The NCAA announced a new NIT today.
Here’s what it means for you and your family.
The Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament will, as was promised last summer, be a 32-team women’s basketball postseason tournament played at the same time as the women’s NCAA Tournament (we can spell it out when it isn’t the men’s one—we have no quarrel with the WNCAAT). They haven’t finalized the selection process yet (read: we don’t know what will happen with automatic bids), but your local NIT expert expects it to be pretty much the same as the NIT itself. This is arguably the biggest step forward in the history of gender equality.
For many, the announcement came as a surprise, because for many, the WNIT was already a staple of March. The WNIT—a 64-team tournament run separately from the NCAA by a business named Triple Crown Sports—had an especially strong season this year, 2023, with multiple sellouts and a packed crowd at Phog Allen Fieldhouse for the championship.
Ideally, the NCAA will allow its schools to choose between the WNIT and the WBIT, because that would be very exciting and we would effectively have two women’s NITs. If that doesn’t work, we still hope the WNIT sticks around. It was great for basketball. Those crowds speak for themselves. It’s unclear as of this afternoon what Triple Crown Sports will do about the WNIT. It’s unclear what the NCAA will do about the WNIT. The NCAA seems to have tried to put some weight against the WNIT already—the AP did an admirable job carrying water for the occupying force when reporting on the announcement, saying, “Hosting in (the WNIT) could cost a school tens of thousands of dollars if they advanced far enough,” which is firstly a bold claim after those crowds we saw this spring and secondly not really the point? Women’s basketball isn’t a huge moneymaker for athletic departments, making it hard to believe even low-major programs are getting crushed financially by the WNIT. Also: No one is forcing them to participate.
Whatever happens with the WNIT, we’ve finally got a women’s NIT equivalent with the same format and size and NCAA administration as the greatest tournament known to man. Well, known to woman and man both, now. It’s a big day.
Brad Calipari’s Back
Jerry Stackhouse (coming off consecutive NIT appearances, pretty hard to do that) has hired Brad Calipari to his staff at Vanderbilt for this upcoming season, further putting the pressure on one-time NIT champion John Calipari to get his act together and get back to college basketball’s crown event. The northern reaches of the SEC just got a whole lot spicier.
That’s Not the Old Name
Big words from Oklahoma and Texas today when they said they were bringing back the old name of what they’re now calling…the Red River Rivalry? I’m sorry, I know that was the name, but that’s not the name, guys. Show me some research linking you getting rid of the Shootout name to a single reduction in gunfire. Any jurisdiction, any time period, any sample you want. Show some hint of causal evidence that not referring to an annual football game as a “Shootout” is lessening gun violence. If a bullet stayed in the chamber because of your efforts, let me know, and I will stand down. Until then, switching from Showdown to Rivalry doesn’t do much, guys.
Good Joe Kelly News
Joe Kelly will reportedly come off the IL in New York this week, which should mean the Mets can expect him to destroy their souls on Thursday. Tough news for the Mets. That’s probably the final nail in their coffin. At least it’s coming by way of a guy who also finished off the Yankees once upon a time, for what turned out to be at least five seasons. 2018 just does not get enough attention. What a year that was. Every episode of MilkTime ever recorded (so far) was released, I took a nice vacation to Montana, Joe Kelly won the Red Sox their most significant World Series in history…we had a good year.
Quinn Priester, and the Deal With Cary-Grove
For those of you watching Quinn Priester’s Pirates debut tonight and wondering what the deal is with Cary-Grove, his high school back in Illinois, here’s what to know:
- They’re in District 155, which is the Crystal Lake high school district.
- They’re traditionally very good at sports, with the notable exception of basketball, which is the one sport where the Fox Valley Conference is not at all competitive on the state level.
- With Cary-Grove kids hailing from Cary and Fox River Grove, we Crystal Lake kids didn’t have as much in common with them as we did with each other, but I (and I’m guessing others of us who went to Central) still liked Cary-Grove more than Prairie Ridge by a longshot. Cary-Grove had a ‘take care of business’ vibe. South was goofier, PR was more arrogant, Cary-Grove just played good ball. I liked South kids more, had more South friends, but a lot of that comes back to the old Little League boundaries which have since been dissolved because travel baseball is killing the game among our youth. Cary-Grove had my respect, and so does Quinn Priester.
Good luck tonight, young man. Make the FVC proud. Bummed the Pirates already finished playing the Dodgers this year. Bobby Miller went to McHenry. I respect McHenry too.
Are the Reds Finally Dead?
The Cubs might be toast, it was looking very good after Saturday and then Masataka Yoshida took it upon himself to ruin my life, but at least the Reds are now 1–5 in their last six. It’s not that I dislike the Reds—I definitely dislike the Brewers more than I dislike the Reds—but I’m used to the Brewers, and I know they’re probably trying to trade whoever the face of their franchise is right now, so I’m not worried about them winning a World Series and thereby forcing me take them seriously. The Reds? That’s a new worry. I’d rather not explore it.
Burnley Courts American 7-Year-Olds
I forgot to mention this last week, but Dude Perfect is the sponsor on Burnley’s various youth team jerseys, the U21’s or whatever ages they have.
What a shift this is for Burnley. Two years ago, the point of Burnley was to see how angry teams got when forced into repeated 0–0 draws. Now, it’s pairing up with a group famous for filling the minds of second graders with the soma which is YouTube trick shots. We should have seen it coming when J.J. Watt invested.
The Leagues Cup, Eh?
I do check in on Austin FC, because I am a good neighbor, and I lost my shit for a moment earlier when I saw that they’re taking a break longer than a month in the middle of the season. Really, MLS? The whole reason you don’t play on the grown-up soccer calendar (August to May) is that the weather’s nicer in America in July. Then, I learned it’s because of the Leagues Cup, which I’m told is the MLS’s teams and Liga MX’s teams all playing one another? I can respect it. If there’s one thing I like about soccer, it’s 0–0 draws led by Burnleyers whose faces look like they should be accompanied by beer bellies. If there’s another, it’s a league taking a major break from competition so its teams or players can go play in a special tournament we’ve all agreed to call a Cup. Cup! It’s so whimsical.
