Best 2nd, 3rd or 4th Post Season Tournament

[TheAsianSensation]

They're a lot bigger deal in the bottom 10-15 conferences. Conferences where you can go 13-5, finish 2nd, make the conference championship game, lose, and never get near the NIT.

Bradley's 2 big runs (CBI in '08 and CIT in '09) were met with a big 'ol "meh" those 2 years. And then BU turned down both tourneys in '10 when eligible and fired Les in '11, which shows just how much those tournaments mean.

[Bear4Life]

Really the CBI and the CIT are just for developing teams IMO...Mo State won the CIT in 2010 with an underclassman team...I feel those extra games may have helped us as we ended up winning the regular season Valley title the following year...In 2012 we were invited back, but declined.

[TheDrake]

You know, I saw this thread and knew it would suck.

I'm still surprised by how much it ended up sucking.

+1

[Bradleyfan1]

In defense of the 2 3rd tier tourneys........They give SR's who will never play again more games so I would never decline w/o the SR"S vote.

[KC MVC FAN]

Personally, I love to read about the NAIA! That's some exciting stuff!

Hey, come to KC and see the NAIA tournament!!! Great BB event in a historical BB setting-Municipal Arena---dates from the 30s and the creation of the NCAA (and the NAIB/NAIA). More BB history in KC than any other city (except maybe NYC).

[Wufan]

Personally, I love to read about the NAIA! That's some exciting stuff!

Hey, come to KC and see the NAIA tournament!!! Great BB event in a historical BB setting-Municipal Arena---dates from the 30s and the creation of the NCAA (and the NAIB/NAIA). More BB history in KC than any other city (except maybe NYC).

I've been. I competed at the NAIA level in college (not baskketball). I also played against D-I players. There is a mile of difference in talent. I went to high school with 4 collegiate basketball players:

1 was a D-I walk-on.
1 was an NCAA D-II All-American
1 was a D-II All-Conference.
1 was an NAIA All-American.

Guess which one was the best? Worst? It wasn't even close.

[m-v-c]

Personally, I love to read about the NAIA! That's some exciting stuff!

Hey, come to KC and see the NAIA tournament!!! Great BB event in a historical BB setting-Municipal Arena---dates from the 30s and the creation of the NCAA (and the NAIB/NAIA). More BB history in KC than any other city (except maybe NYC).

I've been. I competed at the NAIA level in college (not baskketball). I also played against D-I players. There is a mile of difference in talent. I went to high school with 4 collegiate basketball players:

1 was a D-I walk-on.
1 was an NCAA D-II All-American
1 was a D-II All-Conference.
1 was an NAIA All-American.

Guess which one was the best? Worst? It wasn't even close.

Your experience may be what it is, but if you really knew the NAIA, you would know overall there is not a 'mile' of difference in talent between it and some of D-I. The top NAIA D-I programs talent-wise are probably comparable to a low NCAA D-I level (because they're frequently filled with NCAA D-I transfers), just like the top NCAA D-II programs are comparable to NCAA D-I. Good NAIA programs beat low D-I schools on a fairly regular basis. It's all relative, there are some terrible NAIA programs, just like there are some terrible D-II programs and D-I programs. Overall mean, an average NAIA D-I is probably slightly below an average NCAA D-II, NAIA D-II is definitely below (but still well above NCAA D-III). NAIA is a very good level of play, and used to be even better before NCAA basically started poaching it and bunch of small schools decided they'd rather be chum at the bottom of D-II or D-III for some reason rather than compete for national championships in NAIA.

[KC MVC FAN]

KC MVC FAN: Hey, come to KC and see the NAIA tournament!!! Great BB event in a historical BB setting-Municipal Arena---dates from the 30s and the creation of the NCAA (and the NAIB/NAIA). More BB history in KC than any other city (except maybe NYC).

WuFAN: I've been. I competed at the NAIA level in college (not baskketball). I also played against D-I players. There is a mile of difference in talent. I went to high school with 4 collegiate basketball players:

1 was a D-I walk-on.
1 was an NCAA D-II All-American
1 was a D-II All-Conference.
1 was an NAIA All-American.

Guess which one was the best? Worst? It wasn't even close.[/quote]

m- v-c: "Your experience may be what it is, but if you really knew the NAIA, you would know overall there is not a 'mile' of difference in talent between it and some of D-I. The top NAIA D-I programs talent-wise are probably comparable to a low NCAA D-I level (because they're frequently filled with NCAA D-I transfers), just like the top NCAA D-II programs are comparable to NCAA D-I. Good NAIA programs beat low D-I schools on a fairly regular basis. It's all relative, there are some terrible NAIA programs, just like there are some terrible D-II programs and D-I programs. Overall mean, an average NAIA D-I is probably slightly below an average NCAA D-II, NAIA D-II is definitely below (but still well above NCAA D-III). NAIA is a very good level of play, and used to be even better before NCAA basically started poaching it and bunch of small schools decided they'd rather be chum at the bottom of D-II or D-III for some reason rather than compete for national championships in NAIA.[/quote]

WuFAN. If you did not play college BB how can you personally rank/rate/evaluate players from several different levels. Playing against D1/D2/NAIA players in non team/game situations sounds like pickup, playground/backboard nailed to the garage BB....

[Cdizzle]

Perhaps we should just defer to KC MVC FAN for all comparisons. He seems to have a pretty good handle on things.

[Wufan]

WuFAN. If you did not play college BB how can you personally rank/rate/evaluate players from several different levels. Playing against D1/D2/NAIA players in non team/game situations sounds like pickup, playground/backboard nailed to the garage BB....

Why are you able to evaluate talent and I'm not? I played and practice with these guys in high school. After high school, when we went on to our various programs, we played pick-up ball and practiced with the high school team over Thanksgiving and Christmans break. The domination by certain players in high school continued after high school. Two big differences were noted. The D-I walk-on was much better than the NAIA All-American (just as in high school), and those of us that went on to play other sports in college, were not able to compete with the collegiate basketball players.

When I say there are miles of difference between NAIA and NCAA Division I athletes, I speak from experience. I competed with and against players from all levels and gave clinics with D-I athletes and ex-professionals. Even though I was an NAIA All-American, I was not able to compete with the D-I players. Even though I didn't play basketball, the competition still holds true. While you may not feel that my experience is adequate to make those evaluations, I feel strongly that it is better than most on this board.