The NIT doesn't look so bad anymore
Posted by BKoch at 3/13/2009 2:42 PM EDT on Cincinnati.com
One good thing about the CBI and the new CollegeInsider.com Tournament is that it makes the NIT look a little more relevant. There was a time when being shuffled off to the NIT was like a slap in the face, but now if you go to the NIT you can at least say, “Well, at least we’re not playing in the CBI or that CollegeInsider.com thing.” The NIT, now run by the NCAA, actually has some history and plays it semifinals and finals at Madison Square Garden and has its games shown on ESPN.
So will UC make it to the NIT? Yes, according to the web site NIT-ology.com, whose existence proves without a doubt that there really is a web site for everything. The web site has UC listed as a No. 7 seed playing No. 2 seed Virginia Tech. Of course, that means practically nothing. We’ll find out Sunday night.
I would maintain, though, that if UC does make it to the NIT, it should be considered another step in the rebuilding of the program. That doesn’t excuse the poor finish or the embarrassing loss to DePaul, but at the start of the season if someone had said that UC would make it to the NIT having played the entire season without its starting point guard, most UC fans would have considered that progress. Of course, now in light of the free fall this team has made from NCAA Tournament bubble team to NIT bubble team, that doesn’t seem so great.
But, look at it this way. At least they’re not going to the CBI or that other thing.
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