Nit

[MU/Panther]

I think the Al would be a great idea. In the past, the NIT has not drawn all that well when we hosted it. We have drawn better than the capacity of the Al, but often not by much. So there were a bunch of fans rolling around like marbles in a mostly empty Bradley Center. The Al would sell out, and it would be full of the people who have been watching games for years or decades. The bandwagon fans will stay home.

Since the NIT has been taken over by the NCAA, it has become less interesting in my opinion. Perhaps somewhat more fair to the smaller conferences, as they get more chances to get in now, but less fair in that the seeded teams get all the home games, which gives them a huge advantage. And the tournament no longer matches teams up to promote attractive games, so perhaps we do not draw as well. I do not know if that is going to be that much of a factor, as in the past, we have played Drake, St. Bonaventure, Western Michigan, and Boise State. none of which were likely to draw a lot of people, but it might be a factor.

I love the NIT in how it's set up now! I love how mid to lower conferences get a bid to the NIT for winning the regular season, but fail to get the auto bid to the ncaa tourney. I like in how it's seeded and you know the match-up and sites. I'm still bitter that Marquette had to go to Iowa State years ago.