The Madness Of March: Wichita State Wins NIT, Un-Officially #69 In College Basketball

This is a big deal in Wichita, Kansas. The Shockers return home champions of the NIT. Yes they are Un-officially number 69 in college basketball but for a program that has a decent tradition in college basketball with a very passionate fan base this is a big deal.

For the Shockers they can call themselves a champion.

“I’m never going to forget it,” WSU senior C/F J.T. Durley told the Wichita Eagle. “I’m a champion. We’re tough, and we pulled it out.”

Durley and NIT Most Outstanding Player Graham Hatch led the way for the Shockers with 12 points as Wichita State defeated Alabama 66-57

“Their depth, size and physicality was just too much for us,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “We had success going inside and attacking them at the rim. They took those things away from us.”


After the game the Shockers cut down the nets and spoke to the media. (Thanks WSUAthletcs/Youtube.com)



More of the Shocker celebration on the floor of MSG. (Thanks KWCH-TV Wichita, KS)

 

Here's KWCH-TV's Rebecca Gannon hanging out with the Shocker fans back home watching the game. (Thanks KWCH-TV)

 

By the way, do you think Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshal might be on his way to Raleigh, North Carolina? There might be mutual interest in the NC State job.

Photo Courtesy: Mary Altaffer/AP

The 4-Letter's Mike Patrick Has NC State Wolfpack Fans Howling

Wednesday night during a forgettable NIT broadcast on the 4-letter, the subject of job openings in men's college basketball. Mike Patrick and his analyst Dan Dakich discussed. Then Patrick gave an opinion of the ACC openings that NC State fans took offense to.

Judge for yourself. (Thanks Youtube.com)



Those of us at the OSG HQ give Mike Patrick the benefit of the doubt as a tough-n-cheek comment that was meant to include Georgia Tech. Yellow Jacket fans aren't raising hell but Wolfpack fans are showing their fangs. How dare Mike Patrick disrespect NC State like that.

NC State is in a tough situation in men's basketball but not an impossible one. Last I checked their are two NCAA Championship banners hanging from the RBC Center.

Chalk this up as "if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all."

Photo Courtesy: ESPN

The Politics Of Dancing: Your NIT Grid

Tuesday, March 15

Coastal Carolina (28-5) at Alabama (21-11), 7 p.m.
College of Charleston (24-10) at Dayton (22-13), 7 p.m.
Vermont (23-8) at Cleveland State (26-8), 7 p.m.
Harvard (23-6) at Oklahoma State (19-13), 7:30 p.m.
Murray State (23-8) at Missouri State (25-8), 8 p.m.
UTEP (25-9) at New Mexico (21-12), 9 p.m.
McNeese State (21-11) at Boston College (20-12), 9 p.m.
Fairfield (24-7) at Colorado State (19-12), 9 p.m.
Kent State (23-11) at St. Mary's, Calif. (25-8), 11 p.m.

Wednesday, March 16

Texas Southern (19-12) at Colorado (21-13), 7 p.m.
Nebraska (19-12) at Wichita State (24-8), 7 p.m.
Florida Atlantic (21-10) at Miami (19-14), 7:30 p.m.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (19-13) at Northwestern (18-13), 8 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman (21-12) at Virginia Tech (21-11), 8 p.m.
Mississippi (20-13) at California (17-14), 9 p.m.
Long Beach State (22-12) at Washington State (19-12), 10 p.m.

What Is It About Nut Shots and the NIT...???

Further down the page, you'll see one of the reasons that contributed to Seton Hall's Firing of Bobby Gonzalez...

Here's another NIT game with another nutshot...

Jackson State and Mississippi State... JSU's Phillip Williams pops MSU's Dee Bost with a downhill right cross...

((HT: ESPNU/NIT/bird2985))


The HQ guesses that one of these teams just wasn't all that "all that" about playing in the Nutshot Invitational Tournament...

One Tar Hell Of A Basketball Season

Little did we know when the College of Charleston defeated North Carolina 82-70 in overtime back on January 4th it would lead to a Carolina collapse. Since then the Tar Heels have lost 10 of 13 games. Sorry Carolina fans, the Heels are in total free fall.

Here we are some 3 weeks from the start of the NCAA Tournament and the topic of conversation in restaurants along Franklin Street in Chapel Hill isn't whether the Tar Heels will get a number one seed or which region Carolina will be placed, it's whether the Heels can make the NIT. The friekin' NIT!!!!!

Chalk this up as to how much of a difference a year makes. A year ago at this time North Carolina was a fine tuned machine on the way to an NCAA Championship. This year someone put a banana in the exhaust pipe and slashed the tires of that machine.

You want real numbers as to how bad it is for North Carolina? The Tar Heels are 14-14 overall, 3-9 in the ACC and tied for dead last in the league with NC State. North Carolina fans are having Matt Doherty flashbacks. (By the way, Doherty is head coach of the SMU Mustangs who are 13-14 overall, 6-7 in Conference USA, in the middle of the pack in the conference. No shot of making the tournament.)

North Carolina has no shot of making the NCAA Tournament unless the Tar Heels win the ACC Tournament and that ain't happening. Heck the NIT is a long shot, but there's always the College Basketball Invitational. The CBI will take losers and would love to have a gold standard program like North Carolina in their 16 team field.

Something tells me North Carolina feels they are above the CBI. I would love to see that championship banner in the rafters of the Smith Center.

Photos Courtesy: Robert Willett/Raleigh News-Observer

They Are Playing For #66

The NIT has some star power this year. Davidson, the cinderella of the 2008 NCAA Tournament and their superman Stephen Curry, is in. Two of college basketball's brand names, Kentucky and Georgetown, join this post season party too.

Here's your NIT first round pairings:

Tuesday, March 17

Davidson (26-7) at South Carolina (21-9), 7 p.m.
Rhode Island (22-10) at Niagara (26-8), 7 p.m.
George Mason (22-10) at Penn State (22-11), 8 p.m.
UAB (22-11) at Notre Dame (18-14), 9 p.m.
UNLV (21-10) at Kentucky (20-12), 9:30 p.m.
Weber State (21-9) at San Diego State (23-9), 10 p.m.
Nebraska (18-12) at New Mexico (21-11), 10 p.m.
Washington State (17-15) at St. Mary's, Calif. (25-6), 11 p.m.

Wednesday, March 18

Duquesne (21-12) at Virginia Tech (18-14), 7 p.m.
Miami (18-12) at Providence (19-13), 7 p.m.
Illinois State (24-9) at Kansas State (21-11), 8 p.m.
Bowling Green (19-13) at Creighton (26-7), 8 p.m.
Tennessee-Martin (22-9) at Auburn (22-11), 8 p.m.
Jacksonville (18-13) at Florida (23-10), 8 p.m.
Northwestern (17-13) at Tulsa (24-10), 9 p.m.
Georgetown (16-14) at Baylor (20-14), 9 p.m.

It may not be the NCAA's but hey, make the most of it.

Kentucky Feeling The Blues

Kentucky fans, it's officially time to panic. Wednesday night, on senior night, the dreadful Georgia Bulldogs, who had won only 10 games coming in and fired their head coach over a month ago, spanked the Wildcats in Rupp Arena 90-85. The Bulldogs who's offense can't hit the broadside of a barn shot 50% from the field, 68.8% from 3 point land and made 25 of 30 on the charity stripe. UGA's 90 points is 30 more than the 'Dogs were averaging in SEC play.

"It's entirely my fault. I'm having a hard time finding five guys that play hard, smart and together the whole time." Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie said after the loss to Georgia. "We are trying a lot of different things but none of them seem to be working right now. Georgia played great. They made a lot of shots. We didn't do that. I guess we aren't mature enough to understand what we need to do. We didn't play the way we needed to in order to win. Georgia really took it to us.”

As I kept hearing throughout Lexington when I was up there last weekend: "What the hell is wrong with the Wildcats! They are going to the NIT."

"We want to make it to the NCAA tournament." Kentucky Patrick Patterson said. "We want to still be playing ball at the end of March and beginning of April. We want to keep playing. We know that Kentucky has a great tradition and history. They have made it to the tournament for the past 20 years almost and we don't want to be the team that didn't make it.”

There is no doubt the loss to Georgia will be a glaring stain on the UK NCAA Tournament resume. Losing 7 of their last 10 won't impress the selection committee either. The only hope for Big Blue to make it to the NCAA's is win the SEC Tournament. It's either that or go to the NIT.

The way Kentucky's stock is free falling the Wildcats are in dire need of a stimulus package. Sorry, their's no bailout in sight.

Look on the bright side UK fans, spring football is coming up. Is that change Wildcat fans can believe in.

Here's your highlights plus commentary from Billy Gillispie.

Photo Courtesy: Mark Cornelison/Lexington Herald-Leader