03-16-2026, 09:51 AM
(03-16-2026, 05:59 AM)SamuelMcF Wrote:(03-15-2026, 09:22 PM)Papa John Wrote:(03-15-2026, 07:26 PM)82lsju Wrote:(03-15-2026, 07:00 PM)76lsjumb Wrote: I spoke with an Athletic department person today (not basketball, but someone who should know stuff) who indicated that the Crown (in Vegas) was actually preferred by Kyle Smith, so we may, indeed, have declined NIT. I guess we’ll see.
so it appears that this year The Crown is an eight team tournament. It does not start until Apr 1 so presumably teams in it get to practice for the next two weeks which would be more practices than if you lost in the first two rounds of the NIT.
https://collegebasketballcrown.com/
the field will include
Quote:It will have the top two teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East that didn't receive an NCAA Tournament bid, as well as two wild card selections determined by its committee.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...100594007/
so it looks like two spots are available to teams not in the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East
Big 10
NCAA tournament (9): Ohio State, Michigan State, UCLA, Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin
NIT (0)
Best remaining: Indiana (9-11, 18-14); USC (7-13, 18-14) -- all others have losing conference and overall records
Big 12
NCAA tournament (8): Arizona, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, BYU, TCU, UCF
NIT (1): Oklahoma State
Best remaining: West Virginia (9-9, 18-14); Cincinnati (9-9, 18-15)
Big East
NCAA tournament (3): St. John's, UConn, Villanova
NIT (0)
Best remaining: Seton Hall (10-10, 21-12); DePaul (8-12, 16-16 ) or Butler (7-13, 16-16) -- all others have losing conference and overall records
Indiana, Cincy, and Seton Hall are all declining. USC's Musselman quoted a few days ago as will "probably" decline.
Good catch, Samuel. According to USA Today, the following teams declined NIT bids as of last night:
Belmont
Virginia Tech
San Diego State
Seton Hall
Indiana
Florida State
Oklahoma
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)