Steve ventures to the Not Invited Tournament

Although I have been mocking it in all of my NCAA tournament posts, at this very moment that you are reading this entry, I am in New York City watching the University of Rhode Island Rams play in the NIT – the Not Invited Tournament, also known by its official and generic name, the National Invitational Tournament. (To be precise though, URI plays at 9; the early game is at 7, and features Dayton vs. Missouri or Mississippi, I forget which one exactly.)

Obviously, I'm not a huge fan of the NIT. However, there are several reasons why I took the plunge and decided to check it out this year.

1) North Carolina. As in, URI's opponent is the University of North Carolina. The Tarheels uncharacteristically didn't make the NCAA tournament, since they lost pretty much their entire team following their national championship in the 2008-09 season. Given the reluctance of power / BCS conference teams to play the Atlantic 10 under any circumstance, this could be the last time in a while that the Rams meet up with the Tarheels.

2)Madison Square Garden. I've never been, and unlike an overpriced regular season New York Knicks game, prices for the NIT are very reasonable. I paid $10 for my ticket, which admits me to both games. In the past, I tried to go to Yankee Stadium the year before it was demolished, only to have the game be rained out; I took this as a sign that I wasn't meant to go. Hopefully, nothing will impede me from checking out MSG.

3)Timing and location. New York City is only about two-and-a-half to three hours from where I live in southern Rhode Island. I do have to work early Wednesday morning, but the 9 p.m. tip for the Rhody game leaves me plenty of time to watch the game and drive home after. I'm going with three other people, with the plan of leaving Rhode Island around 2 p.m. This will hopefully give us some time to check out the local... color... around MSG. If the Rams win tonight, I'm also free to go to their Thursday night game, which would be a fun if not-as-entertaining match-up.

4)The Rams. Yeah, seeing them collapse down the stretch for the third year in a row wasn't so entertaining. If they managed to turn a single of their bad losses – UMass, St. Bonaventure's, VCU – into a win, or managed to beat Temple once in three tries, or eek out the win against Richmond, then they are probably in the NCAA tournament. However, advancing to the Final Four of the NITs is a decent consolation to the season, and better than being at home for the players, I imagine. Hopefully, the performance of the A-10 bubble teams in the postseason – Dayton also made the NIT Final Four – will force the NCAA tournament selection committee's hand in future bubble situations, especially given the Big East bubble teams' performance in comparison.

Anyway, if you are by a television Tuesday night, and you're not watching LOST (my only regret about making this trip), then flip over to see the Rams on ESPN or ESPN2. I'm the balcony 300-level, and probably won't be acting like too much of an ass, so I doubt I will personally be on television. But, you never know – Maybe I'll get chosen to shoot a half-court shot, sink it, and make a million bucks. That would be pretty sweet.

Note: I'll update everyone on the progress of my NCAA tournament bracket later this week. The real fun is always in the opening weekend, although I'm sure my buddy Jared (not the Subway guy), who is a Butler alum, is pretty psyched about Saturday's results.

At The Commercials: Dear Reebok, keep up the good work.

You are on a roll with commercials lately, Reebok. I've seen the one above constantly during the NCAA tournament, and while the visuals aren't anything special, that music is SO DAMN ADDICTIVE. I seriously might have to download the MP3 of it - hopefully there is a full song! The bright, cheerful tone is a great way to break up the monotony of most "super serious guize!!!" commercials featured during the tourney.

Note: Sorry again for another late entry. I have a couple queued up for the next few days though, so really, we should be back to a normal schedule soon. Sorry!

Plugging along with the NCAA tournament...

After the opening weekend of the tournament, my bracket is still in reasonable shape, with three of my Final Four teams still intact. Like everyone else on the planet, I did have Kansas advancing to the Final Four, but “luckily” for me, I did have them losing to Syracuse. The entire Midwest region is now done for me, since I was prophesying a Kansas vs. Georgetown match-up in the Elite Eight. Whoops!

I finish that region with a 7-8 record, with six of the wins coming on the tournament's opening day. That 1-7 mark to finish up on the third and fourth days of play? Positively URI-like down the stretch. (Sorry, still bitter, even if they have won a pair of Not Invited Tournament games.)

Luckily though, my overall record remains decent at 32-16. I finished the opening round at 23-9, and the second round at 9-7. The Midwest is my sole “bad” bracket, as my six other Elite Eight teams remain alive. For the record, they are Syracuse, Xavier, Baylor, Duke, West Virginia and Kentucky. Mostly chalk, I know – Sue me.

In other news, I'd note that the two teams that beat Atlantic 10 teams – St. Mary's and Cornell – are both still alive in the tournament. Meanwhile, Villanova was thankfully karma-bounced from the tournament, and Pittsburgh lost to Xavier. In the NIT, UConn once again ducked URI, as they managed to lose a lead in the final minute, and thus, will not travel to the Ryan Center. Cincinnati also lost to Dayton. I love Syracuse, which is why I picked them to win the national championship, but otherwise, I still think the rest of the league works as a cartel that mostly exists to protect its own members' interests.

Steve's Bracket: C'mon Atlantic 10!

[Right] John Chaney wouldn't have allowed this shit, Temple. What happened to the dominant team I saw beat URI three times, and twice quite convincingly?

Going into the tournament, I basically kept two things in mind when picking teams - The Atlantic 10 was underrated and the Big East was way overrated.

While I still believe the first statement is correct, you wouldn't necessarily know it from the first round 1-2 record of the Atlantic 10. Unfortunately though, Richmond and Temple, both teams that were ranked for portions of the year, drew really bad, non-BCS draws, like Cornell and Saint Mary's. Both are quality teams, and I'm still annoyed that both A-10 teams only managed to get a 5 and 7 seed respectively from the committee, setting them up for those two tough teams.

At least the Big East has been exposed. Every year, I hear some variation of, "The Big East is so tough and they beat up on each other, so that's why they can't play a tough out of conference schedule!" I think the real reason they can't play a tough out of conference schedule is that it would expose their teams. You know, like when Temple throttled Villanova earlier in the year. After first round games, with the miracle win by Nova with the help of the three officials, the Big East is 4-4, with the four wins coming from its No. 1 to No. 3 seeds - Syracuse, Villanova, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Big East teams have also done shabby in the Not Invited Tournament, I've heard, but I refuse to follow that.

Anyway, as far as my own bracket goes, I'm 23-9 after the first round, with four loses coming from the failures of Temple, Richmond and Georgetown. While I think the Big East is overrated, I thought Georgetown had a great draw, being in Providence - an arena they play in frequently - and as a No. 3 seed, with a beatable Ohio State team lurking. Whoops!

The Chaney photo is from this old MSNBC story about Temple suspending him the rest of the season for sending one of his players on to the court to "send a message" to a player with some hard fouls. Ah, Chaney!

Steve has a bracket!

I did actually fill out a bracket this year, albeit at the last minute. Unlike past years, this year I did not create a bracket group for my old buddies at The Good Five Cent Cigar, mostly because I had a fever the past two days. (Unfortunately, cowbell was no cure for it - sigh!)

You can see my full bracket by clicking above. As of right now, I'm 4-3, with Butler on the verge of winning to make me 5-3 for the first eight games. Unfortunately, Richmond couldn't prevail over a tough Saint Mary's team. I had the Spiders beating Villanova, who looks ripe for an upset after getting taken to overtime by Robert Morris, a 15-seed.

Who else does everyone like? My Final Four is Syracuse, Kansas, West Virgina and Duke, with Syracuse beating Duke in the finals. Boring, I know, but I've never been a huge upset guy. My one claim to fame was picking Hampton over Georgetown that one year.