Gonzaga lost to Loyola Marymount last night, it was historic, it broke a bunch of streaks, it was huge for LMU, yada yada yada.
Let’s talk about Gonzaga’s NIT chances.
Gonzaga, for two decades now, has struggled to get certain college basketball fans to take them seriously. This entirely stems from the fact they haven’t made an NIT since 1998, and they’re only 2-3 all-time in the tournament. Is this the year they finally break through?
Saint Mary’s is an encouraging piece of data for those supporting this quest. You only have to look back to 2018 to find the last time the Gaels made the NIT despite being better than more than half the NCA* *********t field, and it happened in 2016 as well. There was a brief tradition there where Saint Mary’s was either quietly in the NCAA’s pocket or the NCAA committee was whiffing on Randy Bennett’s crew. If it was a whiff, perhaps they could do the same with the Zags?
The problem for Gonzaga supporters is that those Saint Mary’s teams didn’t play the nonconference schedule Gonzaga did. Like an idiot, Mark Few more or less scheduled Texas, Kentucky, Purdue, Alabama, Baylor, Michigan State, and reigning national champion Xavier in nonconference play. Like an even bigger idiot, he led his team to a 4-3 record against those seven. Play that many good teams and you stop behaving like a mid-major in the committee room. Which in this case is bad. Five losses? That’ll get you a trip to Sacramento, not a home game in Spokane.
Gonzaga, then, needs to do a lot of work. They’re clearly capable—you don’t flirt with disaster for as long as they did and then make out with it late on a Thursday night if you aren’t capable of making the NIT—but it isn’t going to be easy. They need to drop multiple more bad ones, and they absolutely must not beat Saint Mary’s. The road is open, but the road is steep. Good luck.
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Our weekend itinerary:
Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Texas A&M @ Kentucky (ESPN)
Saturday, 10:00 PM EST: Gonzaga @ Pacific (ROOT)
Out of respect for the challenge Gonzaga’s undertaken, we’ve made their trip to wherever Pacific University is located our Game of the NITe of the Weekend, but because we still don’t know what ROOT Sports is, we’ve added Texas A&M’s visit to Lexington as our co-Game of the NITe of the Weekend. Texas A&M brings the chaos nightly, and if there are two things Kentucky doesn’t want to see right now, it’s NIT bloggers mentioning them and chaos.
Friday, 11:00 PM EST: Boise State @ New Mexico (FS1)
A near miss in the Game of the NITe of the Weekend race, we get Friday NITe Lites tonight in Albuquerque. Boise State’s probably out of our reach, but the Lobos are sitting on our lap, which is very uncomfortable because there are a lot of them, but also exciting! NIT games in the Pit again? Sign us the heck up.
Saturday, 4:00 PM EST: North Texas @ UAB (Stadium)
Moving on to our Ten Teams Who Could Win the NIT™, UAB’s hosting UNT out in the wilderness of CBI Land. Each is going through it right now. Each is really going through it. One has to win, though, so that’s neat. (please no Covid please no Covid please no Covid)
Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Iowa State @ Oklahoma State (ESPN+)
Saturday, 4:00 PM EST: Baylor @ Oklahoma (ESPN2)
The Oklahomas are each playing at home and possibly underdogs. Probably close to being underdogs. This rivalry has taken on a new shine with the NIT contention wrinkle.
Sunday, 1:00 PM EST: Memphis @ Cincinnati (ESPN2)
Memphis could get a good win here, but they’d need Cincy to do some losing down the line, so…better to just lose. Also, no one would really notice. Sunday afternoon loss? Nice quiet one. Think about it, Penny.
Friday, 7:00 PM EST: Villanova @ St. John’s (FS1)
St. John’s is hosting Villanova as a favorite, I assume? The Wildcats must have gotten serious about trying to be nationally relevant now that they got rid of Jay Wright.
Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Texas Tech @ Kansas State (ESPN2)
Texas Tech needs wins, even if they’re good. This win is both good and attainable.
Saturday, 12:30 PM EST: Dayton @ George Washington (USA)
Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Boston College @ Notre Dame (ESPN+)
Saturday, 8:00 PM EST: Tulane @ Tulsa (ESPNU)
And among the three others, three potential disasters. At least spoiled Notre Dame kids can’t be mean to Mike Brey if it goes badly, now that he’s retiring.
Saturday, 4:00 PM EST: Marquette @ Seton Hall (CBSSN)
Saturday, 6:00 PM EST: Texas @ West Virginia (ESPN)
Our latest chance to see Shaka Smart pass Texas in the KenPom ratings. And all the other ones, but I don’t look at those. I only look at Joe’s bracketology, mid-major and low-major conference standings, and KenPom. I’m a simple man.
Friday, 7:00 PM EST: VCU @ Richmond (ESPN2)
Saturday, 12:00 PM EST: Syracuse @ Georgia Tech (ESPN+)
Saturday, 12:00 PM EST: UCF @ South Florida (ESPNU)
Saturday, 12:00 PM EST: Mississippi @ Arkansas (ESPN2)
Saturday, 12:00 PM EST: College of Charleston @ Northeastern (Flo)
Saturday, 12:00 PM EST: Georgetown @ Xavier (FS1)
Saturday, 1:00 PM EST: Vanderbilt @ Georgia (SECN)
Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Iowa @ Ohio State (FOX)
Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Virginia @ Wake Forest (ESPNU)
Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: DePaul @ Providence (FS1)
Saturday, 2:15 PM EST: Nebraska @ Penn State (BTN)
Saturday, 3:00 PM EST: James Madison @ Southern Miss (ESPN+)
Saturday, 3:00 PM EST: Florida State @ Pitt (ACCN)
Saturday, 3:30 PM EST: Auburn @ South Carolina (SECN)
Saturday, 6:00 PM EST: Alabama @ Missouri (SECN)
Saturday, 6:00 PM EST: Virginia Tech @ Clemson (ESPN2)
Saturday, 6:00 PM EST: UNLV @ Fresno State (CBSSN)
Saturday, 6:00 PM EST: San Jose State @ Utah State (MWN)
Saturday, 8:30 PM EST: Florida @ Mississippi State (SECN)
Saturday, 8:00 PM EST: BYU @ San Francisco (CBSSN)
Saturday, 8:00 PM EST: Utah Valley @ Grand Canyon (ESPN+)
Saturday, 8:00 PM EST: Washington @ Utah (P12N)
Saturday, 8:00 PM EST: Santa Clara @ Saint Mary’s (NBCSBA)
Saturday, 9:00 PM EST: FAU @ UTEP (ESPN+)
Saturday, 10:00 PM EST: USC @ Arizona State (ESPNU)
Saturday, 10:00 PM EST: San Diego State @ Air Force (CBSSN)
Saturday, 11:00 PM EST: Oregon @ Stanford (FS1)
Sunday, 1:00 PM EST: Minnesota @ Michigan (BTN)
Sunday, 6:00 PM EST: Washington State @ Colorado (ESPNU)
And these, my friend…these are all the other games us NIT fanatics care enough about to make sure we know who won. We’re at the point in the season where the list is massive. I am exhilarated. Are you?
Saturday, 4:30 PM EST: Jaguars @ Chiefs (NBC)
Saturday, 8:15 PM EST: Giants @ Eagles (FOX)
Sunday, 3:00 PM EST: Bengals @ Bills (CBS)
Sunday, 6:30 PM EST: Cowboys @ 49ers (FOX)
I’m told there are Cowboys fans around me but I only ever see hints of them. Also, the Eagles have been weirdly quiet this year? Also, I think we might all be remembering the Blake Bortles upset in Pittsburgh a little too hard. That’s my expert analysis here.
Friday, 3:00 PM EST: West Brom @ Burnley (ESPN+)
Very good chance this is over by the time this gets to you, but Burnley is trying to keep its lead to at least two games (and at least six over having to play in the playoff). We will catch you up more on Burnley soon, but the gist is that they’re doing a lot of winning.
Friday, 7:00 PM EST: Sens @ Penguins (NHL Network)
Saturday, 7:00 PM EST: Jets @ Sens (ESPN+)
The Sens look to sweep the home-and-home tonight with the Penguins and climb within three games in the wild card race. The Sens look to ground the Jets tomorrow and grab a few points in the 2021 North Division.
