One of the fun (?) things about KenPom is that you can take five minutes and look at things like which NIT champion was the worst in the KenPom era.
The answer, as some of you may have guessed, is 2003’s St. John’s, the last champion to have to vacate the title. I think they were found to have paid Abe Keita, who I think brought that allegation himself after getting suspended for a year for his role in a sex scandal. Not positive about that, though, so let’s just say “ALLEGEDLY” to cover our bases here. But yeah. Messy stuff.
Anyway, one month before St. John’s won that NIT, they beat Duke. And if you think it was because Duke was bad that year, think again. They almost beat Kansas in the “sweet sixteen” of that other tournament—the Kansas team that went on to lose to Carmelo Anthony in the championship. Duke finished ranked sixth in KenPom. Duke wasn’t great (they were nowhere close to the NIT) but they were good.
File this away in your “arguments the NIT is the better tournament” folder.
