A question, for the room:
If somebody offered you the chance to see a college basketball championship played out—three games, three days, four teams, one neutral site—and your options were to watch Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State, and UConn in Houston or Wisconsin, UAB, North Texas, and Utah Valley in Las Vegas…would you have a preference? Would you not choose Las Vegas, based on the number of unintentional Guy Fieri lookalikes at the airport?
I think we might have a leg up this year, friends, and I need you all to hammer it.
Digging deeper, it really comes down to Miami vs. Wisconsin in terms of team quality. UConn, UAB, North Texas, and FAU are all members of the American Athletic Conference, within a rounding error. San Diego State and Utah Valley are each pretty much just part of the WAC. Miami and Wisconsin are the only differences, and if you were to ask any reasonable college basketball fan which has been the better program over the last twenty years, would the answer not be Wisconsin? The Badgers have the prestige! Then, to circle back to locales…the NIT’s on top, you guys.
I’m at NIT Media Day right now, and I’ll have all the quotes from it on Twitter and on the site tomorrow, but just a thought, as the Final Fours kick off. I don’t think college basketball is saving the best for last.
Crowd Events
Heads up to Wisconsin and North Texas fans: Each of your schools (or alumni associations, I forget which) is planning a tailgate or pregame celebration of some sort tomorrow. I haven’t seen anything from Utah Valley or UAB, but I’m a lot more plugged into Madison and Denton by virtue of where I’ve lived and whom I call my friends. Look for details on the UNT alumni website and the UW athletics website. Again, not saying there isn’t anything for Utah Valley or UAB, but let’s face it: The world is focused on one game tomorrow. It’s up to UVU and UAB to change that.
I’ll try to stop by each. No promises, but would love to meet some fellow NIT enthusiasts.
The Joe Kelly/Rob Lowe Feud Is Over
Still haven’t read Joe Kelly’s book, but I did grab a bookmark for it while I was packing, and Rob Lowe’s got a quote on the back. One of those quotes they put on the back to make people buy the book. Not as effective when you’ve already bought it, but hey—Rob Lowe didn’t know I’d already bought it. Here’s what he said:
“Joe Kelly is a fan favorite wherever he goes. A passionate competitor who rides hard for the uniform he wears, Joe brings the same intensity to this very important book. It’s a great look at our great game—America’s pastime—from someone who still lives life on the diamond.”
Wow! Thanks, Rob! We’ve sure come a long way from when you said, “I literally cannot watch Joe Kelly pitch. I’m sorry. I just can’t do it.”
Other quotes on the back come from David Ortiz, Mookie Betts, and Joe Davis, further cementing the idea that baseball is behind Joe Kelly right now. Joe Kelly is…the universal baseball spokesperson? This is not something I expected on that fateful April night in 2018. But damn, does it bode well for getting on SportsCenter or CNN sometime with “NIT Stu – Joe Kelly expert” on the chyron.
LeBron James Is Too Small
This is now canon.
Two good wins for the Bulls out west so far, and they’re now even in the loss column for 8th in the East. One play-in game? Instead of two?? Imagine.
Big one against the Clippers tonight. LeBron James Laker fans are gonna be all sorts of confused on who to pull for there.
Are ACC Fans Losers?
I was sitting between the most delightful North Carolina couple last night on the flight from Austin to Las Vegas (it was Southwest, which should explain a lot here) and at one point, the older lady asked the older man if he knew if Miami had won. The older man had been reading a magazine about vintage coins, so he didn’t know. I’d paid for wifi, though (high roller/had a fantasy baseball draft), so I told her.
She was giddy.
Again, this lady was awesome. She was really, really nice and only made one uncomfortable racial comment (Tyrese Proctor looks like an Egyptian, she said, which wasn’t weird until she kept talking about it and added how he is from Africa and long story short Cleopatra was mentioned).
But she was a Duke fan, and she was giddy over Miami reaching the alleged Final Four? Because it helped the ACC’s perception?
This isn’t right or wrong, but it’s loser behavior. I can say that, too. I’m an NIT blogger. I know what loser behavior is.
Grant McCasland and Texas Tech
I wasn’t going to bring it up, and that’s why I’m hiding it in the penultimate section here, right around when eyes see “Sens” and start glazing over, but Grant McCasland is both coaching North Texas in the NIT Final Four and expected to take the Texas Tech job as soon as this weekend.
I don’t know whether McCasland is definitely taking it or if he’s just Tech’s top target, but scoopers coalesced around his name days ago, and there hasn’t been a peep concerning the job ever since. Also, Paul Mills went to Wichita State, and he’d been the other obvious hire.
The coolest scenario here is that McCasland hasn’t been returning Tech’s calls at all, saying he’s focused on winning the national championship. We’ll also, though, settle for the guy just making it clear to his new employers that he owes it to his team to finish this one out. Am I biased because Grant McCasland knows who I am? Of course. But that also implies he’s a man of honor.
It Might Be Over for the Sens
The Sens lost to the Devils on Saturday, and they really need points right now. Losing does not get you points (if you lose in regulation). They’re seven points (three and a half games, basically) out of the playoffs now with only nine to play. Bad situation. Must defeat the Panthers tonight. Must, must, must.
Do I know anything else about the game? No. Didn’t even know if they’d won or lost until just now. There are two days between NIT season and Joe Kelly season and they were Friday and Saturday. I am but a man. I have a family. My lease expires in six weeks.
**
More observations from Las Vegas tomorrow, including our full NIT Final Four preview. No idea what that’s gonna look like, to be honest. That’s part of why we didn’t publish it today. I haven’t written a word.
