When people ask me about the 2016 NIT Championship, I always tell them it was like the 1960 World Series. Usually, I’m not asked about the 2016 NIT at all, so I definitely am not asked to explain this comparison any further. But if I ever do get asked, I’ll tell whoever asks me how on one side you had this huge juggernaut everybody expected to win (Valparaiso, of course) and on the other you had a bunch of hungry underdogs led by a man whose name started with a Z.*
*Bill Mazeroski for the Pirates, Yuta Watanabe for the Colonials, as GW was still called back in those Obama–administration days. And no, I know Yuta Watanabe was not George Washington’s best player. We save the Tyler Cavanaugh lesson for another 2016 NIT conversation.
That 2016 NIT was one of the most baffling NIT’s in recent memory, and the NIT is nothing if not habitually baffling. If you try explaining the NIT to a dog, they tilt their head like they’ve got marbles in one ear. The NIT is incomprehensible. This is how we know it comes from God.
This year, George Washington is back in the NIT picture. They’re 13–3, they’re undefeated in Foggy Bottom, and their 2–1 start to A-10 play has Chris Caputo leading the conversation for the Miami job. They beat Dayton without Darren Buchanan, a starter. They beat Rhode Island without Buchanan and Trey Moss, another starter. Now. Given I know nothing about this George Washington basketball team (who could have expected this, certainly not me), maybe Buchanan and Moss were holding GW back. Who am I to say? The bottom line is, it’s 2024,** and the team who shocked the D.C. establishment in 2016 is back for more. Where it ends? No one can say. Could well be the NIT.
**I have been informed it is no longer 2024. My bad, guys.
Tonight, the Revolutionaries host Duquesne. It’s a home game, which means it’s in Foggy Bottom, which means you and I get to say “Foggy Bottom.” Because it’s in Foggy Bottom, George Washington’s going to win. That’s how it’s worked the other nine times George Washington’s played basketball in Foggy Bottom. Because George Washington’s going to win, George Washington’s going to start A-10 play not only 2–1, but 3–1. Three. With a capital Th! And who awaits the Revolutionaries next? One of their countrymen. George Mason. The Fairfax lads. That game’s on Saturday.
I’m not suggesting George Washington look ahead to the weekend tilt. Rule number one when you’re visiting a tourist site in Italy and/or playing A-10 basketball is that you keep your wits about you, staying wary of petty crime. But you and I? We’re not playing A-10 basketball. Let’s start the GW/GMU anticipation now. Because here’s the part I didn’t tell you yet:
George Mason is also in contention for an NIT bid heading into tonight’s game at Dayton.
Good luck sleeping the next four days.
