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Date Posted: 08:50:57 03/13/03 Thu
Author: JoeStag
Subject: All 3 Rhode Island Teams could make NIT

You might want to go to the Providence paper (www.projo.com) to get a lot of NIT news. All 3 teams might get a bid. You have to register (No Cost) to view..... but here is one of the latest stories.


Jim Donaldson: It's all, or the N.I.T. is nothing
03/12/2003

It's a day to nitpick.

Or, more accurately, N.I.T. pick.

If the National Invitation Tournament, better known as the N.I.T., doesn't pick all three of Rhode Island's Division One teams to participate, then I'll have more than a few nits to pick with the selection committee.

It's still possible, of course, that URI and Providence College could get into the NCAA Tournament. Possible, but not likely, since they'd have to win their respective conference tournaments in order to earn a berth.

The Ivy League's automatic -- and, as usual, only -- NCAA tourney bid already has been determined. It will go to Pennsylvania, which was undefeated in league play heading into last night's regular-season finale at Princeton.

Ah, yes, Princeton.

With 65 teams receiving NCAA bids, and another 40 headed for the N.I.T., the Ivies certainly ought to have a team in the N.I.T.

Without question, that team should be Brown.

But there are rumblings that the N.I.T. might take Princeton, which is causing some understandable consternation and frustration on College Hill.

If it were only about basketball, there is no way the Tigers should be selected over the Bears, who finished in second place in the Ivies with a 12-2 league record, including their first-ever sweep of Princeton, and won 14 of their last 16 games.

But this is the N.I.T., which is all about gate receipts and television ratings. And the perception is that a Princeton team -- even one that finished third in the Ivies and lost twice to Brown -- would be a bigger draw, both on television and at whatever arena they play, than the Bears.

The theory is that fans around the country have become familiar with Princeton's style of play and have followed the underdog Tigers over the years in their frequent NCAA tournament upset bids, and so would be more likely to watch them play than Brown.

Whether that's true or not is debatable. But what is not at all debatable is that, this season, the Bears are a better team than Princeton. All anyone needs to know is that Brown beat the Tigers twice, and finished ahead of them in the league standings. That should be the only criteria for selection.

The N.I.T. should be ashamed of itself if it takes Princeton, and not Brown, and, in that event, would be exposing itself as a strictly commercial -- make that money-grubbing -- venture.

Speaking of shame, there have been proud teams which have scorned invitations from the N.I.T., or participated only with reluctance and an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

Certainly Rhode Island and even, given the circumstances of this season, Providence College, should be excited about the prospect of playing in the N.I.T. this year.

For the Rams, it's a well-earned reward for the remarkable turnaround they have made in the second-year of hard-working, no-nonsense, blue-collar coach Jim Baron's tenure.

After the sleazy years of the Jim Harrick regime -- the repercussions from which now have URI embroiled in embarrassing issues that could lead to NCAA sanctions -- and the disaster that was the overmatched Jerry DiGregorio's reign, Baron has returned the Rams to respectability, both on and off the court.

A much-deserved N.I.T. appearance would be a fitting reward for the Rams, and should have URI players and fans enthused.

Expectations were higher at Providence, especially in coach Tim Welsh's fifth season. So it is understandable if there is a certain amount of disappointment among Friar fans that PC is much more likely to be in the N.I.T. than the NCAA.

But it wasn't so long ago that even the N.I.T. was looking doubtful for this PC team. Welsh and his players should be commended for finishing with a flourish, instead of collapsing down the stretch.

If Providence continues to play the way it has in recent road victories over St. John's and Connecticut, and home wins over Miami, Villanova, and Seton Hall, it could go a long way in the N.I.T, which would be a highly positive note for the program as it heads into what looms as a critical season in 2003-04.

It will be exciting to see all three of the state's Division One teams in the N.I.T. And infuriating if Brown is somehow scorned.

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