The NIT Championship is tonight. Here’s what you need to know.
WHEN!
7:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Don’t say EST. You will be off by an hour if you use EST. It’s EDT now, and for the next seven-plus months.
WHERE!
Madison Square Garden, where all the biggest basketball games are played (except for in 2021 and in 2023-24 and possibly more years, when the NIT Championship was or is going to be played elsewhere).
WHAT!
Look, man, we already said that. It’s the NIT Championship. But if you need a primer, this is the game that decides who college basketball’s greatest team is this season. It’s not the “best” team, necessarily, but it’s the one that history will look back on with the most admiration. It’s the team that will have won the greatest tournament in the known universe, and quite possibly in the unknown universe as well. (Do you ever wonder if aliens think our tournaments are weird? And settle things with only regular season titles? I wonder that sometimes.)
WHY!
Because God hath ordained it.
WHAT!
You’re lost. You asked that already.
WHAT!!
Ok, fine. Can’t have another noise complaint.
It’s the NIT Championship. But if you need a primer, this is the game that decides who college basketball’s greatest team is this season. It’s not the “best” team, necessarily, but it’s the one that history will look back on with the most admiration. It’s the team that will have won the greatest tournament in the known universe, and quite possibly in the unknown universe as well. (Do you ever wonder if aliens think our tournaments are weird? And settle things with only regular season titles? I wonder that sometimes.)
WHO!
Texas A&M (the team Buzz Williams coaches) vs. Xavier (the team Jonas Hayes coaches). Texas A&M’s a massive public school in, as its name suggests, Texas. Xavier’s a smaller private school in Cincinnati. A&M’s biggest critique is that it’s an uncomfortably insecure cult. Xavier’s biggest critique is that it’s a little lame. A&M’s greatest strength, beyond having Buzz Williams as its coach, is that some of its cultists are bought in for the right reasons and, annoying as that may be, can hit an angle that’s genuine and something pure. Xavier’s greatest strength, beyond having Jonas Hayes as its interim coach, is that it’s a basketball school through and through, as all smaller private schools should be. Looking at you, Rice (Rice is an exception, Rice is a baseball school, how am I talking about Rice in an NIT preview goodness sorry everyone let’s get back to it).
Texas A&M is led by Quenton Jackson. A senior, he spends most of his offensive time getting to the free throw line and most of his defensive time getting the ball back so he can get to the free throw line. Arguments have been made that Jackson isn’t A&M’s best player, but he leads the vibe, and the vibe is one of physicality, chaos, and untying any loose threads holding together your opponent’s psyche. When Texas A&M beats teams, it’s often because they find a hole in the brain and exploit that hole. You have to be a little nuts to beat A&M right now, or to not let them continue beating you in the games to come. That’s why Arkansas was able to do so well in the consolation tournament (Eric Musselman is nuts), but why Rick Barnes’s squad struggled even after putting away the Aggies in Tampa (Rick Barnes is very much not nuts). Texas A&M might not kill you today, but once exposed to them, they’re in there, sometimes forever.
It’s impossible to know who leads Xavier, but experts say it’s Jack Nunge (rhymes with “Dungy,” and that’s Tony Dungy not ‘of or pertaining to dung’). Nunge, an Iowa transfer, has blossomed this year, finally free from the shadow of Luka Garza, the brutality of the winter wind out towards the plains, and the soul-crushing weight of having a bunch of douchebags as his teammates (also Keegan Murray, who is cool). He’s seven feet tall but he can shoot threes. He can’t grow facial hair above his jawline but he still stops shaving now and then. He’s from southern Indiana, he swats a lot of shots, and he’s not Australian but you could be forgiven for thinking he was if you, like me, know there’s a guy on Xavier named Freemantle and associate him with Fremantle, Australia, a town of fewer than thirty thousand in the Perth area which you know about but you’re not sure why (Freemantle is also not from Australia, adding even more confusion).
If A&M wins, it’ll be the mental warfare thing. If Xavier wins, it’ll be the talent thing. Xavier’s got talent. It’s not always showed (that’s why they’re in the NIT), but it’s there. We’ll see if it’s the difference tonight.
***
Tip, again, is at 7:00 PM Eastern. Broadcast on ESPN (was going to be on ESPN2, I think, but they’ve switched it—also possible I’m remembering the ESPN2 thing incorrectly). See you there.
