The NIT postseason men’s basketball tournament is “on the endangered list” with Fox later this month debuting a new 16-team tourney in Las Vegas called the College Basketball Crown, according to Scott Rabalais of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Only four power conference schools -- SMU, Stanford, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State -- are playing in the 32-team NIT this year (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 3/17). In Cincinnati, Scott Springer noted the Big 12, Big East and Big Ten are “obligated to provide two teams each” to the new tournament, which takes place March 31-April 6. Fox is a future Big 12 TV partner, so any team in that conference that “did not compete would run the risk of hurting that relationship” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 3/17).
TIME CRUNCH: In Columbus, Adam Jardy wrote after missing out on the NCAA tournament, Ohio State’s “only option” was to participate in the inaugural College Basketball Crown. However, OSU will not participate in the event, with coach Jake Diebler indicated that the “timing of the event didn’t help” with the team’s decision. The transfer portal opens March 24, a week before the Crown begins. Diebler said, “The idea of the Crown, I love what they’re trying to do. The timing of it, it’s tough.” Jardy noted if the event “were sooner, though, there’s a chance the Buckeyes would’ve chosen to participate.” Since the top two remaining Big Ten teams not selected for the NCAA tourney were contractually obligated to participate, turning down the invite “meant the Buckeyes were prohibited from playing in any other event.” Diebler: “We explored not going to the Crown and trying to get into the NIT as a potential option and because of the deal the Big Ten has, that wasn’t an option for us” (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 3/17).
OOPSIE DAISY: CBSSPORTS.com’s Chris Hummer noted UC Riverside was included in the NIT bracket when the field was announced despite having “already accepted a bid” into the CBI, another postseason basketball tournament. UC Riverside opted to go with the NIT, a “more prestigious event in the postseason tournament pecking order.” A source said that UC Riverside “had not had any communication with the NIT beforehand.” Hummer wrote the “trickle-up effect of UC Riverside’s decision to belatedly accept its spot” in the NIT meant that South Alabama, which had been offered an NIT spot, “had the rug pulled out from under it.” The NIT’s board of managers released a statement “explaining and apologizing for the mix-up.” However, that “fell on deaf ears” for South Alabama coach Richie Riley, who “blasted the NIT” with a statement on social media. He also “spoke to the sense among some coaches and administrators that communication from the NIT’s board of managers this cycle was unsatisfactory” (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/17).
BREAKING THE BAD NEWS: Riley said that he had “already informed the South Alabama players they were headed to the NIT” when he received a call from Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill and NCAA SVP/Basketball Dan Gavitt with the news. He then had to tell the players yesterday morning “their season was over.” Gavitt released a statement through the NIT, “acknowledging the botched invitational process and apologizing to Riley, South Alabama and its players.” AL.com’s Creg Stephenson reported Riley and South Alabama athletics department officials had “already decided the Jaguars weren’t going to play in the CBI or any other ‘pay-for-play’ postseason tournament” (AL.com, 3/17).
