Welcome back sports fans and today we are going to talk about what used to be the premier college basketball tournament, the National Invitational Tournament, or NIT. When the NCAA’s began, teams could participate in both, but over time, the NIT could only select teams that didn’t make that field. One of the concerns I have about expanding the field of 68 in the NCAA tournament is the quality of teams left for the NIT.
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Tonight, we have the men’s semis in Indianapolis (yes, back in the day the final 4 was always in Madison Square Garden) with Chattanooga (27-9/59 with a GCR Score of 46.29) taking on Loyola Chicago (25-11/52 with a Score of 47.10). The Mocs have been favored to lose every game in this tournament and are the only real Cinderella in this post-season. The GCR algorithm has the clock striking midnight: Loyola Chicago with a 51.2% advantage. Our second game features North Texas (27-8/32 with a Score of 51.60) and UC Irvine (31-6/24 with a Score of 53.06). UCI should win this one 52.2% of the time.
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That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for a look at the women’s NIT semifinals. Thank you for reading and, especially, for sharing with others, G.
