What would be optimal is to play on Fridays and Sundays, because traffic is less on Friday, and it's the start of the weekend, so staying out late is less of an issue. That's obviously a non-starter for the NIT, because they have to stay out of the NCAA's way, but it might get me back to buying season tickets. Living in San Jose, midweek games are impossible. I've told the ticket office that they should sell a package that includes just weekend games and games during Thanksgiving and the Christmas-New Years holidays, which got the usual non-response.

Strykur said:

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The 11-seed play-in games are not preferred landing spots in March but that NC State/Texas nailbiter got way more views than any NIT games will get, especially ours

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What about our ACC triplet, SMU? They didn't even make it to the weekend. And they lost convincingly. Would you have preferred to have Cal get similarly thumped in a Tournament play-in game over Cal winning convincingly in a NIT first round game?

In other words, would you rather be a SMU fan or Cal fan tonight?

01Bear said:

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Strykur said:

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The 11-seed play-in games are not preferred landing spots in March but that NC State/Texas nailbiter got way more views than any NIT games will get, especially ours

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What about our ACC triplet, SMU? They didn't even make it to the weekend. And they lost convincingly. Would you have preferred to have Cal get similarly thumped in a Tournament play-in game over Cal winning convincingly in a NIT first round game?

In other words, would you rather be a SMU fan or Cal fan tonight?

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Would you rather make the CFP and get beat in round 1 or make the LA Bowl (now defunct) and beat a MWC team? The goal is to make the NCAA tournament. The NIT is a consolation prize much like a minor bowl game is.

I am happy the Bears won and will play at least one more game. But I doubt the players feel like the NIT was preferred over the NCAA. Even a play in game.

But if invited to this event I am all for trying to win it. But for fun how many folks knew that Chattanooga won last years event? And that they beat the UCI Anteaters in the final. Before less than 3K at the Hinkle Fieldhouse the home of the Butler Bulldogs.

I get wanting to see our Bears win and they did last night. But the program would have benefitted more by making the NCAA tournament.

In the immortal words of Ben Braun, "We are the only Pac12 team still playing."

01Bear said:

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Strykur said:

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The 11-seed play-in games are not preferred landing spots in March but that NC State/Texas nailbiter got way more views than any NIT games will get, especially ours

---

What about our ACC triplet, SMU? They didn't even make it to the weekend. And they lost convincingly. Would you have preferred to have Cal get similarly thumped in a Tournament play-in game over Cal winning convincingly in a NIT first round game?

In other words, would you rather be a SMU fan or Cal fan tonight?

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SMU drew the best mid-major this year, Miami (OH) which was worthy of making the field straight up without the play-in. I think 6 seed Tennessee is going to have problems with them in their tourney game tomorrow afternoon.

6956bear said:

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01Bear said:

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Strykur said:

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The 11-seed play-in games are not preferred landing spots in March but that NC State/Texas nailbiter got way more views than any NIT games will get, especially ours

---

What about our ACC triplet, SMU? They didn't even make it to the weekend. And they lost convincingly. Would you have preferred to have Cal get similarly thumped in a Tournament play-in game over Cal winning convincingly in a NIT first round game?

In other words, would you rather be a SMU fan or Cal fan tonight?

---

Would you rather make the CFP and get beat in round 1 or make the LA Bowl (now defunct) and beat a MWC team? The goal is to make the NCAA tournament. The NIT is a consolation prize much like a minor bowl game is.

I am happy the Bears won and will play at least one more game. But I doubt the players feel like the NIT was preferred over the NCAA. Even a play in game.

But if invited to this event I am all for trying to win it. But for fun how many folks knew that Chattanooga won last years event? And that they beat the UCI Anteaters in the final. Before less than 3K at the Hinkle Fieldhouse the home of the Butler Bulldogs.

I get wanting to see our Bears win and they did last night. But the program would have benefitted more by making the NCAA tournament.

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I think an NIT championship win is worth a bit more than a first round loss in the Tourney. It would mean 5 wins and a final record of 27-11, a very solid season, and a vindication/redemption for the team having missed the berth. A win and a loss in the 2nd round of the Tourney would be better though.

One of the things that made me happy last night was turning on the game and seeing, despite what the cynics here predicted, everyone playing, and playing hard. I don't know if that means none of them are going into the portal, but it was heartening to see that they really wanted to compete and win the game. During a year that has me questioning my interest in college sports, if all the players' interest is just in making money rather than actually trying to win games, last night's effort gave me a lot of enjoyment.

I have a third perspective, which I have mentioned here a few times over the years. I don't think a team with a .500 record or worse in their own conference (i.e. Cal this year) should be eligible to go to the NCAA tournament. Then they could do away with the silly "first four" and more mid-majors could get in. The rebuttal to this is that teams like Cal this year are better than those mid-majors. And my answer to that is then why not just invite the top 64 net-ranked teams without regard to if you won your conference or not. With NIL there were very few upsets last year which is what makes the tournament special. We need to get back to that.

Bobodeluxe said:

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In the immortal words of Ben Braun, "We are the only Pac12 team still playing."

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tnx Deluxe, missed that till now.