We don’t know what’s in Mike Krzyzewski’s head. We think we do sometimes (you know those cartoonish scenes of Hell they’d use sometimes on Nickelodeon shows?), but we never really know.
And so while we’d guess that Coach K, upon realizing his team was not going to make that other tournament, would say that it was important for his players’ safety that they stop doing the things they’d been doing for the last four months—traveling and playing basketball—it’s also possible he’d say, “You know what? Sure,” and play in the NIT.
Or that Duke’s athletic director’s office would accidentally sign the paperwork, which might be our actual best hope.
Anyway, Duke’s blowout win in Winston-Salem was necessary last night, because nobody’s pushed back on that 16-team NIT rumor, leading us to believe Duke’s got a little bit of work to do (not a lot, though—doing a lot of work would ruin all of this).
Other notes for today:
- Indiana beat Minnesota at home, something that doesn’t really help Minnesota and certainly doesn’t help Indiana.
- Utah State avoided a good win in Boise. Necessary. Smart.
- VCU won the Rager in Richmond™, keeping themselves out of NIT-land while their crosstown rivals (Richmond) kept themselves in.
- Kentucky beat Vanderbilt narrowly in Nashville. Not all hope is lost there. For Kentucky, I mean. Vanderbilt has not hoped for a few years now.
- In the SoCon, UNC-Greensboro got thwacked by VMI. I don’t know exactly what this does to the SoCon picture, but I think UNCG’s still the favorite while Wofford and Furman are now better situated.
- Maryland again did not lose to Nebraska. Two chances and they took neither. Bold.
- Loyola nearly pulled off a rousing home loss to Valpo that would have royally changed their NIT hopes. Big bummer for those guys.
- Penn State hosts Ohio State tonight. If the .500 thing is a thing this year, implicitly or explicitly, the Nittany Lions probably need to win two they shouldn’t, as things currently stand. This might be disastrous for them, but what are you going to do? You didn’t get to play much nonconference. The window might not exist. Anyway, the visit from Ohio State tonight would be a good one of those two.
- In the Pac-12, UCLA hosts Arizona and Oregon hosts Colorado. UCLA is in especially prime position, but Oregon could also use a loss. Meanwhile, Utah’s in Corvallis and I think they want a win.
- BYU visits Pacific. Time to start losing if the Cougars want to make this happen.
- Saint Mary’s visits Gonzaga. Don’t do anything reckless, Gaels.
- San Diego State plays at Fresno State, and the Mountain West’s four-bid dreams could come true if the Aztecs lose (and a bunch of other things happen). Just saying.
- Stanford visits Washington. Don’t need to lose that one, but maybe want to.
- In automatic bid land, which we’re beginning to think won’t exist, the Big Sky’s busy, with Eastern Washington (9-2) hosting Montana, Southern Utah (6-2) hosting Sacramento State, and Weber State (7-3) hosting Northern Arizona. We’ve also got a big America East matchup with Vermont (9-3) playing UMBC (also 9-3) in Baltimore.
Bona NIT.
