It’s an early morning in Chattanooga. While other tournaments try to tip as late as possible, as though mercifully trying to spare fans from watching, the NIT gets right on it. The people want NIT basketball. The people want that basketball now. The NIT’s gonna give it to them.
Eight games these next two days will determine who moves on to the quarterfinal round. They’ll determine who hosts the pinnacle of home-court basketball. They’ll determine for whom this best week of their lives will end in defeat.
You could give Percocet to a cow and the stakes would not be higher.
The Game of the NITe of the Weekend: Dayton at Chattanooga
Saturday, 11:30 AM EDT
ESPN2
We’re giving each of these games a name, something to remember it by in the future when we reminisce. Not to oversell them, but they’re going to be that good. We’re going to do a lot of reminiscing.
This one? The Game of the NITe of the Weekend. I know. We use “Game of the NITe of the Weekend” a lot. It’s how we distinguish which game, every weekend, is the most important in the NIT universe. But this is *The* Game of the NITe of the Weekend. This is the one the others have foretold. This is the Saturday midday matchup which could not only change the history of college basketball, but how we view Saturday itself. No matter which day you make your sabbath, today is holy.
Can frustrating Dayton keep it together long enough to grab that NIT home game? Can upstart Chattanooga show they belong amongst college basketball’s medium boys? Is the A-10 poorly administered or just full of bad teams? Are we sure Bash Wieland is a real name? Because damn. Bash Wieland is a cool, cool name.
We’ve all got the questions. Only the NIT has the answers.
Shirts vs. Skinn: Bradley at George Mason
Saturday, 2:00 PM EDT
ESPN+
This is a top-shelf NIT matchup, which is why it’s up there on ESPN+. The + stands for “really, really good.”
You’ve heard all about George Mason’s relentlessness, about Bradley’s precision, about the things KD Johnson incites. You remember Marcellus Sommerville, and Kaboom the Gargoyle, and the late Gunston the…well, I’m not sure we really knew what Gunston was.
What you might not remember is that Tony Skinn’s sophomore year, he and George Mason made it to this very stage: The second round of the National Invitation Tournament. The Patriots went to Oregon, and they lost. 21 years later, can Skinn break out?
The Red River Quarrel: Oklahoma State at SMU
Sunday, 3:00 PM EDT
ESPN2
In hindsight, the other pairs of schools straddling the Oklahoma/Texas state line shouldn’t have let UT and OU take “Showdown” in addition to “Shootout.” There are only so many words which describe confrontations, and every game between teams from these two states legally must include mention of the Red River. When time came to retire the Shootout name, SMU and TCU and Oklahoma State and Dallas Baptist should have put their foot down and trademarked a ton of words. Not that we would have used Showdown here. Quarrel is a better fit. This is not a full-on fracas. But it certainly isn’t peaceful.
SMU remains the NIT favorite, but the tests only get harder after UNI. It’s been a long time since we saw a team win the NIT from pole position. SMU, of all the teams (this is a 2014 NIT reference), should know that well.
The Grant McCasland Bowl: Arkansas State at North Texas
Sunday, 7:00 PM EDT
ESPNU
He only spent a single year in Jonesboro, but you know who else did a whole lot of work in one twelve-month stretch (in three of the four gospels)???
These schools’ shared McCasland heritage isn’t the only thing bringing Coach Mac into the mix here. In an ideal world, Bryan Hodgson and Ross Hodge keep making big things happen for their respective programs, the money comes, and all parties find a way for the guys to stay. In this world, there’s a decent chance these guys are coaching against each other in the Big 12 in four years and the broadcast is splicing in footage of the 2025 NIT. These are not necessarily the next Grants McCasland. But they’re on their way to big-name status.
Who’ll be front and center in that 2029 footage? We’re assuming it’s going to be Moulaye Sissoko and Izaiyah Nelson. Those two battling for boards on the green Texas flag of the Super Pit? Cinematic. Can’t wait to see it in Zach Del Bello’s photographs.
A Rematch 76 Years in the Making: Loyola Chicago at San Francisco
Sunday, 7:00 PM EDT
ESPN2
In 1949, San Francisco bested Loyola in the NIT Championship.
It’s been a long road back.
We haven’t talked about Loyola as a potential pseudo-home-court team at Hinkle Fieldhouse. When that conversation’s come up, we’ve focused on Dayton. The Ramblers would travel, though, and while they shouldn’t get ahead of themselves, we certainly can. Basically, Loyola’s trying to play a pair of Final Fours. The first site is hostile. The second could be rather friendly.
San Francisco is a favorite of some shape, but they’re not on the level of SMU. It was a team effort against Utah Valley. That’s good, and it shows how high the floor is for the Dons. But if they can get Malik Thomas cooking…that’s where the post-Marcus Williams ceiling starts developing. They need to show they can go off in this short-handed world.
America: Jacksonville State at UC Irvine
Sunday, 9:00 PM EDT
ESPN+
More top-shelf action here, only available on the plus.
It’s hard to think of two schools more American and more different from each other than Jacksonville State and UC Irvine. One’s on the third tier of Alabama public universities, a small-town school in the Appalachian foothills. One’s a top-50 university nationally, a paragon of diversity and upward mobility in scenic Orange County. Both are middle-class schools full of students (and basketball players) who have that dog in ‘em.
Apologies for the simmering patriotism. I just think this stuff is cool, especially when compared to the NCAA T*urnament, which hates America and wants all your children to one day fight on behalf of Xi Jinping. (Remember what year the NCAA T*urnament started, folks.) Great game here. Jaron Pierre against Bent Leuchten. A ball-knower’s paradise.
South of Something: Kent State at Stanford
Sunday, 9:00 PM EDT
ESPN2
Stanford and Kent State are basically the same. One’s in the South Bay. The other’s south of Cleveland. They both have basketball teams it isn’t surprising at all to see in the second round of the NIT. Insomuch as we define ourselves by what we’re south of and how good our basketball teams are, Kent State and Stanford are indistinguishable.
On the court, it’s easier to tell them apart. Stanford’s a thinking man’s basketball team, which I mean literally. Kyle Smith thinks a lot, and this is his team. Thinking is kind of Kyle Smith’s whole thing. Also? Cultured. Stanford runs through Maxime Raynaud, who is French. You don’t see that a lot in a sport that for so long relied on Applebee’s to nourish its best athletes.
Kent State, on the other hand, is from Ohio. Mostly Columbus. VonCameron Davis is a product of Walnut Ridge High School. VonCameron Davis is what drives these Golden Flashes. A great thing about Columbus is that it doesn’t give a shit about Paris. “Cool stuff,” Davis’s people say to Maxime. “But did your city ever contribute anything to fine dining?” Then, they toss the big man a Baconator. He stares at it. It’s like a croissant, only it tastes good and it’s satisfying.
Blazing Saddles: UAB at Santa Clara
Sunday, 9:00 PM EDT
ESPNU
“I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.”
You’ll have them, Mister Lamar.
The last leg of Sunday NITe’s pentuple-header comes to us from historic Santa Clara, where the Blazers and Broncos might compete with Chattanooga vs. Dayton for pure NIT thrill. Before the first round, we’d wondered about Yaxel Lendeborg’s status. He’s playing, folks, and playing is he ever. On the other side, the country got a great idea Tuesday of what Tyree Bryan can do. What is that? What can he do? He can make shots, friend. He can make shots. And in the second round of the NIT as much as in a satirical Hollywood version of the Old West…
Shooters shoot.
**
