03-16-2026, 12:24 PM
(03-16-2026, 11:49 AM)Mick Wrote:(03-16-2026, 09:51 AM)Papa John Wrote:I get Indiana. But Belmont? Belmont turned down an NIT bid?(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: 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
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
Here's how many times each of those teams have been in the NCAA tournament:
Indiana, 42
Oklahoma, 33
Florida State, 18
San Diego State, 17
Seton Hall, 14
Virginia Tech, 13
Belmont, 8
Belmont's coach took the Kansas State job, which must have had something to do with their declining the NIT bid.
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)