Possible NIT answer...

[hogwildinhouston]

Is anyone watching Holy Cross/Notre Dame in their NIT opener?   Good lord, it's at ND, and there's about 1,000 people there.  I've NEVER seen the Joyce Center that empty.  It's absolutely pitiful.   Could JFB/Heath possibly have envisioned Bud Walton looking that sparse as well as a possible embarrasing loss like ND appears to be heading too?  With the way the season ended, it is possible Bud Walton could have been that empty.   Sad and almost unthinkable at one time, but now possible.

[hogwildinhouston]

Just to follow up, the crowd at Mizzou is slightly better, but not much.   Looks as though half the seats are empty.  DePaul is also making them look foolish at this point.   Honestly, watching these 2 games......I'm glad the misery is over for the Hogs.

Edit:  ESPN just announced the official attendance of Mizzou/DePaul.....6,000.   6,000 in a 16,000 seat arena.

Yea, we really wanted to be a part of this excitement.

[heathshogs]

Mizzou did only average 9773 for there home games anyway. So they've been playing in a half empty arena all season. The attendance was a factor weighing into Broyles decision. Only 3000 seasson ticket holders returne the pre-order form. I suspect crowds would have been around 12,000. We needed to garauntee 10,000 to be economically viable.

[SardisHog]

NIT stands for Next In Trash. This tournament will die for lack of interest.

[bknight33]

NCAA teams that were on the bubble almost always get knocked out in the 1st round of the NIT.  NDame is not a surprise loser to me.  Holy Cross had everything to gain in this game.

[Extra Point]

NIT stands for Next In Trash. This tournament will die for lack of interest.

One benefit of the post-season NIT is for the teams who win their conferences, but not their tourneys and don't make the NCAAT.  ND fans are disallusioned by their not making the NCAAT, Mizzou fans have been skeptical since the first game of the sesaon, and there is no doubt in my mind there would have been 1 of every 5 seats filled at BWA had we played as well.  Of course, those 3 are not good examples.

I will say the ND and Mizzou fans missed two good games, except for the end!

[BushHawg]

As far as college basketball as a whole the Nobody's Interested Tournament is meaningless.  For a team it can be huge though.  Extra practice, extra exposure, can build confidence.  Look at GA Tech a couple of years ago, they went to the NIT and then were in the National Championship game last year.