goes down and out.
Morehead St. 68
Clemtech 64
Morehead St. 68
Clemtech 64
NIT First round and Clemtech
- Thread starter Prestonyte
- Start date
Wow.
I guess the NCAA selection committee is saying they made the right call. Lol
I guess the NCAA selection committee is saying they made the right call. Lol
Not surprising. Hard to get up for the NIT when you should have been in the big dance.
I'm certain that's an excuse which will be used a lot over on TigerNet!
At home too - freaking hilarious!!! They were the #1 overall seed, weren`t they??
Wasn't that what alabama said after they lost to Utah in that bowl game?
Beats me. Just speaking objectively. You see it often in the NIT.
It happens, it shouldn't but it happens! That's why I don't run my mouth when it does, it's happened to us and probably will again, so I'll take the high road.
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Why not opt out, like a disappointing bowl game when you were expecting more?
Or, if you're gonna play, play to win!
Or, if you're gonna play, play to win!
Good question. UNC's coach left it up to the players to decide and they declined the invite.
Unless you're a blue blood like UNC, most schools probably feel like they have to accept the invite, even if they don't really want to play.
In Clemson's case, they probably should have declined though. There's no outcome that wouldn't have been disappointing.
There's a general lack of enthusiasm this year it seems.
Hofstra took down another #1 seed, Rutgers.
Eastern Washington defeated #4 seed Washington State
UCF defeated #4 seed UF by 18 points
Utah Valley defeated #2 seed New Mexico by 14 points
It begs the question: Why do teams accept invites to play in a tournament they clearly have no desire to play in?
I contend it's because everyone knows the NIT is meaningless and irrelevant, but it's still presented as an achievement, so there's a sense of obligation to accept the invite.
Hofstra took down another #1 seed, Rutgers.
Eastern Washington defeated #4 seed Washington State
UCF defeated #4 seed UF by 18 points
Utah Valley defeated #2 seed New Mexico by 14 points
It begs the question: Why do teams accept invites to play in a tournament they clearly have no desire to play in?
I contend it's because everyone knows the NIT is meaningless and irrelevant, but it's still presented as an achievement, so there's a sense of obligation to accept the invite.
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It would be like someone setting you up with a date with an ugly woman. It would be hard to get up for that too.
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This is great. They went from thinking they got robbed and should have been a lock in the tournament to getting beat on their home court by a 15.5 point dog...which is the exact reason the committee left them out of the tournament. They lost too many games they should have handily won. A team that finished 3rd in the ACC should have beaten the snot out of USC, Loyola-Chi, LOU, and BC. Two of those were double digit losses.
The structures of the postseason are too vastly different between the two to draw any meaningful comparisons.
For football, I guess it'd be like having a 2nd playoff bracket that didn't make the main playoff. That would obviously never happen in football. Even the most ardent playoff expansion advocates would say a second playoff bracket was stupid.
Bowl games outside of the playoff, of course, are not a playoff. They're just bowl games: originally intended as a reward for a good season. Though the definition of "good" has been degraded to include anything approaching mediocrity.
This is why I cringe any time I see a coach on ESPN trying to convince the committee they belong. Here's a newsflash....THE DON'T GIVE A RAT'S *** WHAT YOUR OPINION OF YOUR TEAM IS!! So, just say "we can only control what we control. so we'll go wherever we're invited. Hopefully we did enough to get in, but it we don't, we'll go rep XXXXX University to the fullest". BB said he still views his team as a NCAA tournament team. I'm sorry, but that serves no purpose, other than to make yourself look like a clown. The bit ESPN had with Saban this year during the SECCG was atrocious as well.
The problems mostly arise when you compare teams that did make it vs some that didn't.
In Clemson's case, there's solid rationale for not letting them in. They had 2 very egregious losses and have no defense for being left out on these grounds, though they would probably argue their 4-4 Quad 1 record offset those losses.
But you can't justify keeping the #3 ACC team out while letting the #6 ACC team in, when the #6 team was pummeled 3x by the #3 team. While we obviously think it's hilarious because it's Clemson, objectively it makes zero sense. In this case, there is a very legitimate complaint from Clemson for being left out.
Personally, I think the committee does it on purpose. What would selection Sunday be without them very obviously and arbitrarily screwing over one team while bizarrely and equally arbitrarily letting in an undeserving team? It's as much a part of March Madness as the games.
I like that the committee considers the entire body of work. The nonconference part of the season matters as well. Clem lost 4 quad 3-4 games, NCST was undefeated in 3/4 games. You can't get wrapped up in what the conference records are. NCST had a tougher in conf schedule. Clem only had to play Duke, Miami, and UNC once. NCST played all twice, and had to play UVA while clem didn't have to play them. That conf record was built on the bottom half of the league.
Please, Partner, don't propound an alibi for these people. They are supposed to win games at home over this caliber of competition under any circumstances. Meantime,
Please, Partner, don't propound an alibi for these people. They are supposed to win games at home over this caliber of competition under any circumstances. Meantime,
I get it, but aside from Clemson, another #1 seed, a #2 seed and two #4 seeds lost in the first round. Slice it however you want, players play and all that jazz, everyone knows the NIT is meaningless. What you saw in the Clemson game was a fairly unsurprising outcome when you matchup a team that was excited to be in the tournament vs a team that was disappointed to be in the tournament. Most of the top seeds in the NIT are not excited to be there, while the lower seeds are. Just reality.
NC State also had a terrible 1-6 Quad 1 record, compared to Clemson's 4-4. At worst, when you compare it all, you can say their resumes were comparable. What sticks out like a sore thumb, though, is Clemson's record against NC State, winning by 14, 25 and 26.
I'm not saying Clemson did deserve to be in, but if NC State did, then Clemson did. And, I'm not foolish enough to believe if this was us and, say, Missouri, and the same fate fell upon us that did Clemson, that Gamecocks fans wouldn't be rioting in the streets.
So, yes, as I said previously, as a Gamecock fan, haha and all that that Clemson got screwed. But, objectively, they did get screwed.
They should pound that same aggregation of players in an outdoor pickup game in 30 mile per hour winds. You and I both know it. These boys are supposed to like playing basketball. It's no different than the NIT loss Martin's boys took to GT in Columbia several years ago. We just laid down like dogs. Hey, if you don't want to play, do what the Heels did. It least that was more honorable.
I fully agree with the last 2 sentences and advocated for that in this thread, or the other Clemson NIT thread. If you aren't excited about going, and Clemson clearly was not, along with a number of the other top seeds, then don't go. The absolute BEST thing that can happen is you win a meaningless tournament. The worst thing that can happen is that you lose to a nobody team. I simply don't see the upside of larger schools playing in the NIT.
I hope we never accept another NIT bid again. Been there, done that. We carry the sad distinction of being the lone back-to-back NIT champs under the current format. We don't need to go back. Ever.
