It’s hard to ever refer to a team as an NIT “lock.” Unlike some tournaments, for which locks are awarded as early as January, it’s really hard to make the NIT. But it’s never been harder than this year—one in which the shorter nonconference schedule dullened teams’ tools for picking up good and bad losses, the coronavirus presented uncertainty about which games would even be played, and the field shrunk to 16 teams, narrowing an already narrow gate. And that’s without mentioning that teams will have to convince their athletic departments to send over the paperwork and sign the team up if invited, something normally taken for granted.
This is why, after their elimination from the WCC Tournament, Saint Mary’s won’t be called a lock in this space. We may have called Saint Louis a lock at some point. If we did, my apologies, because there were rumors yesterday that the Billikens were trying to add an opponent, proving that nothing is really over with this year. That taught us our lesson. We won’t use the L-word with anyone until Sunday night makes it official.
We’ll think it, though.
The NITuation surrounding today’s NIT Bracketology:
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song): Nobody
I’m gonna say that this is because our model is really good at predicting the NIT, so it doesn’t change much when new results come in. I’m not gonna say this is because there were very few games last night.
Next in Line:
Below the field, from closest to close:
Toledo
Minnesota
Providence
Kentucky
Richmond
North Carolina State
Marshall
Dayton
UNC-Greensboro
Georgia
Marquette
Belmont
Next out of Line:
Above the field, from closest to close:
Drake
SMU
Boise State
Colorado State
Syracuse
Wichita State
Maryland
UCLA
Virginia Tech
Oklahoma
Louisville
Georgia Tech
***
And that’s the NITuation.
Today’s other notes:
- Pepperdine fell in overtime to BYU, robbing us of a few minutes spent checking if Pepperdine was anywhere near the NIT picture.
- Pitt’s playing Miami right now. Remember when Pitt was in the NIT picture? What a ride that was. Funny intersection between that and it becoming clear how bad Duke is.
- Speaking of the Blue Devils, they open the ACC Tournament against Boston College today, desperately needing a win to stay in the NIT picture.
- This is possibly old news, but I just noticed it: The NIT has announced gametimes for the Final Four: Semifinals on Saturday, March 27th and Noon and 3 PM Eastern time. Championship on Sunday, March 28th at Noon Eastern. Third Place Game at 3 PM Eastern that Sunday. Broadcast on ESPN for all those games.
Bona NIT.
