Joe made a point today about how it’s ok for the NCAA to wait to announce any news about this year’s NIT. Realistically, the decision can be made as far in the future as a few days in advance of Selection Sunday, given the tournament is mostly played on college campuses, and could be played exclusively on college campuses if need be.
In other words, take your time, NCAA, and let’s hope this vaccination rollout speeds up/social distancing measures come back in vogue enough to give us a healthy field.
Other notes for today:
- Western Kentucky beat Marshall last night, putting Big Red back in serious NIT contention. The stars smile.
- Cleveland State won at the Nutter Center, which was crucial for the Horizon League’s automatic bid streak. They rematch tonight.
- Don’t-win games today, in which teams do not need this victory: Arkansas’s visit to Alabama. North Carolina’s visit to Florida State. BYU’s visit to San Francisco. South Carolina’s visit to LSU. Florida’s visit to Mississippi State. Stanford’s visit to Colorado. Lot of teams wanting to avoid road wins.
- Syracuse and Pitt open the day with an Old Big East/New ACC NIT-style showdown. The tingles, man. The tingles.
- San Francisco (hosting BYU, as we said) and Saint Mary’s (hosting Gonzaga, as we didn’t say) each have a chance to reset their season with a home upset and get back into NIT-land. The Bay Area waits with heavy anticipation.
- Mississippi tries to work its way back up into title contention, hosting Georgia in what should be straightforward for a legitimate NIT team, but might not be straightforward for Mississippi.
- Kentucky’s got a good opportunity to get back across the line, playing nothing-to-play-for Auburn on the road.
- Missouri could make a statement, playing at Texas A&M (the statement would be that they’re secretly kinda bad).
- And on CBS, we get a rematch of that San Diego State/Utah State game, where our aspirations of a game in the 30’s could theoretically be achieved. Keep the faith, friends. Keep the faith.
