I doubt that there will be a replacement team that makes it into the tournament. It looks like Virginia will go to the final possible moment to make a decision and Kansas will be able travel without three players. I was going to even to write about why I chose Louisville over Syracuse – although in researching that, I am starting to understand the logic of the Selection Committee – it was not an easy decision.

So, it is probably a mute issue. But today, Louisville rejected the #1 seed into the NIT.

The replacement team order was Louisville, Colorado State, St. Louis, and Ole Miss.

Coach Mack said it nicely – his quote when asked was “(The NIT is) a great tournament. It’s a class tournament. Maybe we would have felt a little differently had we been able to play in front of our fans and play in the Yum. But to go to Dallas, sit in hotel rooms spaced apart with seven or eight healthy players – it just wasn’t for this group,” Mack said.

Louisville went through two different Covid pauses – so I suspect that there is some honesty in this statement. But lets face it, part of it is that they don’t care about the NIT.

The NCAA should have come back and said the following: We respect Louisville’s decision to end their season to protect the health of their players. So now the 1st replacement team is Colorado State, and as the 4th top seed in the NIT, Memphis, is now the final replacement team.

It is likely not going to matter – but if you are not willing to play in the NIT, you should not be allowed to play in the NCAA as a replacement team. It is not acceptable to me that the health is the reason not to play in the NIT, but if the NCAA calls, health is no longer important – we will be there. It is that simple – if you are going to play in the postseason, you play where the NCAA asks you to play.