UPDATE: Wow. Really messed this one up. Forgot all about Memphis somehow. Thank you to the reader who pointed that out. Please disregard the premise here.
To be fair, this was true entering last night as well. I just didn’t realize it until I’d already written most of yesterday’s blog post. But it’s still true, and now’s a convenient time to talk about it.
We’re getting a first-time NIT champion this year.
It’s hard to say how much winning an NIT means for a college basketball program. Because there really isn’t a good way to measure it. For some it seems good. For some it seems ok. It isn’t bad for anybody—nobody is hurting themselves by winning the NIT—but there also isn’t an agreed-upon meaning of winning the NIT like there is for, say, winning the Super Bowl. This is because the NIT is grander than the Super Bowl. More ephemeral. More mysterious. It is not as simple as that contest. There are layers here.
What does an NIT title mean to me, the world’s biggest NIT fan?
It means the program is on the map.
The map of my heart.
Here’s what went down last night:
The Shot: Mississippi State beats Richmond.
We all (and I mean all of us) remember Quinndary Weatherspoon’s shot to beat Baylor in Mississippi State’s 2018 NIT Final Four run. It’s hard to believe we’re adding another to the list so soon. And yet, here we are. D.J. Stewart Jr. hit the big three with seconds remaining to push the Bulldogs past the Spiders.
Hail State. Welcome to…still Frisco.
The Sheep: Colorado State takes down NC State.
Rams are sheep. You know? We don’t think about that all the time. But they’re sheep. Kind of cool.
Anyway, Colorado State made it happen. The team that came into this in the best headspace (based on Twitter videos made prior to either Selection Show). The top overall seed. The participant from the highest altitude (pretty sure on this but correct me if I’m wrong). Colorado State’s sticking around.
The Shatter: Memphis ends Boise State’s dream run.
Alas. But at the same time, good for Memphis.
Boise State made it interesting, and that’s a bit of an understatement. The Broncos gave the Tigers all they could handle, but Memphis is the favorite for a reason (the reason is that they’re the best team in the tournament and we’re at a point where everyone still playing almost definitely cares).
The Shooter: Louisiana Tech bests Western Kentucky.
Kalob Ledoux. The exact name you would want to be the hero for Louisiana Tech.
Western Kentucky was doomed from the outset with Big Red sidelined for the happenings. That’s not to criticize WKU. Circumstances happen. It’s just that you can’t be the best if you don’t have the best on the sidelines.
***
While we cannot wait (and yet we will) for the Final Four tomorrow, we do get a Final Four today. The WNIT’s playing at 4:00 EDT (Delaware vs. Rice) and at 7:00 EDT (Northern Iowa vs. Mississippi).
Get your hype on.
Memphis wouldn’t be a first-time NIT champion.
Oh man, thank you. Really messed that one up. Not sure how I forgot that over the span of 24 hours.