NIT FINAL
Before West Virginia beat Mississippi State in the NIT semifinals Tuesday night, Mountaineers head coach John Beilein said, “I would rather be where we are right now than one and done.”
Beilein was referring to the NCAA tournament. His thoughts were echoed by the other teams that reached this week’s NIT final four at Madison Square Garden. TheMountaineers will play Clemson tonight for the title.
“Unless you make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, you are much better off being a part of this,” Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury said.
Coaches and players – well, mostly coaches – repeat this sentiment throughout the also-ran tournament. Perhaps they are trying to convince themselves – more likely their athletic directors – that stringing together some victories in the NIT actually is more valuable than a quick exit from the NCAA because they would like to buy more time to build their program.
Generally, however, that’s not the case.
The last team that went from winning the NIT to earning an NCAA berth the following year was Memphis, the 2002 champion.
Still, the players maintain that once in New York, they enjoy playing in the NIT.
“I would definitely compare it to the runs we made in the NCAA, because of all the emotion is still there,” West Virginia senior Frank Young said.