National Invitation Tournament: 2018 preview and analysis of the field
The National Invitation Tournament has an extremely strong field of NCAA Basketball teams. Which team will cut down the nets in Madison Square Garden?
In this preview, I will give a general overview and notes about the NIT, highlight some of the favorites to cut down the nets in Madison Square Garden, and analyze some sleeper teams and key players to watch. The article will conclude with my predictions for the NIT Tournament.
Overall, this is a very strong field. St. Mary’s, Penn State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Baylor, and USC are all top 40 KenPom teams. Vermont, Middle Tennessee, and Louisiana-Lafayette are three of the strongest mid-major regular season champions. There is a lot to like here.
Here is a breakdown of the new rules for the 2018 NIT:
– 4 10-minute quarters instead of halves
– Lane is widened to 16 feet
– 3 point arc is extended by 1’ 8’’
-Shot clock is reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound
I am definitely in favor of trying new rules in the NIT before implementing them universally. If I remember correctly, the block/charge semi-circle was introduced to the college game through the NIT first as well and that was an excellent addition. Same with the 30-second shot clock which was also much needed.
In my opinion, Oklahoma State was the biggest snub. The committee heavily emphasizes quality wins away from home and the Cowboys swept Kansas, won at West Virginia, and beat Florida State on a neutral court. Their 88th ranked RPI did them in.
I was also vehemently opposed to Nebraska making the NCAA Tournament and I am glad they did not. They had only one quality win and had only six wins over teams with winning records. But even I, with my staunch anti-Nebraska stance, can easily admit that the Huskers deserved much better than a No. 5 seed in the NIT. I expected a No. 3 seed. To not give Nebraska a home game with their level of fan support is absurd. The NIT needs all the eyeballs it can get and filling an arena would be a great showing.
While I think it is the correct decision to give teams like Oklahoma and Arizona State NCAA Tournament berths for their strong early season resumes, the NIT should be under no such obligation to give Temple an NIT berth. The Owls were seen as an NCAA Tournament lock at one point and own wins over Auburn, Wichita State, and Clemson, but finished with an 8-10 record in the AAC.
The Pac-12 has 5 teams in the NIT field. I am sure Bill Walton is not pleased, but maybe we will be fortunate enough to hear his rants while he calls some of these games. Hopefully, Walton is on the schedule as it would be an easy way to add viewers for some late night NIT basketball.