In the 1st-round of the NIT, last year's national champion - Kentucky - fell to Robert Morris by the final score of 59-57 last night, and it's being hailed by some talking heads in the media as one of the biggest upsets in the history of college basketball. I'm sorry, but that's absurd.
For those that don't know about the NIT, many jokingly say it stands for the Not Invited Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selects the 68 best teams to play in a single-elimination tournament. There are four play-in-type games to condense the field to 64 teams when the tournament really gets underway. The next "best" batch of 32 teams play in a similar-style single-elimination tournament by the name of the NIT. So, teams ranked between 69 and 100 play in the NIT. These are teams whom showcased they were better-than-average, but not good enough to get invited to the NCAA Tournament.
Given that, Kentucky's loss to Robert Morris last night, while sure, it was an upset, was not near an upset of such grand magnitude that some are calling it. Again, this game was played in the NIT (Not Invited Tournament), between teams ranked somewhere between 69 and 100. If this were a game played in the NCAA Tournament, when Kentucky was a 1-, 2-, or 3-seed, and Robert Morris was a 14-, 15-, or 16-seed, then we could start talking about it being one of the biggest upsets in the history of college basketball. However, that's not the case. Also, let's not forget that Kentucky had lost three out of their previous four games going into last night and five of their previous nine. This is not a great basketball team. They lost to 18-15 Texas A&M by 12 points at home earlier this year, NIT-bound Tennessee by 30 on the road, 15-17 Georgia by 10 on the road, and 16-17 Vanderbilt by 16 at home, among others. Just because Kentucky has the big name doesn't mean their falling to a small school in the first-round of the NIT is anything very newsworthy. Five years from now, in a greatest-upsets-in-college-basketball-history countdown, I can bet almost anything that there won't be an NIT game listed in the countdown; and that includes Kentucky's loss last night to Robert Morris.
For those that don't know about the NIT, many jokingly say it stands for the Not Invited Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selects the 68 best teams to play in a single-elimination tournament. There are four play-in-type games to condense the field to 64 teams when the tournament really gets underway. The next "best" batch of 32 teams play in a similar-style single-elimination tournament by the name of the NIT. So, teams ranked between 69 and 100 play in the NIT. These are teams whom showcased they were better-than-average, but not good enough to get invited to the NCAA Tournament.
Given that, Kentucky's loss to Robert Morris last night, while sure, it was an upset, was not near an upset of such grand magnitude that some are calling it. Again, this game was played in the NIT (Not Invited Tournament), between teams ranked somewhere between 69 and 100. If this were a game played in the NCAA Tournament, when Kentucky was a 1-, 2-, or 3-seed, and Robert Morris was a 14-, 15-, or 16-seed, then we could start talking about it being one of the biggest upsets in the history of college basketball. However, that's not the case. Also, let's not forget that Kentucky had lost three out of their previous four games going into last night and five of their previous nine. This is not a great basketball team. They lost to 18-15 Texas A&M by 12 points at home earlier this year, NIT-bound Tennessee by 30 on the road, 15-17 Georgia by 10 on the road, and 16-17 Vanderbilt by 16 at home, among others. Just because Kentucky has the big name doesn't mean their falling to a small school in the first-round of the NIT is anything very newsworthy. Five years from now, in a greatest-upsets-in-college-basketball-history countdown, I can bet almost anything that there won't be an NIT game listed in the countdown; and that includes Kentucky's loss last night to Robert Morris.
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