL talk about is as follows:

* My hometown Houston Cougars may want to schedule some more Missouri Valley Conference teams, because they lost TWICE to Missouri Valley teams in the NIT. This past season, they lost to Missouri State (formerly Southwest Missouri State). Then they lost in the NIT before this season's NIT to Wichita State. Tom Penders signed a 1-year deal with Houston. It is nice to see Houston somewhat return to greatness. Until Houston comes up with their best effort since "Phi Slamma Jamma" in the 1980s, then Houston will be at the latest, a sleeper. But it will be tough in conference when they got teams like UAB and Memphis playing solidly. * To the Big East now. I'm actually proud of Marquette University. This school hasn't been National Champs in over 30 years. But they had a GREAT season. I had them as sleepers for the 16-team basketball Big East. Some say "too damn many schools!" This isn't like college football in which the majority of competition go to the Big East to have a shot at a BCS Bowl bid. * Speaking of the Big East, Louisville kind of learned the hard way about what the Big East is all about. They are a good team, but still have a long way to go in matching up against Connecticut, West Virginia, and I'll even throw Notre Dame and Marquette. * U. of Kentucky fans may laugh at Louisville, but who some of you probably SHOULD be laughing at is South Florida. They won a grand total of ZERO games in their Big East debut. In a way, this almost reminds me of UCF's (University of Central Florida) football team which competed in the MAC conference, winning absolutely NO games. South Florida can only get better, unless they want to come back to Conference USA. * I'm surprised at Michigan. This traditional football power actually staged a great campaign in the NIT. They just came up short against South Carolina as the Gamecocks blown out Michigan.

My next question will be, now that South Carolina won the NIT two years straight, can they actually make a run at the NCAA tournament this November? Can they stage their campaign to be part of the 2007 Final Four in Atlanta? We shall see. Regardless, congratulations to South Carolina. First Steve Spurrier beefs up the S. Carolina Gamecocks' football team, now they have some nice basketball credentials. I hope them the best for 2006-2007. Go for the NCAA now, boys!

 

[FoolKiller]

I know. I haven't updated the NIT because I was so focused on the usual Men's March Madness.

If it hadn't been for the Louisville results mentioned around here then I would have forgotten about it too. I have every year before. In all honesty I don't think many people care about the NIT.

The NI-what?

All I can say is that South Carolina has shown they are better than the NIT.

 

[JohnBM01]

Here is VERY late news. The winners of the Women's NIT are the Kansas State Lady Wildcats over Marquette 75-66 I believe.