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NIT's postseason field cut to 32 teams
Posted 8/1/2006 7:14 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this
By Steve Wieberg and Thomas O'Toole, USA TODAY
The NCAA continued its makeover of college basketball's National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday, trimming the postseason field from 40 teams to what it said is a more workable 32.
"It is more logical in terms of structure, easier to follow for fans and participants, more workable in bracketing ... and it also eases the burden on travel," said C.M. Newton, a longtime basketball coach and athletics administrator who heads the six-man NIT committee that made the decision.
Said Greg Shaheen, an NCAA vice president who has overseen the NIT since the association bought the event a year ago, "This just makes it a better fit."
The new format — actually a return to the 32-field used by the NIT from 1980-2001 — will eliminate the event?s eight-game opening round, in which lower-seeded teams played for second-round berths against the eight highest seeds.
Shaheen said surveys of fans conducted at games and by telephone found that the larger, asymmetrical bracket "was hard to follow."
The change is the latest to the NIT since the NCAA purchased the 69-year-old institution last August as part of a $56.5 million antitrust lawsuit settlement. The association immediately altered the team-selection process, setting up a committee similar to the panel that fills the NCAA tournament bracket, and it guaranteed every conference regular-season champion a postseason landing spot.
Paring the field might disappoint coaches, who earlier this summer lost a bid to expand the NCAA's 65-team Division I men's field.
"I'm certain a great deal of thought and conversation and reflection has gone into that decision," said South Carolina coach Dave Odom, who won the last two NIT titles. "While I'm not privy to any of that, anytime you do something that impacts eight schools there will be some agreement and there will be some that will be disappointed.
"From a coaching perspective, I'm not ever in favor of doing anything that will cut down opportunities for student-athletes to get exposure and experience they will not otherwise have."
Odom deferred to the judgment of the NIT committee, led by Newton and including former North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
"I'd support it based on my respect for those on the committee," he said. "I'm sure there are some good reasons. And I understand the NCAA has a financial and otherwise caring interest in the NIT, and I know they want to put on the best tournament possible. But I really hate to see opportunities decrease for student-athletes.
"My guess is they are fine-tuning it now. But you don't want to see the tradition and the heritage and the history of the NIT tampered with too much."
Posted 8/1/2006 7:14 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this
By Steve Wieberg and Thomas O'Toole, USA TODAY
The NCAA continued its makeover of college basketball's National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday, trimming the postseason field from 40 teams to what it said is a more workable 32.
"It is more logical in terms of structure, easier to follow for fans and participants, more workable in bracketing ... and it also eases the burden on travel," said C.M. Newton, a longtime basketball coach and athletics administrator who heads the six-man NIT committee that made the decision.
Said Greg Shaheen, an NCAA vice president who has overseen the NIT since the association bought the event a year ago, "This just makes it a better fit."
The new format — actually a return to the 32-field used by the NIT from 1980-2001 — will eliminate the event?s eight-game opening round, in which lower-seeded teams played for second-round berths against the eight highest seeds.
Shaheen said surveys of fans conducted at games and by telephone found that the larger, asymmetrical bracket "was hard to follow."
The change is the latest to the NIT since the NCAA purchased the 69-year-old institution last August as part of a $56.5 million antitrust lawsuit settlement. The association immediately altered the team-selection process, setting up a committee similar to the panel that fills the NCAA tournament bracket, and it guaranteed every conference regular-season champion a postseason landing spot.
Paring the field might disappoint coaches, who earlier this summer lost a bid to expand the NCAA's 65-team Division I men's field.
"I'm certain a great deal of thought and conversation and reflection has gone into that decision," said South Carolina coach Dave Odom, who won the last two NIT titles. "While I'm not privy to any of that, anytime you do something that impacts eight schools there will be some agreement and there will be some that will be disappointed.
"From a coaching perspective, I'm not ever in favor of doing anything that will cut down opportunities for student-athletes to get exposure and experience they will not otherwise have."
Odom deferred to the judgment of the NIT committee, led by Newton and including former North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
"I'd support it based on my respect for those on the committee," he said. "I'm sure there are some good reasons. And I understand the NCAA has a financial and otherwise caring interest in the NIT, and I know they want to put on the best tournament possible. But I really hate to see opportunities decrease for student-athletes.
"My guess is they are fine-tuning it now. But you don't want to see the tradition and the heritage and the history of the NIT tampered with too much."
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