Well, well, well. We’ve outlasted Mark Emmert. Hopefully. Hopefully this blog doesn’t fold before June 2023. No guarantees on that. Please continue to click! Follow us on social media!! Buy our merchandise!!! Give us all of your money!!!!
Mark Emmert did a lot of things well. Actually, that might not be true. He definitely did one thing well, though, which is to make it very clear how bad the NCAA is, something Joe wrote about more eloquently earlier. If you want to read something thoughtful about the future of the NCAA and Emmert’s tenure, read Joe’s notes. Then, come back here, because we need to talk about the NIT.
There are two broad scenarios for what the end of Emmert’s tenure can mean for the NIT, and they’re pretty simple: One is that it could be good. The other is that it could be bad.
The bad scenario is that Emmert was a useful idiot, that he was enough of a traditionalist to not directly attack the NIT and enough of an incompetent slob to be susceptible to attack from the NIT. It’s possible these were the NIT’s best years to try to take down the NCA* *********t, and that we didn’t do it in time. What if a new NCAA president comes in and tries to focus on what makes the NCAA money, hyping up the College World Series and kidnapping Greg Sankey until he lets the College Football Playoff be NCAA-sponsored and pursuing the elimination of the NCA* *********t’s greatest threat? That would be bad for the NIT. Very bad, in fact.
The good scenario is that what happens is what’s already been happening: The NCAA’s downfall continues.
As Joe wrote, the NCAA doesn’t really serve a point anymore other than to organize postseason tournaments. There’s a clearinghouse, yeah, I have a vague idea of what that is, but beyond those two things, everything else can be done by the colleges and conferences themselves, and judging by every impression Emmert ever gave us, a new organization built to do those specific things would do a better job than the NCAA is doing. It is hard to believe that an organization run by Mark Emmert for as long as the NCAA was run by Mark Emmert could be doing anything particularly well. It’s like judging the federal government by its presidents for the last thirty or one hundred thirty seven years, but with the added incrimination of the NCAA effectively selecting its own leadership. At least the federal government’s is appointed by the people.
It’s possible, then, that the NCAA folds. It’s possible it falls apart. Again, it’s possible this was more likely under Emmert, but the NCAA’s demise is still a possibility. If the NCAA does fold, college basketball will remain. And if college basketball remains in an NCAA-less world, college basketball’s going to need a postseason tournament.
This is, honestly, a way the NIT can win. We’ll have to wash away the stigma, and I may have to kidnap Greg Sankey (Greg, it looks like you’re getting kidnapped either way, so if it helps your decision-making at all, since we all know you have the power to choose the next NCAA president, I promise to take you to Cracker Barrel four times a day if I’m the one who gets to hold your feet to the fire [disclaimer: won’t do the kidnapping, this isn’t a threat!]), but with the right combination of circumstances (the biscuits are good, Greg), we can get it done. We can get the NIT back atop the pyramid. We can win.
What actions of our own will help the cause as the NCAA searches for Mark Emmert’s replacement? Sow chaos. Sow confusion. This is a moment at which the NCAA’s weakness is on full display, and we need to make clear what the people want. What don’t they want? TruTV. What don’t they want? The NCAA. What don’t they want? Trees to be replaced with portapotties (can’t spell “NCAA” without “stinky public toilets”). It’s time for a new governing body of college sports, one that puts the sports first instead of using the sports as a way to put its name on something marketable. Whatever the new governing body is won’t need to name any postseason college basketball tournaments after itself. They’ll already have a name. And that name shall be “the NIT.”
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Other matters of notes:
Desmond Bane Takes No Shit
The man who’s played more NIT games than anyone else in this year’s NBA playoffs acted like it last night, getting Chris Finch out of his face when Finch encroached on his space before an inbounds pass. (That’s what happened, right? I wasn’t paying much attention.)
Sens Won
Beat the Devils in overtime. Still have a chance of finishing 5th in the Atlantic, which sounds pretty good when you say it like that!
