Not a lot of teams made moves towards the NIT last night. There was an imbalance. Ohio State? Falling towards missing it. Clemson and Nevada? Winning towards missing it. Even Mississippi and Butler, two of our targets, lost but looked competitive while doing it. That’s not what we need from you guys right now. Get it together. We want dramatic moves towards the NIT. Not gradual bubble pressure upon teams who didn’t play.
Thankfully, Minnesota and Indiana did make serious NIT progress. The pride of Big Ten basketball was at it.
It’s a weird era in Big Ten hoops. They have their best single NCAA *ournament hope in maybe more than a decade, but they’re the worst they’ve been as a conference since 2018, when Maryland went 19–13 and didn’t make the NIT (not in the way they wanted to not make the NIT). There are, right now, nine serious contenders in the league for NIT berths, and that’s without counting Michigan State, whose fringe candidacy is real, if slim. Even those, though, mostly pop up around the fringes.
Let’s break it down.
Hopeless: Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan
It pains me greatly to say this, but the Badgers just don’t have it this year. Similarly, Michigan might not win ten games. Juwan Howard’s last win might have been that Ohio State game. 2023 was fun, guys. But it’s 2024 now.
There Is Exactly One Path: Michigan State
Michigan State’s lucky its good wins came within the state of Michigan. Even so, Sparty probably needs to avoid beating Illinois, Purdue, and whoever they face in the Big Ten Tournament, and they also need Indiana State and Butler to cool off. Michigan State’s path is to have one Q1 win, the one against Baylor. Even then, Tom Izzo probably gets held out. Remember 2021?
We Wish: Nebraska, Northwestern
These guys play each other this evening and it infuriates me to no end to not be able to call it the Game of the NITe. Fate has robbed us. These guys would be such great NIT teams. There’s time for a turnaround, but I fear they’re going to bind Rienk Mast’s hands and lead him somewhere he shouldn’t want to go.
Probably: Iowa, Maryland
You see we write this but then we think of Maryland’s game last night and it just gets so darn hard to believe in those pranksters. We should be safe with the Hawkeyes, but they do still get both Wisconsin and Illinois at home. Don’t love that.
Maybe (Getting Better): Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers
Minnesota’s win over Michigan State was big. The Gophers are competitive. They’re getting there. In a parallel note but not as strong of one, Rutgers and Penn State are both on two-game road winning streaks, but they dug themselves some hellacious holes. We love both programs dearly, but it’s an uphill climb.
Maybe (Getting Worse): Ohio State
We’d love to get Ohio State fans into Indianapolis for the NIT Final Four, because there are a lot of them, but contrary to popular belief, you need to win games to make the NIT. Not too many, of course, but some. At some point, Ohio State will need to win another basketball game.
Maybe (Indiana): Indiana
Which brings us to Ohio State’s latest vanquisher. We can’t quit Indiana. We want them so badly. At Hinkle Fieldhouse? After Bobby Knight’s death? There is nothing more Hoosiers than these Hoosiers making this NIT Championship.
Of course, if they made the tournament they’d probably lose in the first or second round, because they’re bad, but watch Anthony Leal play (not the Penn State game, don’t watch the Penn State game) and tell me there isn’t magic still swirling in and around Assembly Hall.
The Big 12 Is a Baseball League
College baseball starts next week, but what we’re actually referring to here is Kelvin Sampson’s ejection last night, where he took the Big 12’s memo on enforcing coaching box violations and said, “Great. I know what will get me ejected, then!” and stomped all across the court until they tossed him. Sending a message. Firing up his team. Doing something guaranteed to get you ejected because you would like to be ejected. That’s a baseball coach move. Who was the best baseball coach in Houston over the last five years? Turns out it was Kelvin Sampson the whole time.
Armando Bacot Running–From–the–Grind Watch
This is a bad time for this, but!
It was almost a great time.
My favorite thing about Armando Bacot is that eight months after he said Simeon Wilcher was “running from the grind” by decommitting from UNC, the primary gripe about UNC’s basketball team is that Armando Bacot doesn’t try if it isn’t a huge game. To be fair, Bacot might be banged up, and to be fair, Bacot had a big night last night (that’s what makes this a bad time). But shouldn’t Bacot be crushing these teams? He’s doing a big “Nah, I’m good,” after being the “running from the grind” guy. Maybe the timing of that tweet really was a coincidence. Maybe Bacot was announcing his intentions for his super-senior season.
How Does Women’s College Basketball Compare to the WNBA?
This is an honest question. Please! Don’t cancel me! No!!!!!!
Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina’s women’s team’s leading scorer and rebounder, will miss the Gamecocks’ next few games, including one against UConn this weekend. Why? She’s playing on the Brazilian national team.
I know that Brazil’s national team isn’t on par with the U.S. national team, and I know that Cardoso isn’t necessarily the best player on the Brazilian team (by which I mean I don’t know her role, having yet to break down Brazilian national team tape). But the idea’s been thrown out that women’s basketball players might be able to make more through collegiate NIL deals in the next few years than they can make in the WNBA, and I want to know how the two compare. My impressions are:
- WNBA offenses would torch Caitlin Clark, and soon will.
- Caitlin Clark would torch them back.
- Dawn Staley might out-coach teams enough to be competitive.
Again, please. I’m just asking questions! (Shit. That’s a buzzphrase.)
Etc.
The rest of last NITe, the whole of toNITe, and a touch of NITexas:
- We might want to keep an eye on South Florida. Eight straight wins, 14 wins in 15 games, haven’t beaten a lot of good teams but did win at Memphis, at North Texas, and against Florida State near Miami, with their only loss in that stretch coming at Bartow Arena against UAB. Amir Abdur-Rahim is the Kennesaw State coach from last year. If you’re looking for a deep NIT sleeper, it might be the Bulls.
- Again, I’m very upset that Nebraska and Northwestern are each presently beyond my reach, but Villanova’s trip to Xavier is exciting for NIT fans, and there’s some solid action on the bottom bubble in both the A-10 and the Pac-12. We’ve got our coasts covered.
- Texas lost again at home, and they’re not a serious NIT threat again yet, but the home struggles are odd. Did Texas build the Moody Center, get people riled up, and then have it get old as soon as the football team had a good year? Or is this team just not good enough to win home games against powerhouses like Houston, Iowa State, and those bullies at UCF?
Chicago:
- If last night was, mercifully for Alex Caruso, the last time we saw Alex Caruso in a Bulls uniform, going out with one made basket, six assists, and nine rebounds would be a great Alex Caruso way to go. +19 in an overtime win while scoring three points. God bless that man. With a strained something! (It doesn’t sound like he or DeRozan is going anywhere, but it’s ok to hope. For their sake.)
