Duke did it. Kentucky took a small step. Even Kansas, who’s way too far away for the gesture to be meaningful, made the gesture. All while Michigan State spent their Covid-induced weekend off dreaming of just this:
A Champions Classic NIT.
Now no, Kansas isn’t going to make it. But the other three could, especially if Kentucky keeps getting its shit together and playing like they played yesterday. As we’ve been saying, they’ve got a long way to go, but performances like that one at least give us some semblance of hope. Over the rest of the regular season, they need to win the four they should, plus probably three or four they shouldn’t, then maybe bow out in the SEC semifinals. It’s a tough path, but it’s a path, and while you still shouldn’t call Kentucky an NIT team until our NIT Bracketology again shows them in the field (they were something like 16 spots out entering the weekend, so we’re fairly confident they still won’t be in there tomorrow), Michigan State and Duke have us hoping. And that’s without us getting to UNC, who despite beating NC State is still in the picture as another blue-blood.
What a time to be an NIT fan.
Also Coach K is gonna get this canceled, isn’t he.
Other notes for today:
- Stanford hurt their lot with that overtime win over UCLA. Mizzou hurt their sleeper hopes with that road win over Tennessee. And Maryland, winning in the Barn and holding Minnesota to 49 points, is probably going to spend some time in timeout.
- It’s hard to say exactly what Syracuse’s beating of Virginia Tech means. It was in the Carrier Dome, so it shouldn’t hurt the Hokies, but Syracuse looked good, and that’s fairly unusual this year. Don’t get too comfortable, James.
- Clemson, weeks ago, was being called the best team in the ACC. They are now not outside the realm of the NIT. Which just shows why you should never lose hope if you’re a traditionally mediocre program playing well all of a sudden. WE KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE, CLEMSON.
- Penn State beat Northwestern in a bubble game.
- Saint Mary’s beat San Francisco in a bubble game.
- DePaul beat Marquette in half a bubble game, by which we mean Marquette had been on the bubble and now I would say that they’re not. And not in a good way.
- In the A-10, VCU beat Dayton, but it might’ve been by too much. Meanwhile, St. Bonaventure missed a chance to lose to Duquesne.
- Pitt lost to Wake Forest in an effective reset. The Panthers had been pushing the limits.
- Georgia Tech lost at Virginia, but only by two, and we’re beginning to worry Josh Pastner has gotten too good. November was too short this year for Georgia Tech’s atrocities to carry them through as many wins as the rest of the schedule could hold.
- Rutgers and Indiana have already tipped, with Rutgers trying to solidify its place as an NITitle contender.
- Davidson has a shot at a convenient road win over UMass in a game that’s also tipped. The Wildcats have been around the NIT periphery all year but have yet to really get themselves into the midst of things.
- Navy’s automatic bid hopes continue to rise, unless the same weird Patriot League division thing that’s given them this easy schedule is also used to say they aren’t the conference’s regular season champion if they keep winning. I would put nothing past the Patriot League. Also Navy hosts Army this afternoon and the winner gets the third briefcase of nuclear codes.
