Kentucky gets invite to WNIT

[cal_jack]

Re: Kentucky gets invite to WNIT

All I am saying is that in the early days the NIT was the tournament that everyone wanted to get invited to.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: Kentucky gets invite to WNIT

All I am saying is that in the early days the NIT was the tournament that everyone wanted to get invited to.

I think you're right cal_jack.  I remember hearing on a March Madness show that the NIT was THE tournament in years past.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Kentucky gets invite to WNIT

Cal Jack is most likely right about NIT as I found a piece from the NCAA website about the history of the organization from 1905 to 1939.
It says there were big problems in compliance in the early days, and all the NCAA was trying to do was to get a common set of rules for each sport.

The NCAA basketball championship was added in 1939. I am going to see what I can find on the NIT.

Here is the piece:


The NCAA News -- November 8, 1999


The NCAA Century Series -- Part I: 1900-39
Championships program missing at NCAA's birth

While the NCAA is now well-known for its championships, that was not always the case.

In fact, the Association had no championships of its own until 1921, when the first National Collegiate Track and Field Championships were held at the University of Chicago, with 45 institutions participating.

In the early years, the NCAA concerned itself with the rules of football, basketball, track and field, and soccer, holding no championships but simply trying to acquire national rules-making authority for those college sports.

Then the NCAA expanded its existing sports committees between 1911 and 1918, adding rules and records for soccer, swimming and water sports, wrestling and volleyball.

The rules committees also took on the task of publishing the rules and promoting them to all interested parties.

But as the NCAA added the rules-making functions for more sports besides football, the Association became more involved in the actual playing of the games, making NCAA championships a natural next step.

As the NCAA's authority in rules-making increased, so did its national nature, making it a logical choice as the administrator of national championships.

After the track and field championships in 1921, the Association added championships in swimming, wrestling, boxing, gymnastics, cross country and golf -- all for men, since the Association still dealt exclusively in men's athletics.

In 1939, the NCAA added men's basketball, giving the Association a total of eight championships.

-- Kay Hawes

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Kentucky gets invite to WNIT

From the NIT website here is the history of the tournament:
No mention of the scandal, though.

NIT History

When the referee first tossed up the ball at center court 68 years ago, the floodgates opened and the National Invitation Tournament was immediately established as a major sporting event.
Originated by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association in 1938, responsibility for administering the NIT was transferred two years later to local colleges, first known as the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Committee and in 1948, as the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA), which today is comprised of representatives from the five New York City schools, Fordham, Manhattan, New York University, St. John's and Wagner.

The first edition of the NIT was played at Madison Square Garden, located between 49th and 50th Streets. The "old" Garden remained the Tournament's home for thirty years until 1968, when for the first time it was played in, as the late Pulitzer Prize-win ning sportswriter, Red Smith, pegged it "the most famous and glamorous arena in creation" – the Garden on 33rd Street. It is here that the NIT and the Garden continue their illustrious relationship.

In 1977, former NIT Executive Director, Peter A. Carlesimo and the Tournament Committee implemented a plan that gave college basketball fans an opportunity to see their local favorites in tournament play. This innovation involved playing at different fieldhouses and arenas throughout the country.

The revised format, the most striking change in NIT history, is responsible for the tourney compiling record breaking attendance figures, including the 1981 tally of 326,466, the largest fan turnout in NIT annals.

The NIT's single game attendance record occurred in Lexington, Kentucky in 1979, when 23,522 spectators watched Clemson defeat Kentucky in overtime. The single game scoring record was set in 1977 by Anthony Roberts of Oral Roberts University when he scored 65 points in a losing effort against the University of Oregon. Al Inniss of St. Francis (NY) holds the rebound record when he handled 37 caroms against Lafayette in 1956. Since the NIT's inception, over 220 schools have participated in the NIT, with St. John's holding the record for most appearances with twenty-five, and most NIT titles with five.

A new chapter in the long and storied history of the NIT unfolded when Jack Powers took over the reigns of Executive Director on July 1, 1988. Powers had been an integral part of the MIBA for ten years, serving on the NIT Committee as part of his duties as the director of athletics at Manhattan College.

For 68 years, the National Invitation Tournament has showcased some of the greatest talents in college basketball and although its role has changed during that time, the NIT will continue to play a vital part in collegiate athletics.




Copyright © 2005 National Invitation Tournament, All Rights Reserved.

Website powered by Sports Systems.

[JBNJBQ]

Re: Kentucky gets invite to WNIT

Update:

Kentucky got beat by West Virginia  80 to 75 in DOUBLE OVERTIME in the semi-final game.

West Virginia will face host Southwest Missouri State in the championship game at 7pm central on March 31.

Our Women's Jackrabbit team beat Kentucky in NO OVERTIMES!  They were good enough to be in the championship game possibly?

How about next year!!!!!

[filbert]

Re: Kentucky gets invite to WNIT

Interesting snippet in the Kansas City Women's Regional program (I just got home from watching Michigan State beat Stanford).

SDSU's women's basketball team got some love on page 41:
January 5, 2005 -- South Dakota State 86, Alabama 83
The former Division II power Jackrabbits, who won't be come full-fledged Division I members until 2008-09, picked up their second victory against a Southeastern Conference team with a three-point win in Tuscaloosa.
There's more but you gotta go to my blog: http://www.medary.com/
(It's called driving up the hits . . . heh heh heh)