Good morning, NIT fans, and happy birthday to Abraham Lincoln. It’s time to worship whatever deity you worship, provided you worship that deity on Sundays. If you don’t? Get right to the NIT. The NIT comes second. No, I don’t care if your child is crying. They’ll still be crying after you read this. So just go ahead and read it.
Five games today. Six games today? Hold on.
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Six games of interest. Here they are, in reverse order of how much delight they’re expected to provide NIT fans:
6. 12:00 PM EST – Temple @ Memphis (ESPN2)
This should cause us a little pain. It is what it is. It’s the situation we find ourselves in. Memphis opened the season as the preliminary NIT favorite, and some might still call them the NIT favorite, but they’re not exactly looking destined for the NIT, and this game isn’t expected to help. NIT candidates are like soldiers. It’s hard when you lose one of the favorites.
5. 1:00 PM EST – Iowa @ Minnesota (FS1)
Iowa’s already probably out of the NIT, but this is a last-ditch opportunity to rejoin the picture, and it isn’t one they’re expected to take. If it works, this will climb our list, but it’s more likely that it doesn’t.
4. 2:00 PM EST – Purdue @ Northwestern (BTN)
This one should be pretty fun for us. There’s high downside—Northwestern could light their NIT hot air balloon basket on fire—but the likeliest thing is that Purdue wins, and that Northwestern takes a small step closer to our neck of the woods. Just keep stepping, Northwestern. No matter how small.
3. 3:00 PM EST – Wofford @ UNC-Greensboro (ESPN+)
The Greenies (they’re named after the amphetamine baseball players used in the 80s) are trying to keep pace with Furman and Samford atop the SoCon after each of those teams won yesterday. They should do it. As head coach Mike Jones once famously intoned, “And I refuse to lose, I’m in demand now.”
2. 1:00 PM EST – Iona @ Niagara (ESPN+)
The Rickest Rick tries to help his team keep pace with Rider atop the MAAAAAAAAAAC this afternoon. And yes, Greg Paulus is still the coach at Niagara.
1. 1:00 PM EST – Michigan State @ Ohio State (CBS)
And in the big game (this is what they’re referencing in all those ads), we see two of the biggest brands in the game, each struggling on their quest to reach college basketball’s greatest postseason tournament. The Buckeyes struggling to get back to .500. The Spartans struggling to get back towards .500 but like they’ve been winning too much so it’s .500 from being above it not .500 from being below it. All eyes in the sporting world are on Columbus, as the story continues to be written. What a privilege to read it live.
