Nit.

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SycamoreinTexas

The All-American Level
I know absolutely nothing about the NIT.. Say we have 18-20 wins, is that good enough to make the NIT? When was last time we played in the NIT?
 

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Pretty sure the last time we played in the NIT was the 77-78 season. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong about that.

20 regular season wins plus an MVC tourney game win and I think we have a very good shot at an NIT bid.
 
I believe that the sycamore basketball legacy is the oldest in the nation. We have been playing basketball since the 1890s. Since that time, we have participated in a number of national tournaments. Two NIT appearances in the seventies and before that we were an NAIA school. We have also been invited to play in a number of NCAA championships(6). This year 64 teams will be in the NCAA tournament and 32 will participate in the NIT. We are currently ranked 120 in the Sagrins Ranking system. A computer generated system that gets more accurate with the number of games played. So it seems as though, we have a ligitimate chance to get invited to the NIT. Goals need to be obtainable and once you begin to reach those goals set some new ones. I say, "come on Sycamores keep winning and get in the national playoff conversation"....

pride=heart=effort=character=respect GO SYCAMORES!!!!!!!!
 
The NIT has changed in the last couple of years. It is no longer a private interest group as it is now operated by the NCAA. Mid-major teams that win a regular season conference championship but lose in their conference tourney are automatic invites. As is usual any team from a BCS conference that finishes .500 or better (not really positive that is actually a requirement anymore?) gets in and then it is pick & choose among the rest at the mercy of the NCAA committee that handles the tourney. So bottom line.............18-20 wins mean nothing!
 
In the 76-77 season we were 28-3 an only got to the nit
Yes the ncaa has done nothing but screwed the middies for the almigthy $
 
In the 76-77 season we were 28-3 an only got to the nit
Yes the ncaa has done nothing but screwed the middies for the almigthy $

In 1977, we were still an Independent, making the transition to the Mo Valley

The NCAA was a 32 team tournament, the NIT was a 16 game tournament

Today, to get an NIT home game, it's about ticket sales

However, if we win 20+ games, finish 2nd/3rd in the MVC regular season (and have a good MVC Tourney, we could be a NIT darkhorse (woudl prefer if we won the MVC regular season for the NIT auto AND the MVC tourney for the NCAA auto. bid
 

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It also has to do with how you finished the year. The NIT likes teams that are "on a roll".

Agreed, if we finish as strong as last year but come up short in the MVC Tourney, I like our NIT chances (will definitely help if we finish 2nd or 3rd in the regular season)

Sadly, with our recent attendance, we'll be an NIT road team unless someone guarantees the ticket sales
 
In '77, ISU was 25-2 when they were invited to the NIT. Only losses were Purdue and Illinois St., if I remember correctly. The third loss was in the NIT opening round so they ended 25-3. ISU played at Houston who was the eventual champ (again, at least that's how I remember it) and lost by 1 or 2. Imagine being 25-2 and not being considered one of the best 32 teams in the country. When's the last time a 25-2 team wasn't at least an 8-seed in the 64 team NCAA tourney?

NIT games in 78 were a win against Illinois St at Hulman Center and a loss at Rutgers. Harry Morgan took a shot for the win at the end, but he forced up a really, really long shot when he still had 5 seconds or more. It wasn't the best shot ISU could have taken in the situation.
 
From the time that shot was taken until now I still wonder why after a time-out, Coach Bob King elected for Harry to take that shot and use a guy by the name of Larry Bird for a decoy? He was overthinking the whole situation I guess.................?
 
more nit history

Houston lost the final to St Bonaventure

the ncaa was 32 team tourney; 21 automatic bids, 11 at-large (arizona, louisville, marquette * national champ *, notre dame, purdue, tennessee, unlv and wake forest were 8 of the 11)

Louisville and Tennessee were both conf. season champions, the other potential at-large schools were detroit (w/ dick vitale), holy cross, providence, st johns and syracuse.

Best thing we did was join the MVC; remember, we'd only moved from Div II in 1972 -- were we ever ranked in 1977?
 

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I think ISU was ranked in 76-77. They were ranked in the 77 portion of the 77-78 season so technically the answer is yes, even though that probably wasn't what you meant by 77. Beating Purdue by 28 when Purdue was expected to be great propelled ISU into the rankings in 77-78. I don't think they lost until January that season. But then they lost several. I think they went from 13-0 to 23-9. Hard to imagine ISU wouldn't have been ranked in 76-77, though, even though they only ranked the top 20 then.
 
I think ISU was ranked in 76-77. They were ranked in the 77 portion of the 77-78 season so technically the answer is yes, even though that probably wasn't what you meant by 77. Beating Purdue by 28 when Purdue was expected to be great propelled ISU into the rankings in 77-78. I don't think they lost until January that season. But then they lost several. I think they went from 13-0 to 23-9. Hard to imagine ISU wouldn't have been ranked in 76-77, though, even though they only ranked the top 20 then.

Yes, I was only referring to the 1976-77 season (core of the discussion)

During the 1970s, we were ranked 21 times (avg rank of 6.81, high of 1); those 21 weeks place us at # 48 in the nation during that decade (http://www.appollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/app_total.cfm?sort=totapp&decade=1970s&rows=all). All-time in the AP poll, we have 22 appearances, avg of 6.55, high of 1st.
http://www.appollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/app_total.cfm?sort=totapp&decade=all&rows=all; those 22 weeks place us at # 119 in the nation.

First appearance in national Div 1 poll?
http://www.appollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=426

1977-78 season: http://www.appollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/teams/by_season.cfm?seasonid=1978&teamid=164

1978-79 season: http://www.appollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/teams/by_season.cfm?teamid=164&seasonid=1979

OK -- Looks like we were only ranked in the AP in the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons.

Anyone know about the UPI?
 
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