We’ve got more NIT in today’s episode of Free Hoops, complete with reactions from Dan Earl, Trey Bonham, and Terrell Owens. We’ll also have One Shining MomeNIT up today or this weekend. You can’t rush One Shining MomeNIT.
Most of this is unique to this post, but I’m sure some is repetitive and I just don’t remember what I said. When the NIT gets a hold of you, it doesn’t let go easy.
1. Chattanooga let college kids be college kids.
Local 3 from Chattanooga got more of the story on Trey Bonham and Honor Huff’s status as co-parents (of a dog), and we’d encourage you to read that. It’s short. It’s silly. It’s a glimmer into college-aged people and the things they get up to when they’re allowed to be college-aged people. I think some of that’s been missing from college basketball lately. We get one side of it in college football—more the “brave young men” side—but college basketball is supposed to give us the human side. That’s part of what made Chattanooga so special. It’s not the only thing, but it’s part of it. Chattanooga was human.
2. It was going to be gutting for whoever lost.
It stinks that the game had to end on a miss. But by the time we’d gotten to the final shot, both teams had missed chances to seal the game. Someone was going to be rightly devastated. It stinks that the game took that shape, but that’s sports, and that’s life. UC Irvine is an admirable program, and this team was an admirable team, and the Anteaters will be back on big stages. We’ll be glad to see them there. I don’t think it’s accurate to say they blew it. Both teams were blowing it. They’d played a lot of basketball short-handed. Not just this week, either.
3. What sports are going on this weekend?
A list of things you can watch, with only exhibition college basketball remaining (plus a nefarious tournament in Las Vegas we will hopefully never encounter again):
- Major League Baseball
- College baseball
- College softball
- Local high school track & field (depending on your jurisdiction)
- The NBA
- The NHL
- The WNIT (This is more the WCBI now, but we support it. Championship tomorrow at 5:00 PM Eastern. Troy vs. Buffalo.)
- Golf?
- NASCAR
- Soccer, if you’re into that
- Competitive Zumba? I feel like that exists. Might be wrong. Also possible it exists and you can’t watch. I’m going to end this list now.
