A coin toss.
That’s how our model views Radford’s NIT chances.
Fifty percent likely.
On the nose.
That’s how probable it is Radford loses this week, locks itself into its first NIT bid, and gets Marty Smith’s clout involved in NIT evangelizing.
Exhilarating stuff.
The Big South is among the NIT-friendlier conferences, so if Radford does lose and qualify, it’ll do so at home, perhaps provoking the first post-loss storming of an athletic surface since the Bush Push. The Highlanders host the quarterfinals and the semifinals of the Big South Tournament, and if they make the championship, they’ll host that too. Of course, this heightens the risk they win this darn thing and don’t make the NIT, but that’s evidently a risk the Big South was willing to take. Fortune favors the bold, and if Chris Clemons’s brief NIT appearance last year taught us anything, the Big South is all about being bold.
As with many leagues, the Big South has only one team that can make the NIT, so we aren’t going to talk about anyone else. We aren’t going to talk about Winthrop’s rapid offense, or Hampton’s complete disavowal of defense, or how Tubby Smith’s the coach at High Point now. And we certainly aren’t going to talk about the implications of tonight’s game between Charleston Southern and Presbyterian, where, other results aside, a Charleston Southern victory would edge Radford’s NIT odds upwards by fractions of a percent.
No, we’re here to talk about Radford, and what you should know about Radford is that they’re in the hills, they’re called the Highlanders, and they could be in line for quite the little-guy-plays-a-big-regional-neighbor story if things break the right way with them and VCU or Tennessee or Georgetown or NC State (oh, one more thing: Carlik Jones is their best player, lights it up from deep, and is a very good free throw shooter—too good, some would opine) (also Charleston Southern has a player named Phlandarious Fleming and he is exceptional but we aren’t talking about that).
It’s time.
Nuts, Bolts:
It’s a standard eleven-team bracket, with the 6/11, 7/10, and 8/9 (Charleston Southern/Presbyterian, which we aren’t talking about) games happening tonight. Thursday, the quarterfinals happen at Radford. Friday, the semifinals, also at Radford. Sunday, the championship, also at Radford unless they’ve already lost, in which case it’ll be at whichever highest seed remains in the quest for the generic consolation prize which accompanies winning these league tournaments.
