Yesterday the Gazelle Group announced that they would be staging a tournament for the teams not selected into the NCAA tournament. At first glance one would say there are enought teams participating in March Madness. The NCAA tournament has expanded to 65 and the NIT is at 32. It was at 40, but when the NCAA took over they decided to save money and only have 32 teams participate. That’s what I love about Myles Brand and the NCAA. They always try to make a student-athlete experience more enjoyable. Eight teams stay home so they can have nicer offices and hire more staff….Sorry got off on a tangent….Back to the story at hand.
The Gazelle Group will begin inviting teams the moment after the NCAA brackets are filled. It could become a bidding war for the NIT. I like it. Let’s take a closer look at post season play. In college football 64 teams play in 32 different bowls. That means over 50% of the schools are rewarded. By adding the third tournament, 113 teams are rewarded. However, there are 345 men’s basketball teams in Division I. So, you are talking about less than 30% of the schools play in post season. Last season for example, there were a half dozen teams with 20 wins who did not get selected for post season play.
I say bring it on and give the players one more day in the sun…
