Bracketology: NIT style

The lack of a non-conference schedule and frequent road collapses caught up with the Iowa Hawkeyes. For the seventh straight season, Iowa will miss the NCAA tournament. But for the second straight season, Iowa will play in the NIT. I know it’s like going from a shot at the BCS to the Heart of Dallas Bowl. But it’s still the postseason, and like Kirk Ferentz has told us for year, there are no bad bowl games (or postseason tournaments).

While last year’s NIT bid felt like a gift for Iowa (21-12), this year’s NIT has its advantages. Iowa might have the best squad outside the NCAA tournament. The Hawkeyes have a shot at reaching the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City. ESPN and its family of networks air the NIT so you could get some exposure there.

Iowa posted the NIT’s best crowd a year ago in its home game against Dayton and likely will get home games as long as they keep winning. Nine different regular-season champions are automatic NIT qualifiers: Mercer, Charleston Southern, Northeastern, Niagara, Robert Morris, Stony Brook, Norfolk State, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech. That means 23 qualifiers are at-large.

So here’s a glance of how the NIT field could appear when it’s announced at 8 p.m. (ESPNU). Remember higher seeds earn home games.

REGION 1

1. Kentucky vs. 8. Robert Morris

4. Xavier vs. 5. Eastern Kentucky

3. UMass vs. 6. Ohio

2. Providence vs. Northeastern

REGION 2

1. Iowa vs. 8. Niagara

4. Washington vs. 5. Air Force

3. Arkansas vs. 6. BYU

2. Arizona State vs. 7. Long Beach State

REGION 3

1. Tennessee vs. 8. Charleston Southern

4. Florida State vs. 5. Charlotte

3. Alabama vs. 6. Southern Miss

2. Maryland vs. 7. Stony Brook

REGION 4

1. Virginia vs. 8. Norfolk State

4. LSU vs. 5. Louisiana Tech

3. Stanford vs. 6. Texas A&M

2. Baylor vs. 7. Mercer

Bracketology: NIT style

sanji azad said: On March 17, 2013
But nothing caught up with the joke that is Minnesota. Riding a 5-11 record in its last 16, 0-9 on the road, first round conf tourney loss. Hell, Minnesota could have forfeited the last half of the season and still made the NCAA tournament — and that’s just about what happened. What a crock. And it’s not so much that Iowa didn’t make it, but that frauds like Minnesota, Illinois, Oklahoma, Middle Tenn, et al., did.
Zach Mitchell said: On March 18, 2013
Sanji, let’s just tell it like it is. Fran undervalued his own team, thinking he needed to play non-conference pushovers to get to 20 wins. It not only hurt us in the eyes of the selection committee, but it also hurt us in the close games in the Big Ten. This is a team that was completely untried, untested and unprepared coming into Big Ten competition. I have to give it to Fran on the recruiting; however, he has made some big mistakes in managing the schedule, and some of his in-game decisions have been questionable in close games. The lack of an NCAA tournament is certainly not the fault of the players on this team… Fran needs to take the blame for this one.