We did it.
We got somebody fired.
Yesterday, in the wake of what those close to the situation described as “public outcry after declining the NIT and mishandling its messaging thereafter,” St. Bonaventure athletic director Joe Manhertz resigned. Our friends at SBUnfurled say the NIT snub wasn’t the sole reason for the resignation, but…maybe it was the tipping point? It is possible that there is an unemployed athletic director right now who would be employed had he simply gotten his team to play in the NIT. There are a lot of things right with this world.
We don’t want people to be unemployed. That is bad. We also know it stinks to move. But Manhertz had a chance to put his men’s basketball program in the greatest sporting event man ever had the audacity to create. He declined that opportunity. Sometimes, an AD’s gotta go.
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Today’s second round action:
North Texas at Seton Hall – 11:30 AM EDT, ESPN2
They’re back at Walsh Gymnasium, and now the Mean Green are there?? All our favorite things are coming together.
The second round of the NIT is always tricky. Some teams hit a wall. More elevate their play, having gotten used to the tournament and beginning to realize they’re still playing ball. What to expect from each of these two?
The senior-driven nature of Seton Hall feels important here. Those guys were not going through the motions on Wednesday. They were going through the emotions. Primarily? Triumph. We’d expect something similar today, even if this is their earliest tip of the season.
North Texas, on the other hand, never has trouble getting up. That’s kind of North Texas’s thing. You know how they wake up Navy SEALs in the middle of a dead sleep and make them do intense things? That’s kind of how North Texas operates as well. At any hour, the Mean Green can deploy on-the-ball pressure.
Seton Hall’s going to have to cut down the North Texas open looks from deep. The three-point shooting’s been great lately for UNT. And Walsh Gym’s a shooter’s gym, you know?
Bradley at Cincinnati – 2:00 PM EDT, ESPN+
Is Wes Miller a good coach? The answer is obviously yes, as the man is one win away from reaching back-to-back NIT quarterfinals, but I feel like the haters are zeroing in on asking that, so it’s good to be prepared with an answer. That answer? We already said it: Yes.
You know the feeling when you’re screwing a cap onto something and it’s harder than it should be? It’s not quite lined up? But you can still screw it, and you can’t figure out how to make the track smoother? Maybe this particular bottle of power steering fluid had its top warped when you were playing with a blowtorch in your garage?
That’s kind of been Cincinnati basketball this season. They’re good, but they’re not quite grooving. All year, it has been that way.
Bradley’s the opposite. Their ceiling can’t be that high but they do their thing really, really well. Not a lot is left on the table. The Braves are 17–6 since they lost to Duquesne in December, with all of those games against either current MVC competition, former MVC competition, or aspiring future MVC competition (don’t tell me SIUE and Truman State don’t dream of Arch Madness).
I’m as excited for Leons & Hannah vs. Bandaogo & Lakhin as anyone in the country, but I’m also curious about the status of the Jizzle James breakout. He’s been coming on stronger and stronger as the year’s gone on, but he was chucking a little on Wednesday against San Francisco. A storyline we haven’t hit yet is that if Cincinnati makes the NIT Final Four, Edgerrin James will presumably be in the front rows in Indianapolis. Imagine being a 35-year-old Hoosier at this moment in history.
Virginia Tech at Ohio State – 7:00 PM EDT, ESPN+
So many new ESPN+ subscriptions for this one. Some really angry Ohio State fans too, I’d imagine. People hate streaming services, and ESPN+ is especially tough because its specific glitches are usually to log you out or say you’re not subscribed when you are.
This is a tough draw for the Buckeyes. Virginia Tech’s experienced and offensively skilled, an ACC team’s ACC team. There’s also an element present where Virginia Tech was born in the dark. These guys were in the NIT last year. I’m nervous for the Buckeyes. Maybe they can outrun the Hokies like they outran Cornell, but Virginia Tech’s a little bit better than the Big Red.
Tonight will also be an interesting test for how much Ohio State fans like basketball. Wisconsin’s second round game last year drew upwards of ten thousand people. Will a lot of Columbians show up? Will a lot of Colombians??? Meanwhile, Virginia Tech’s trying to keep the ACC undefeated in the NIT and the exhibition tournament. What a script.
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We’ll update the NIT Bracket Challenge scoreboard as games complete. More in the morning, on these three and tomorrow’s five.
