NIT

[Bulldog2323]

Final NET rankings:
Oklahoma 39
Vanderbilt 66
MIssouri State 68
Belmont 71
Drake 82

Drake's only quality non-conference win was a home win against Richmond. The injury consideration, the combination of Cal State Fullerton over Long Beach and Yale over Princeton in the 11th hours killed our NIT chances.

[BUFanatic]

Better than what? One erroneous call in one game cost them first place and an auto NIT bid. Obviously nobody else wanted them and they want to play.

I covered this in a different post but I don’t think it’s a good look for the Valley for ANY of the teams to take CBI/CIT Bids. NCAA/NIT or nothing. IMO Drake earned an NIT Bid and were slighted. That sucks but it is what it is. Much of this could be solved by eliminating the CBI/CIT and expanding the NIT to 64 as someone on the Bradley board suggested.

Not only that but the new format for the CBI is essentially a glorified mid season tournament. Four days in March at a neutral site in FL against teams from conferences that all rank below the Valley in RPI (BU-Boston is in the Patriot which is 28/32).

There’s more to lose than gain from playing in this tournament imo, at least when Bradley played in the inaugural tournament we got extra basketball at Carver. If you win whoop de doo, you’re clearly the best team by far in the tournament and you should. If you lose it’s terrible because there’s no reason Drake shouldn’t win. It’s not even making a “statement” like the ‘82 Bradley team that should have made the NCAA but ran the table in the NIT to show the selection committee they messed up.

When I say “be better” I meant “Drake is better than the CBI/CIT so don’t grace those garbage tournaments with your presence”. That being said I’ll be rooting for The Drake and I hope dumbass gets his ass kicked by Xichigan… which is really hard for me to say as my football school is ND lol.

[BUFanatic]

Additionally…

See Bellarmine’s reasoning for not competing in CBI/CIT.

https://www.wdrb.com/sports/crawford-be ... 42c0d.html

For the top 5….

LUC is where they should be. Won the Tourney and probably had an at-large bid even if they didn’t. Signature wins over Vandy (not really but I’ll give it to ya), ASU, and DePaul (seriously, this one isn’t a signature win. DePaul sucks and is only good in DePaul fans’ heads). Missed opportunities v MSU and Auburn.

UNI is where they should be. Didn’t win the tourney and crapped the bed during the non-con. Won the regular season and got the auto bid, good job. No signature non con wins and missed opportunities against Arkansas, St. Bonnies, Richmond, Liberty, and Wyoming.

The Drake arguably had a shot at an NIT at-large, signature win over Richmond. Big losses to Belmont, Bama, UNT, and Clemson.

MoSt are probably where they should be but body of work may have had them on the NCAA bubble (I know, according to the experts they weren’t but the committee left out A&M so idc, yes I’m including you Dr. Reynolds). Signature wins over SDSU and a usually pretty good GWU team. Missed opportunities vs BYU (close) and SMC (blowout).

Bradley might have been invited to the CBI/CIT but I doubt the organizers reached out due to Wardle and Dr. Reynolds’ public position on accepting bids to those tournaments. Like UNI we took a big crap during the non con and managed a pretty respectable (but not stellar) record in the Valley. Our only non con signature win came vs an abysmal St. Joes and we had to cancel Bellarmine due to COVID. Our only signature wins came in conference 2-0 v The Drake, v LUC, and v The Drake… (sorry I broke the signature win thing with Valley games but we were just that mediocre this year haha, I have to live on what we got XD)

[BCPanther]

Better than what? One erroneous call in one game cost them first place and an auto NIT bid. Obviously nobody else wanted them and they want to play.

I covered this in a different post but I don’t think it’s a good look for the Valley for ANY of the teams to take CBI/CIT Bids. NCAA/NIT or nothing. IMO Drake earned an NIT Bid and were slighted. That sucks but it is what it is. Much of this could be solved by eliminating the CBI/CIT and expanding the NIT to 64 as someone on the Bradley board suggested.

Not only that but the new format for the CBI is essentially a glorified mid season tournament. Four days in March at a neutral site in FL against teams from conferences that all rank below the Valley in RPI (BU-Boston is in the Patriot which is 28/32).

There’s more to lose than gain from playing in this tournament imo, at least when Bradley played in the inaugural tournament we got extra basketball at Carver. If you win whoop de doo, you’re clearly the best team by far in the tournament and you should. If you lose it’s terrible because there’s no reason Drake shouldn’t win. It’s not even making a “statement” like the ‘82 Bradley team that should have made the NCAA but ran the table in the NIT to show the selection committee they messed up.

When I say “be better” I meant “Drake is better than the CBI/CIT so don’t grace those garbage tournaments with your presence”. That being said I’ll be rooting for The Drake and I hope dumbass gets his ass kicked by Xichigan… which is really hard for me to say as my football school is ND lol.

Or, hear me out, Drake can make whatever choice they feel is in the best interest of their team and program...

[BCPanther]

Additionally…

See Bellarmine’s reasoning for not competing in CBI/CIT.

https://www.wdrb.com/sports/crawford-be ... 42c0d.html

For the top 5….

LUC is where they should be. Won the Tourney and probably had an at-large bid even if they didn’t. Signature wins over Vandy (not really but I’ll give it to ya), ASU, and DePaul (seriously, this one isn’t a signature win. DePaul sucks and is only good in DePaul fans’ heads). Missed opportunities v MSU and Auburn.

UNI is where they should be. Didn’t win the tourney and crapped the bed during the non-con. Won the regular season and got the auto bid, good job. No signature non con wins and missed opportunities against Arkansas, St. Bonnies, Richmond, Liberty, and Wyoming.

The Drake arguably had a shot at an NIT at-large, signature win over Richmond. Big losses to Belmont, Bama, UNT, and Clemson.

MoSt are probably where they should be but body of work may have had them on the NCAA bubble (I know, according to the experts they weren’t but the committee left out A&M so idc, yes I’m including you Dr. Reynolds). Signature wins over SDSU and a usually pretty good GWU team. Missed opportunities vs BYU (close) and SMC (blowout).

Bradley might have been invited to the CBI/CIT but I doubt the organizers reached out due to Wardle and Dr. Reynolds’ public position on accepting bids to those tournaments. Like UNI we took a big crap during the non con and managed a pretty respectable (but not stellar) record in the Valley. Our only non con signature win came vs an abysmal St. Joes and we had to cancel Bellarmine due to COVID. Our only signature wins came in conference 2-0 v The Drake, v LUC, and v The Drake… (sorry I broke the signature win thing with Valley games but we were just that mediocre this year haha, I have to live on what we got XD)

UNI beat St Bonaventure. In a just world, they'd take into account UNIs injuries and illness like they would for the P6 but we know why that doesn't happen.

[BUFanatic]

Better than what? One erroneous call in one game cost them first place and an auto NIT bid. Obviously nobody else wanted them and they want to play.

I covered this in a different post but I don’t think it’s a good look for the Valley for ANY of the teams to take CBI/CIT Bids. NCAA/NIT or nothing. IMO Drake earned an NIT Bid and were slighted. That sucks but it is what it is. Much of this could be solved by eliminating the CBI/CIT and expanding the NIT to 64 as someone on the Bradley board suggested.

Not only that but the new format for the CBI is essentially a glorified mid season tournament. Four days in March at a neutral site in FL against teams from conferences that all rank below the Valley in RPI (BU-Boston is in the Patriot which is 28/32).

There’s more to lose than gain from playing in this tournament imo, at least when Bradley played in the inaugural tournament we got extra basketball at Carver. If you win whoop de doo, you’re clearly the best team by far in the tournament and you should. If you lose it’s terrible because there’s no reason Drake shouldn’t win. It’s not even making a “statement” like the ‘82 Bradley team that should have made the NCAA but ran the table in the NIT to show the selection committee they messed up.

When I say “be better” I meant “Drake is better than the CBI/CIT so don’t grace those garbage tournaments with your presence”. That being said I’ll be rooting for The Drake and I hope dumbass gets his ass kicked by Xichigan… which is really hard for me to say as my football school is ND lol.

Or, hear me out, Drake can make whatever choice they feel is in the best interest of their team and program...

U right not my team. Since they’ve decided to go with it I hope they win the whole thing.

[ahunte1]

Good luck to MO State tonight!

[BuBrave2006]

Or, hear me out, Drake can make whatever choice they feel is in the best interest of their team and program...

U right not my team. Since they’ve decided to go with it I hope they win the whole thing.

My personal belief is that if you want to be a program that is taken seriously on a national level and compete in a conference that we want to be taken seriously on a national level...then when you accept a bid to the CBI as the number 1 seed, a year after winning a game in the NCAA tournament, where every other team is from a conference that is perceived as weaker than the MVC...then you better go out and win this tournament.

I have absolutely no issue with Drake accepting a bid to the CBI. They can choose to run their program however they believe is best, and there are certainly many positive reasons to play. Just...please go and win it.

[Campbellproud]

Belmont looking good against Vandy (who has THE WORST arena I have ever seen). Excited to see them in our league next year.

[BCPanther]

UNI blows the doors off St Louis 80-68 in a game that wasn't near that close.

Either way BYU Saturday or home for Long Beach on Sunday