NIT automatic qualifiers

[unclejohn]

Two more tonight, as Utah Valley and Cal Irvine both lost. That brings the total to 11 with another six possible, so over half the field could be made up of automatic qualifiers. Not likely, but possible. Louisiana Tech has done well so far, and meets Tulsa in the final of C-USA. NC Central is in the final of the MEAC against Morgan State. SF Austin is in the final of the Southland against Sam Houston, which is appropriate, as they ran against each other for president of Texas. Ga. State still has a couple games to go in the Sun Belt. Western Michigan reached the finals of the MAC against Toledo. Weber State survived in OT to play North Dakota in the final of the Big Sky, which raises the possibility that the NCAA will demand that announcers not utter North Dakota's nickname if they make the Dance.

Of course, not all those teams are going to lose, but one or two will. That means there are not going to be an abundance of NIT bids available.

[IWB]

Why did I think they only allowed 8 AQs? Is the number unlimited?

[unclejohn]

I do not know for sure. I am not even sure where one would look for the answer. But I am pretty sure that more than eight have made it in the past. I think someone posted that the average is ten per year. I took a look at how some of these teams did against their conference opponents during the season. Most of them were pretty close. Western Michigan went into overtime tonight as well before beating Akron.

[MU/Panther]

Why did I think they only allowed 8 AQs? Is the number unlimited?
I'm sure the rule is unlimited. I'm willing to bet when they came up with it that every year it's been around 7 to 9 bids. They didn't think it would be this high of a number.

[MU/Panther]

Auto Bids to NIT
•Green Bay (Horizon League – could be NCAA at-large too)
•High Point (Big South)
•Belmont (Ohio Valley)
•Vermont (America East)
•Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun)
•Davidson (Southern Conference)
•Iona (MAAC)
•Robert Morris (NEC)
•Boston University (Patriot League)
•Utah Valley (WAC)
•UC Irvine (Big West)

[MUMac]

I'm sure the rule is unlimited. I'm willing to bet when they came up with it that every year it's been around 7 to 9 bids. They didn't think it would be this high of a number.

There were 14 in '11.

[TheSultan]

Marquette is still a four seed in NIT Bracketology as of yesterday. (After the Xavier loss.)

http://www.bracketmatrix.com/nit.html

I think a bid is a near certainty. Not sure about a home game.

[unclejohn]

Marquette is still a four seed in NIT Bracketology as of yesterday. (After the Xavier loss.)

http://www.bracketmatrix.com/nit.html

I think a bid is a near certainty. Not sure about a home game.

Assuming that matrix is right, we would be in great shape and would have at least one. Games are played at the home of the highest remaining seed, so the top four are guaranteed one home game and are in pretty good shape for two. I think it is an unfair rule which gives way too much of an advantage to the top seeds, but I already griped about that.

[MU_Iceman]

Assuming that matrix is right, we would be in great shape and would have at least one. Games are played at the home of the highest remaining seed, so the top four are guaranteed one home game and are in pretty good shape for two. I think it is an unfair rule which gives way too much of an advantage to the top seeds, but I already griped about that.


Shouldn't the top seeds have an advantage though?? I mean that's why you want a top seed. You WANT the best teams advancing.

[IWB]

Exactly Ice, top seeds have earned the advantage. Also, I would think the NIT would rather have a game at MU with 5,000 fans than a game at Directional State with 500.

I'm still hoping that UWGB gets an at large.

[warriorfan4life]

Exactly Ice, top seeds have earned the advantage. Also, I would think the NIT would rather have a game at MU with 5,000 fans than a game at Directional State with 500.

I'm still hoping that UWGB gets an at large.

La Tech winning today could help Green Bay's case. The Phoenix played a much better non-conference schedule, but La Tech got their signature win (at Oklahoma) away from home and made it farther in the conference tournament. I maintain that at least one mid-major will be in the First Four, and Green Bay probably is holding onto that spot as of now.

[unclejohn]

I think once you get to the tournament, it ought to be pretty even. Top seeds get their advantage by who they play. They presumably play the supposedly weaker teams. Adding on the home court advantage in every game makes it really difficult for a lower seed to advance. I like the way they do it in the Illinois football playoffs. The home team is the highest seeded team that has played the fewest home games. So in the first round, the high seeds play at home. If they all continue to win, they continue to play at home. But if a lower seed wins on the road, they probably get a home game in the next round. It levels the field, which I think makes for a fairer tournament.

[mutpm]

I think once you get to the tournament, it ought to be pretty even. Top seeds get their advantage by who they play. They presumably play the supposedly weaker teams. Adding on the home court advantage in every game makes it really difficult for a lower seed to advance. I like the way they do it in the Illinois football playoffs. The home team is the highest seeded team that has played the fewest home games. So in the first round, the high seeds play at home. If they all continue to win, they continue to play at home. But if a lower seed wins on the road, they probably get a home game in the next round. It levels the field, which I think makes for a fairer tournament.

You play and try to excel in the regular season to get an advantage in the tournament. Why play the regular season if all we care about is "fairness"?

[unclejohn]

Because games and tournaments should go to the team that that performs better in that game or tournament, not the one that had the greatest advantage before getting there. Besides, it is difficult to determine who exactly excelled in the regular season. This is not a professional league with a relatively small number of teams who typically play each other at least once or twice in the season, or in the case of the NFL, at least play some of the same opponents and roughly similar schedules. These teams are all over the place. Many will have few if any common opponents. More often than not, the seeding will be a result of reputation and guesswork than actual quality. It may often be right, probably will be most of the time, but it is difficult to justify numerically. I cannot see how Marquette for instance has "earned" a higher seed than Belmont or Utah Valley or Iona, who actually won their league's regular season titles.

[unclejohn]

La. Tech lost to Tulsa. Maybe they have a shot at an at-large bid. Probably not. Ga. State is kicking ass, so they are out of the picture. So including La. Tech, that is twelve slots with four more games to play.

[MU/Panther]

Georgia State lost the Sun Belt title game. Add another to the NIT