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WSU-Alabama

Congrats to the Shockers for doing the Valley proud! :D Great to see the first Valley NIT champs since Bradley accomplished this back in 1982.

About one minute to go until it's official!
 
And it's official!!! :D We'll be playing a home and home series against the NIT Champions next year!!!!! :D 66-57 FINAL!!! :D
 
And it's official!!! :D We'll be playing a home and home series against the NIT Champions next year!!!!! :D 66-57 FINAL!!! :D

That we will be! And let's hope Creighton can finish things up tomorrow night in the CBI and give the Valley two championships! :D

There's the postgame celebration on ESPN3.com right now.
 
Congrats to the Shockers for doing the Valley proud! :D Great to see the first Valley NIT champs since Bradley accomplished this back in 1982.

About one minute to go until it's official!

It's official!!!

Great play down the stretch - clutch shooting by SR Graham Hatch. Glad for the Shocker Seniors to go out in style! This will certainly be memorable for them.
As a Valley fan, this was an exciting NIT. Hoping next season we'll get back to a multi-bid league, but we'll cherish this for a little while, and boast for the Valley: 2 straight seasons of memorable post-season play (UNI in 2010 and WSU in 2011).

They did make mention of BU being the last MVC school to win the NIT near the end of the game!
 
It's official!!!

Great play down the stretch - clutch shooting by SR Graham Hatch. Glad for the Shocker Seniors to go out in style! This will certainly be memorable for them.
As a Valley fan, this was an exciting NIT. Hoping next season we'll get back to a multi-bid league, but we'll cherish this for a little while, and boast for the Valley: 2 straight seasons of memorable post-season play (UNI in 2010 and WSU in 2011).

They did make mention of BU being the last MVC school to win the NIT near the end of the game!

YAY for old school mentions!!! hahaha
 
Congratulations to the Shox...

Vindication for them and the MVC with win over BCS Alabama in the NIT.

Hopefully CU can seal the deal and close out BCS Oregon...

Can only hope the Tournament Selection Committee doesn't have selective memories next year when evaluating the "body of work" of MVC teams vs other Mid Major Conferences and BCS Conferences when deciding on who will fill out a bracket.

No more than 4-5 teams from any BCS Conference, ever! Don't want to hear a peep out of any Big East apologists..
 
While WSU winning the NIT, it brings more recognition to the Valley, for sure. But as Bradley fan first, does the recruiting advantage WSU gets because of the NIT Championship outweigh the positives? This is from a BU perspective, not for the Valley. Thoughts?
 
It definitely gets their name out more, but this championship was born from the fruits of their sweet 16 run in 2006. They capitalized on the same success we had to a much greater level than BU has and this was the validation. Now that we have a coach with a proven success record(including taking ten new players and producing 24 wins) and new facilities, my hope is that we see similar success sooner than most expect.
I firmly believe we arent going to see the doom and gloom 9th place for "years to come" as some have pointed out with JL's departure. I fully expect to be at or near the apex of where Jim took us in Valley play as soon as next season, regardless of who stays or goes.
 
While WSU winning the NIT, it brings more recognition to the Valley, for sure. But as Bradley fan first, does the recruiting advantage WSU gets because of the NIT Championship outweigh the positives? This is from a BU perspective, not for the Valley. Thoughts?

Anything to help this league to return to one of the best non-BCS leagues is a plus, I think. I don't really see it taking away any possible recruits that would be weighing betw/ WSU and BU. Hopefully this will help Wichita St. get some good recruits so that it can stay strong and help the league as a whole. I don't see them being as successful next season losing Hatch, Durley, Blair, Ellis. Their guard play will be solid still, but they need some bigs to step in immediately if they are to contend. Stutz is inconsistent - they expected bigger things from him this season.
 
There is always talk about which is better - a 1st round NCAA tourney loss or an NIT title. I think I'm in the minority in saying in most cases, I'd rather see my team winning the NIT...provided that the team is a mid-major, and wasn't a #1 seed in the NIT (which means you were the last 4 left OUT!) Of course, after winning the NIT, it's thought of as a stepping stone to improve upon it to reach the tourney the following season. But for the Shockers, they were the #4 seed and were not even considered a threat to win the NIT. They beat a few good high-major teams along the way, which was a big accomplishment as a mid-major.

I would LOVE for BU to have been in Wichita's shoes and win the NIT. Getting into the tourney and losing immediately wouldn't be too memorable. These seniors for the Shox will remember this for a looooooong time, and will have stories about how they went out with the best feeling imaginable. Add to that the celebration and feeling of elation after winning a nice tournament, compared to the heartbreak of losing at any point in the NCAA tourney.
At what point would I consider an NCAA tourney loss > NIT championship?
As long as you win 1 game in the Big Dance.

To me, there's no comparison as to who I'd want to be right now - Indy St. (1 and done) or Wichita St. (NIT champs).

Just my thoughts.
 
Interesting statement the Mid Majors have made this March.

For the first time in a very long time, the Mid Majors have a chance to sweep the major post season tourney's.

One thing that is lost in the discussion though, is this, the tournaments could be won by two Mid Major programs that DID NOT WIN THEIR REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE TITLE.

Butler tied for a share, but in the tie braker situation didn't finish first.

The lack of overall talent at the BCS schools is very evident. Senior leadership and continuity at the Mid Major level is killing the AAU style BCS schools.

What will the NCAA do to stop this problem, I'm thinking we see a two division - Division I setup soon. Similar to Football.
 
I'm definitely in the court of "win the NIT" vs "one and done" in the NCAA. And living in NJ and able to take a train to MSG, I would have been in heaven for both of those games being played there.
 
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