Editor’s Note: NIT Stu is taking over writing One Shining MomeNIT this year.
What follows is what we assume would happen if, instead of (or in addition to) “One Shining Moment,” we had “One Shining MomeNIT.”
This year’s reel begins, as so many do, with a montage of disappointment. Lipscomb can’t pull out the victory over Liberty. Mike Daum and Chris Clemons and Sister Jean all go down in their respective conference tournaments. Texas falls to .500, prompting pundits to say (here’s where the montage starts blurring clips together, combining the voices of a dozen commentators or so until only Joe Lunardi fills the screen and everything slows down) “N. I. T.”
The music starts.
The ball tips in Greensboro, and Campbell is off and running. Over in North Carolina, Lipscomb and Davidson trade baskets. Hofstra gives NC State all they can handle. Wright State does the same to Clemson. UNC-Greensboro ultimately prevails over Campbell.
In Austin, Texas jumps out to a commanding 19-0 lead over South Dakota State, but the team isn’t all there yet mentally. The Jacks get back in it. The game comes down to the wire. Texas prevails.
Day 2: Wichita State and Harvard dispatch three-seeds Georgetown and Furman. Norfolk State battles from start to finish with Alabama, nearly giving the game away multiple times (the video slows down as John Petty’s shot hangs in the air, then speeds back up as it goes in). Finally, the Spartans finish off the stunner in overtime.
We linger in Lincoln, where an inspired performance by Johnny Trueblood (he wasn’t really leading the team but he gets a lot of love in this video, which gives the appearance that he had a triple double and walked on the Platte River) sends Tim Miles out with a win in what we, the viewer, know will be his final home game as head coach.
Our video editor tried to make this clear to even those unfamiliar with Miles’ postseason saga, by inserting one of those sepia shots of a person’s face (in this case, Miles’ face) and that person’s name in cursive, along with the years he was active. Unfortunately, to someone not clued in or not looking closely, this may have given the impression Tim Miles died. Rest assured, Tim Miles is alive. Our apologies for the confusion.
As the video heads into the weekend, we get a good smattering of clips of people disparaging America’s greatest tournament. They’ll see. They’ll all see.
Assembly Hall is packed and noisy, and Arkansas is giving Indiana all they can handle. We either pirated ESPN’s audio from the game or have a licensing arrangement with them, because we’re hearing Dan Dakich rave about the atmosphere in Bloomington. Indiana advances.
Then, we’re back in the Frank Erwin Center. The crowd starts to come alive. Xavier fans (a few of them) have traveled well. Quentin Goodin’s free throw is no good. Zach Hankins’ putback is blocked.
Overtime.
At this point, adding to the disappointment from how he handled Tim Miles, our video editor started inserting headings from iMovie that look like headings from iMovie. What the heck, man. This one says something about keeping the sabbath holy. That sounds offensive.
Anyway, Texas holds the line at the end of overtime, even with Kerwin Roach missing two free throws that would have made it a two-possession game. The Longhorns still aren’t fully clicking, but they’re still playing.
In Raleigh, Harvard is clinging fast to tournament favorite NC State. The tide of the tournament seems to be shifting. NC State survives, but no one would accuse them of looking good doing it.
Back in Bloomington, Wichita State’s in town. We forgot about Wichita State. Dammit that video editor just put something in about “a real Shocker.” This is an outrage. I’d expect this from that other tournament but we hold ourselves to a high standard here at the NIT. Stop that. Stop it right now.
Back to the Frank Erwin Center (sorry we never showed you, Creighton fans—nothing you were involved in was particularly exciting). The place is up for grabs. Texas is dominating Colorado. The Longhorn defense is everything pundits promised it would be when Texas hired Shaka Smart. The crowd is rallying behind an NIT fan who made a strange crossword of signs above the student section. The video editor finally does something good with text, putting “#NITexas” in orange in the font Texas uses across the screen. Thank goodness. I’m still wary, though.
Meanwhile (these clips have been interspersed but for tempo reasons I’m keeping them as separate paragraphs—but know they were interspersed), Lipscomb and NC State are having the game to end all games in Raleigh. Garrison Mathews is scoring. Garrison Mathews is scoring some more. NC State is scoring, too. Everyone is scoring. There are points everywhere. The state of North Carolina is awash in points. The teams just both broke 90. Wait I thought Lipscomb won this one—why are they losing? OH MY GOSH KENNY COOPER OH MY GOSH KENNY COOPER GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY KENNY COOPER JUST WON THAT GAME HOLY SUGARBEANS.
The Final Four is set. TCU ads adorn New York billboards. That’s kind of sad. Oof. I’m not sure it’s gonna work, guys.
At the press conference, coaches speak respectively of one another, but the tension is clear. What should the old guns make of this young upstart, Casey Alexander? Is Shaka Smart everything he’s cracked up to be? Has anyone else noticed that Jamie Dixon looks like your friendly, smart, well-off uncle and Gregg Marshall looks like Mike Brey if someone subtracted all the Jack Nicholson from Brey’s DNA? His eyes are twinkling but without any subtle menace!
The games begin. Wichita State is playing Lipscomb tight. Lipscomb is playing Wichita State tight. Garrison Mathews is scoring some more. Wichita State fans are here in numbers. Lipscomb fans are here, also in numbers but smaller numbers. Wichita State has this game. Do they? No? Whoa, you’re right. Lipscomb comes roaring back, except not roaring so much as painfully, tenaciously climbing, like a mud-splattered hero on a Scottish cliff in a medieval thriller. Bisons advance. The radio stations are calling them America’s team. What a moment.
Before the nightcap, we see the headlines from the regular season: Texas can’t beat TCU. Hooked by the Horned Frogs. TCU has beaten Texas twice now in the regular season, once on each team’s home court.
Man.
Those are bad headlines.
The sequel is much different from the original. Texas’ defense, awakened back in Austin, has traveled to New York. TCU can’t make shots. TCU can’t make shots. TCU really can’t make shots. Jamie Dixon is disappointed, but composed and proud. A true champion, through and through.
Just not a champion this year. It’s Austin vs. Nashville for the championship—for all the twanging guitars and bachelorette parties and gentrification and non-existent income taxes and new Amazon jobs.
Lipscomb’s fans are here. But where are Texas’?
Turns out they didn’t come. Well, not many of them.
But those that did sure have something to cheer about. Despite the Lipscomb faithful (besides Jay Cutler) coming alive with every Bisons bucket, the Longhorns keep those buckets few and far between. In the second half, Texas pulls away, and what Longhorn fans there are rise to their feet, not matching the intensity of their opponent’s supporters, but at least making it clear they’re there. That’ll do, Texas.
The video ends (or seems to, anyway) with Kerwin Roach’s 360-degree dunk, followed by clips of Dylan Osetkowski kissing the trophy, Shaka Smart high-fiving fans, and Roach waving the severed net around his head.
But there’s one more scene.
Somewhere, in a lonely gymnasium, its quiet court sparsely illuminated, an unidentified player is getting his shots up. The music has long since faded out, but the sound of a basketball slapping the hardwood remains.
Somewhere in America, another champion is being made.
The 2020 NIT is only eleven and a half months away.
