NIT Bid For Buffs Would Likely Mean Road Trip
March 10, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — If the Colorado Buffaloes do get a call from the NIT on Sunday, it will most likely be accompanied by orders for a road trip.
The latest NIT projections have the Buffs receiving an invitation to the 32-team tournament, but in the neighborhood of a No. 6 or No. 7 seed (one projection has them seeded seventh and playing TCU in the first round; another has CU at No. 6 and playing at Indiana).
The first four seeds in each regional earn a home game (unless "logistical circumstances preclude such an opportunity"), with the higher seed in each ensuing round getting host designation until the field is reduced to a Final Four, played in New York's Madison Square Garden.
Thus, the Buffs would likely be on the road for as long as they survived.
Of course, the NIT isn't where the Buffs aimed to spend their postseason when the season began. But CU's hopes of a Pac-12 tournament run to an NCAA Tournament bid came to an end Thursday night in Las Vegas with a 92-78 loss to Arizona.
After the game, head coach Tad Boyle didn't sound overly optimistic that the 19-14 Buffs would receive an NIT bid, saying, "We came up short, so our season is most likely over."
The NIT field must first wait for the NCAA field to be determined. The NIT, which is now administered by the NCAA, will announce its field at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, with the announcement televised by ESPNU. With tournament upsets already shaking up the projected NCAA field, the NIT grouping will depend upon how some of the league tournaments shake out, particularly the smaller and mid-major tournaments. Regular season league champions that do not earn NCAA Tournament berths earn automatic NIT bids, which could reduce the field if there are a number of upsets.
Boyle is familiar with the NIT. In 2011, his first year in Boulder, the Buffs were snubbed by the NCAA, despite a 21-13 record at the end of the Big 12 tournament and an 8-8 conference record.
The Buffs then focused their frustrations at the snub on the NIT field, rolling past Texas Southern, Cal and Kent State in Boulder to earn a trip to Madison Square Garden and the Final Four, where they fell to Alabama.
But if this year's projections hold true, they won't have the benefit of playing at the Coors Events Center, where Colorado produced a 13-4 record this year.
Still, the Buffs have made it clear they'll play if asked.
"If we get the invite, we'll take it," Boyle said. "I'd love to keep coaching these guys. … I'm not planning on it, but I'm sure hoping for it. I think we have enough talent to be playing in that thing."
CU's players agreed with their coach.
"To be able to play another game with my teammates would be awesome," said CU's Derrick White. "You make the Final Four in the NIT, you get to play in Madison Square Garden. That's a lot of motivation right there."
If the Buffs do play in the NIT, they'll get to play under some experimental rules the NCAA is considering implementing. Those rules include a resetting of fouls 10 minute into each half and resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds instead of 30 seconds when the ball is inbounded in the front court.
Resetting fouls at the 10-minute mark will eliminate one-and-one free throw attempt. Instead, teams will automatically shoot two free throws after the fourth foul by an opponent during each 10-minute segment. Each team's foul total will then reset to zero when each 10-minute segment ends.
The rule is an experiment that will mimic the quarter system, adopted by the women's college game. NCAA officials have discussed changing to four quarters for the men's game, but believe resetting the fouls could have the same effect on the game as adapting a quarter system while still keeping two 20-minute halves, unique to the college game.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
