Ladies and gentlefolk…
We are not going to Frisco.
*nine-minute pause for raucous celebration*
The NCAA announced today that the 2023 NIT Final Four will be held in Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and that the 2024 NIT Final Four will be held in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.
This might legitimately be the best-case scenario.
The thing about Las Vegas is that people are always there. There is always a reason to be in Las Vegas, and it’s the exact same reason which always exists for being in a bar: the soft, siren call of addictive vice. Will people come to the NIT Final Four in Las Vegas? I don’t know. But there will be people in the city and it would stand to reason that those folks might be willing to attend a few basketball games, with the added benefit that fans of the teams involved will have extremely cheap hotels in which to stay.
The thing about Indianapolis is that Hoosiers love basketball, and Hoosiers love hosting major sporting events. I’m an optimist, sure, but the house should be packed. (Also, cheap hotels again. Cheap hotels drive the basketball world.) Very excited for this one, and glad it’s happening after Las Vegas because it gives us an extra year to rile up the Midwest with NIT Fever.
Other reactions:
- Fears ran rampant that we were going to end up in the Dallas suburbs. On the list of things that could kill this blog, the NIT landing in the Dallas suburbs was high. Is the threat still there? Of course. We must stay vigilant. But we’ve got time now, and we’ve got a great canvas upon which to paint the greatest two NITs in human history. As Jackson Pollock and Blippi each once said: I can’t wait to get splattering.
- West Coast teams have performed terribly in recent years once at Madison Square Garden. Will this flip that script? Is the Pac-10/12/16/0 about to have a legendary NIT moment? Suddenly, we have our biggest preseason story in the college basketball world.
- Will this damage my personal relationship with Reno? Maybe. It might. But at the end of the day, Reno did not persuade the NCAA that it could host the NIT. Love is a two-way street. It’s Virginia, not Sierra.
- Rick Byrd, Bob McKillop, and Gary Waters were added to the NIT committee in the same announcement, and that is good. One way to keep the NIT alive is to make it a home for retired coaches. You wouldn’t hurt Bob McKillop, would you, NCAA? I don’t think Steph Curry would like that.
Overall, a great day for the NIT, and a great day for humanity, by extension. The only loser here is Frisco. I think we can all tolerate that.
