Going Deep In NIT vs Not Deep In NCAA

S

salonghorn-70

2,500+ Posts
Which would you prefer, if this were the choice: going deep in the NIT vs. one or two at the most games in NCAA? I would really like to see our NCAA appearances extended and one or two games would be good experience. But going deep in the NIT might offer more games, more experience, more practice time.
 
NCAA always, would rather lose in first round of the tournament then make a run in the Not Invited Tournament.
 
I'm not sure that I would always agree with that. I believe that the extra practice and experience could benefit a young team. and let's face it, getting eliminated in the first round of the NCAA is nothing to write home about.
 
I thnk the experience that would be gained in the Big Dance, even if a first round loss, would be of more value to these freshmen than playing NIT games.

Much more hooplah at NCAA tournament arenas, even at the sub-regional level, bigger names, bigger programs, star players, TV glare, famous alums, etc.

NIT, not so much. I think it's the experiencing the off-court stuff that would help this team more next year ("been there, done that") than just more dribbling and passing and shooting against Northeast Montana State and a second round game against Western Kentucky.
 
The NCAA tourney is my favorite sporting event. Im one of those that will take the thurs and fri off from work just to watch the tourney all day long. I look forward to the first and second rounds like a kid looks to christmas. I'm sure I'm not the only here that does.
Nobody gives a rats *** about the NIT. I would rather the horns get killed in the 1st round of the NCAA instead of winning the NIT.
 
The NCAA every time. The NIT once had some prestige. When the NCAA extended the field that ended.

The NCAA experience no matter how short is good for a young team with future ambitions.

Keeping the consecutive streak alive is great recruiting material. If we can extend it this year, I think we are good for at least 4-5 years in the future. We are currently tied for 4th and are about to enter the top three soon.
 
Baylor's NIT run a few years ago gave them more comraderie and seemed to spark their program to better things. I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world to make the NIT (assuming we could also make a run in it).

I'm sick of the idea that we need to just "make" the NCAA tournament in order to be semi-successful. Barnes has been great at that.
 
Baylor's program back then was different than UT's program today. They were trying to even be a basketball program after the mess that Dave Bliss left. The NIT would be a step backwards for the Horns.
 
Odd hypothetical. I assume you are posing this hypothetical with a crystal ball; you KNOW the Horns would bow out in the 1st or 2nd round of the NCAA. Well, you don't know that, obviously, and because of this, the answer is always that the NCAA is preferrable.

Even if you did have a crystal ball, the NCAA is still preferrable for Texas' school history and the players' experience. I haven't ever remembered an NIT champion more than 15 minutes after turning off Sports Center the night the NIT champion wins.
 
Being a very ancient Horn fan, I remember when Abe Lemons took our Longhorns to the Big Apple and won the NIT. Many of the games leading up to that were on tv, and the team got a lot of exposure. Not to mention extra practice time, etc.

Back then the NIT was more prestigious. The NCAA didn't take 64 teams then, I don't think.

Even though the NIT has lost much of its glory, and most of its prestige, its still pretty cool to play in Madison Square Garden for the NIT finals. Its a good stage.
 
The NIT was very prestigious through the 1960's when the NCAA tournament was restricted to 22 to 25 teams.

NIT's appeal began to erode in the 1970's and accelerated in 1975 when the NCAA grew to 32 teams.

The 1978 Longhorn team was one of the best in school history, but could not get over the Arkansas-UH hump.

Had the NCAA taken three SWC teams that year, Texas would have done some damage - they peaked at the right time and the NIT championship asskicking of NC State, which won the NCAA tourney a few years earlier, was big news.

Today, one and one in the NCAA is better than an NIT championship - little or no exposure and, unlike football bowl practices, an extra week of basketball practices will not have a great impact.
 
Hey, at least the NIT games would probably be on LHN so most of us wouldn't have to suffer through watching the games anyway.
 
The dream always is getting to The Dance. There are hopes to be dashed, although those hopes won't be nearly as high this year.
 
Even with a Final Four run in the NIT, you are talking about, at most, two extra weeks of practice and games. While, in my opinion the very best Texas team did win the NIT tournament (Krivacs, Baxter, Moore, etc.), I think keeping alive Barnes' streak of making the NCAA tournament every season at Texas is far more important than playing a string of games in a lesser event. Let's hope the Longhorns can continue winning these late season games. The Oklahoma two step likely will be huge in deciding our fate. A sweep or split of UT wins up there points us towards the NCAA tournament, a pair of losses, and the NIT looms. Some portion of Texas Exes will be happy either way, or so it reads.
 
I prefer the NCAA March Dance, for all the reasons stated. But if our team loses too many games to get invited, I'm going to gut it up and make the best of it. And follow their progress in the NIT. I suspect most will do something similar.

I like the idea of Barnes' streak in the March tourney being extended. And next year, if most of the guys come back, we should have a very nice run. Some serious talent resides in this young crew.
 
Even if I think we have a team that would probably make the semis or better in the NIT and get wiped out in the first round of the NCAA, I'd choose the NCAA every time.

But that's not what the OP said.

In a hypothetical where you are somehow guaranted to get an early exit from the NCAA vs guaranteed to, say, make the NIT finals, I'd go with the latter in general. But since we have one of the longest NCAA streaks in the country, I'd have to consider that I want to keep that going.
 
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