Maybe the saddest part of all was how the news was released: in a weird kind of trickle. For weeks, there have been PDFs available online that were specific how-tos on the bidding process for the National Invitational Tournament beginning next year. You wouldn’t have known what you were looking at unless you knew what you were looking for.
Then the news started to drip on ESPN’s telecasts of the NIT: This would be the last year the NIT would play the semifinals and finals at Madison Square Garden. Really? If you Googled that, it was nowhere to be found. Then ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla casually mentioned it too, on Twitter. And, at last, a few days later, ESPN actually put it all to words.
After 84 years, the NIT is leaving town. Probably for good.
And look, on the list of sad sports stories, this probably isn’t going to rate all that high on the list. The NIT going to Vegas or Indianapolis or St. Louis isn’t the same as the Dodgers moving to Los Angeles or the Giants leaving for San Francisco. For most people — even most sports fans — the NIT is one of those events you see in the agate pages of the newspaper every year and say, “Oh, right! The NIT! I wonder who’s playing in it this year?”
All fair. All true.
That doesn’t make its departure any less wistful for those for whom college basketball has been an intricate part of life, especially those of us who grew up in New York. It’s been a long time since the NIT was a hot ticket in town. But it was still a prominent ticket, and still a notable event.
The very first event I ever saw at Madison Square Garden was the 1980 NIT. Virginia, led by a freshman center named Ralph Sampson, beat Minnesota, featuring its senior star, Kevin McHale, 58-55. Even then, 42 years ago, the NIT was firmly established as the JV tournament — a few days later, the Doctors of Dunk would lead Louisville to the NCAA title, and that’s what everyone was talking about.
But that NIT game for me — March 19, 1980 — lit a fuse.
And for generations, the National Invitation Tournament did likewise for millions of basketball fans. Born a year before the NCAA in 1938, it quickly became the postseason tournament of choice for schools who weren’t bound by conference affiliation — and in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s that was most schools.
All the games were played at the Garden, the old one on 50th Street. Most of them were sold out. Even after the gambling scandal of 1951, when Garden doubleheaders became scarcer, two events kept MSG as college basketball’s Mecca: the Holiday Festival in December and the NIT in March. Even after the NCAA started to lean on teams to accept bids for the other tournament when offered, even at the expense of sacrificing a week in New York, the NIT still thrived.
Its last real gasp was probably 1970, when Al McGuire — furious at what he perceived as an annual snubbing by the NCAA’s seeding committee — turned down an NCAA bid in favor of the NIT, brought Dean Meminger and crew to town, and won a star-studded event that also included Pete Maravich and LSU. Soon thereafter the NCAA made it clear: You want to play in our sandbox, you play in our tournament. No exceptions.
So the NIT became, in essence, a consolation bracket.
So, yes, maybe this day was inevitable. The Holiday Festival is already just a memory; soon the NIT will be, too. Maybe we should simply be amazed, and grateful, that we had the NIT as long as we did. The Garden can surely make better windfalls scheduling concerts in its place. And the folks at the NCAA who now run the NIT have never much bought into the idea that New York was still as much a drawing card for teams as it’s perceived to be. Whatever.
I know this: Forty-two years after attending my first Garden event as a wide-eyed 13-year-old kid, I’ll be back this week. Now, yes, St. Bonaventure happens to be playing in it, and that’s why I’ll be there as a 55-year-old, my eyes considerably less wide. But I’ll take a good look around while I’m there. The NIT was a part of New York for 84 years. It is good and right to be able to wish an old friend well.
Vac’s Whacks
Can CBS just do everyone a favor and just assign Ian Eagle to … well, everything?
There is some good news for the vanquished Purdue Boilermakers: Ex-Met Turk Wendell’s son, Wyatt. Wyatt doesn’t brush his teeth between innings or chew licorice on the mound like his old man, but the 6-foot-6 junior right-hander is 3-0 and hoping to be drafted in June.
What was the bigger surprise Friday night: Saint Peter’s over Purdue or the Knicks coming from 15 back to beat the Heat in Miami?
It is remarkable how often these NCAA games wind up in TV timeouts at the same time no matter how much they stagger the starts.
Whack Back at Vac
Mike Convey: As a St. John’s graduate, I long for the Lou Carnesecca years. With the size and tradition of the Johnnies, why can’t we do what a school with a student body of less than 2,500 kids has accomplished? More of a concern, why can’t we even get to the Big Dance?
Vac: That is the genuine flip side to the wonderful Saint Peter’s story — lots of folks at other schools are going to start wondering: Why not us?
John Roe: I cannot root against Saint Peter’s. At my age, I am liable to meet him any day now! Let’s go Saint Pete’s!
Vac: So THAT explains Carolina and UCLA fans rooting louder Friday night for the Peacocks than they did later on for the Tar Heels and Bruins. They were hedging their bets.
@DSistaro: I love it! There’s nothing more exciting than March Madness! It seems every year I’m saying, “Best tourney ever!”
@MikeVacc: This year, especially.
Alfred Angiola: Normally I’d have no interest in, or patience for, profanity in the arts. Yet when I watch “Ted Lasso,” I find Roy Kent’s invective-laced outbursts to be absolutely hysterical, especially — here’s the scary part — when he swears in front of young children. Is there something wrong with me?
Vac: If there is, I’m afraid I have the same condition.
