In case you forgot, there was actually basketball played today. Although for fans from Virginia, it ended badly, as the VCU Rams surprising run in the NIT came to an end in Utah tonight.

But congratulations go out to Utah and Seton Hall, who dominated tonight to make it to the semi-finals, as well as Georgia and Indiana State, who won nail-biter games yesterday to advance.

A couple additional NIT thoughts.

• This year, the NIT has moved the semi-finals and finals to Indianapolis and Hinkle Fieldhouse. How awesome would it be if Indiana State figured out how to revive some movie-like magic and create their own version of Hoosiers next week.
• Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State, and Pitt were the first four teams left out by the Selection Committee. And to be fair, each of them probably had arguments that they should have been in. But a ton of credit goes to Seton Hall and Indiana State, because after that heart-breaking decision for them, they welcomed the NIT invitation, and have now won 3 games to make it to the final post-season week of 2024 to play for the NIT title. And Oklahoma and Pitt were so upset that they declined the invitation and had to sit at home and watch other teams play basketball. It is amazingly clear who made the better choice.
• Part of the large amount of teams declining bids was due to the NCAA’s horrible decision of opening up the transfer portal – some teams reportedly mentioned that with players who had told them their intention to enter the transfer portal, they would end up going to play the NIT with only 6-8 scholarship players. If they couldn’t field a competitive teams because of the number of players leaving, they chose not to take the invitation. This is a ridiculous decision by the NCAA. The season is not over!!!! There are still games to be played!!!! The fact that teams are not playing in the post-season because their players have already left is a ridiculous fact that has to be fixed.
• By the way, to that last statement, I read an article that one of the Pepperdine players who entered the transfer portal has already signed with Gonzaga. This is simply another reason this should be stopped. I give credit to the Gonzaga coaching staff for thinking about their long-term future along with their upcoming game, but they shouldn’t have to make this decision. Allow the post-season tournaments to finish before you open the transfer window, and these types of problems go away.
• The same should apply to coaches. Dusty May is leaving Florida Atlantic to coach at Michigan and Danny Sprinkle is leaving Utah State to coach at Washington. Within days of being eliminated from the tournament, these two coaches are leaving for larger schools. It is a horrible look for the sport – making it look like those schools might have lost because their coach was more focused on getting their next job instead of their next game. And it also is horrible – because any of the coaches / assistant coaches on the 16 teams still playing are not able to get these new opportunities because their teams are still playing.