NIT picking

[condo52]

Coach Miller has taken much criticism here and many have reminisced about where favored former coaches may have taken the team in this inaugural Big 12 season. I’m surprised Bob Huggins name hasn’t been mentioned in these recent posts and turned to his record at West Virginia for some perspective.




In his sixth year at West Virginia, Bob Huggins took the Mountaineers into the Big 12. That first year WV went 6-12 in conference play, followed by 9-9 and 11-7 conference records in the following years. Then, Huggs went on to have three consecutive 2nd place conference records, but also two seasons with 4-14 finishes and he was 7-11 in his final year. Overall, while at WV, Huggs was 97-100 in the Big 12.




In contrast, UC, in Wes Miller’s 3rd season with the Bearcats, posted a 7-11 Big 12 first season. It’s just worth considering.

[longtimefan]

Coach Miller has taken much criticism here and many have reminisced about where favored former coaches may have taken the team in this inaugural Big 12 season. I’m surprised Bob Huggins name hasn’t been mentioned in these recent posts and turned to his record at West Virginia for some perspective.




In his sixth year at West Virginia, Bob Huggins took the Mountaineers into the Big 12. That first year WV went 6-12 in conference play, followed by 9-9 and 11-7 conference records in the following years. Then, Huggs went on to have three consecutive 2nd place conference records, but also two seasons with 4-14 finishes and he was 7-11 in his final year. Overall, while at WV, Huggs was 97-100 in the Big 12.




In contrast, UC, in Wes Miller’s 3rd season with the Bearcats, posted a 7-11 Big 12 first season. It’s just worth considering.

Well said. Huggins is the only coach to never really be bashed here. Every other coach since has seen the detractors, many of whom seem to always criticize no matter who the coach is. Cronin was attacked mercilessly on this board. Some people would just get rid of CWM now, lose our recruits, have our best guys transfer out, and start over, again. The next time we’ll get a real coach, don’t worry…. We’re lucky to have coach Wes Miller here, and I’ll admit to sometimes criticizing his substitution patterns. What I’ve seen is constant progress each year since he arrived, and looking ahead I expect that to continue

[sedz]

leeraymond I'm playfully ribbing you about comparing Cronin's record against "no talent" Houston teams with Wes's record against top 5 teams.

I'm not that surprised about the Big 12's performance. As I pointed out in the other thread, Iowa St has a bad offense and it was only a matter of time until someone scored on them. We gave every other team some trouble, which means any tourney team could do the same.

[Lobot]

Admin reminder: Sarcasm does not necessarily translate on the internetz.

[longtimefan]

leeraymond I'm playfully ribbing you about comparing Cronin's record against "no talent" Houston teams with Wes's record against top 5 teams.

I'm not that surprised about the Big 12's performance. As I pointed out in the other thread, Iowa St has a bad offense and it was only a matter of time until someone scored on them. We gave every other team some trouble, which means any tourney team could do the same.

I watched the ISU game, and it seems those officials didn’t care for Big 12 defense, lots of fouls last night that aren’t called during league games. At least it seemed that way.

[leeraymond]

I have been very critical of coach Miller. Nevertheless, I must say that Miller brings a positive and upbeat vibe to Cincinnati basketball and the games are very entertaining. Miller is going to have, if everything goes as planned, a wonderful group of players next season that should be able to compete at high levels. I have a very GOOD FEELING about Cincinnati basketball moving forward. I feel that way because of coach Miller. We have to give the man a chance. I do believe in that. This program is not far off the mark.

Also, this year's team really fought hard in the BIG 12. They gave as good as they got. This year's Cincinnati team knows how to "strike a blow". They made those BIG 12 games very competitive. Now UC needs to take the next step and start beating some of those &*^%$#$ teams. You all know I am telling the truth.

I've got good feelings about Cincinnati basketball.

[London 'Cat]

ISU reaches the NiT championship. They beat Utah in the semis and will play Seton Hall in the final. Should be a good matchup.

[JBB]

I am extremely happy with Wes Miller. Look he took a prigram in the gutter and has built it to compete with any program. Look we lost 8 Big 12 conference games by 5 pts or less. If we would have split those games we would’ve been dancing! Future bright for this program, Congrats Wes and team for good season!

[Gmann]

ISU reaches the NiT championship. They beat Utah in the semis and will play Seton Hall in the final. Should be a good matchup.

It was hugely entertaining to watch ISU run their offense last night against Utah. It's a clinic the way they pass and cut to the bucket and out to open 3's. Also Robby Avila is the real deal. You can see how deadly a guy that size is as he beats you at the basket, hits 3's and drops dimes to his teammates.

[sedz]

That game was wild. Utah made 17 of 29 threes (59%) and lost by 10!

[GoBearcats31]

@ChrisVannini
Fox Sports' NIT rival tournament is coming in 2025, @AndrewMarchand reports. The 16-team field will include two auto-bids for Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East plus at-larges.


Paywalled but here is a snippet
https://theathletic.com/5388819/2024...shared_article

Fox Sports’ NIT rival is official, an executive briefed on the network’s plans told The Athletic on Wednesday.

The 16-team College Basketball Crown tournament will feature schools that failed to qualify for the men’s NCAA Tournament with two squads each from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East receiving automatic bids. Not coincidentally, all three conferences have college basketball television agreements with the network. The rest of the field will feature at-large participants but will only include men’s teams.

[sedz]

The rest of the field will feature at-large participants but will only include men’s teams.

Wait, were they thinking about putting women's teams in this thing? Or are they just saying there is no women's tournament?

[GoBearcats31]

Wait, were they thinking about putting women's teams in this thing? Or are they just saying there is no women's tournament?

Probably the latter - there is an NIT and WNIT, but probably not both here. But good catch on the wording. Excluding SEC and ACC and likely scheduling issues (re: portal and stuff) = not a good initial reaction on Twitter/X so far it seems.

[bearcatbret]

Is this to pluck the best 16 teams away from the normal NIT? Will this be more exclusive than the regular NIT?

[Lobot]

I think I noted when this was first pushed out there by FOX that this is basically a made for TV event.