I bring this up as we all know, we should've been an NCAA Tournament team. But with these high seeds killing it, we would've won one maybe two games in the tourney, maybe surprised with an Elite 8 bid but here we are going to NYC for the NIT Finals, is it better for us to continue playing and get exposure or would've it been better to play in the Tournament and possibly been an afterthought when we are still relevant?
I think anything less than a Sweet 16 would've made us irrelevant, to a degree, from a National landscape but by running like we did gives the NCAA organizers and recruits some pause as to what Valpo is capable of. It is all about perceptions becoming a reality. Here is hoping we can make that reality something we can capitalize on.
At a national perspective, I think Valpo winning an NCAA tournament game has more value than being in the NIT semi. However, I do think Valpo being in the NIT semis has more value than getting beat in one game in the NCAA tournament.
Other then having your school name on millions of brackets and having most of those assuming you would lose in the first round, we are better off where we are. The first couple of rounds of the ncaa could easily be on TNT of some other lesser network. Duke gets CBS. Valpo got lesser espn network games but now has two games broadcast on the mother ship with zero else to watch. If you are a sports fan, you will know more about Valpo the NIT way then being in the NCAA.
As for money,no doubt Valpo would have been better off, as would the Horizon League, via the ncaa. Still, selfishly, I'm convinced the effect on Valpo, and specifically on the Valpo community via two sellout home games, will be superior with the nit run, and even greater if we win it all versus a win or even two in the ncaas.
I think that the NIT run has had an impact on the Local scene for Valpo, maybe more than winning a game in the NCAA tournament. Having nationally relevant teams such as Florida State and St. Mary's coming into the ARC was obviously a big boost to the school and local appreciation of what Bryce and company are doing for the game at VU. I would expect attendance next year to be up and VU perhaps being a little harder for the big boys to duck in the future. Does that mean we get Power 5 teams at the ARC? Probably not, but maybe a neutral site tournament with national viewership.
The NIT run far exceeds the value of a likely early exit from the NCAAs. However, I suspect that the Selection Committee could care less. They would argue that Valpo's NIT success demonstrates that it was perhaps the best mid-major....but that Valpo is no Syracuse! 8-)
Interesting article out of San Diego about the benefits of the NIT, including financial, compared to NCAA. Excerpts:
-"It's not a big windfall," SDSU athletic director Jim Sterk said, "but you get all the other positives. It engages people at a higher level and for a longer period of time than we've been able to do in a while. It's really positive from that standpoint. There are only eight collegiate teams left playing basketball (in the NCAA or NIT) by next week, so that's pretty cool."
-You get 15 percent of the net gate from any home games in the opening three rounds.
-There are other revenues that the NCAA, which owns and operates the NIT, distributes to the participants based on how far you advance. You get one unit for making the field, two for reaching the second round, three for the quarterfinals; SDSU and the other semifinalists each get five units. The rub: Each unit is worth a mere $5,220.
Full story: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/mar/26/sdsu-basketball-nit-ncaa-benefits/
Quote from: atkins on March 28, 2016, 09:26:41 AMThe NIT run far exceeds the value of a likely early exit from the NCAAs. However, I suspect that the Selection Committee could care less. They would argue that Valpo's NIT success demonstrates that it was perhaps the best mid-major....but that Valpo is no Syracuse!
They stuck their necks out for Syracuse. They stuck their necks out for Tulsa. They would not stick their necks out for a little known lower conference mid major.
Starting with the assumption that we were healthy and playing at our recent level if you lined up the NCAA 8, 9, 10, and 11 seeded teams for us we win 2/3rds of those match ups minimum. Syracuse is on a roll but it is a team we could beat.
Playing devil's advocate - If we got in as a 16 seed and got pounded the first game, would the talk be that we should have taken an NIT bid and tried to get deep?
If the above scenario played out, we would have been a foot note for 1/2 of the first weekend. Right now they are getting positive exposure. Tough to put a price on that. If they win out, this will be remembered next season by the selection committee if we find ourselves in the same situation.
Quote from: jack on March 28, 2016, 12:28:12 PM
Playing devil's advocate - If we got in as a 16 seed and got pounded the first game, would the talk be that we should have taken an NIT bid and tried to get deep?
If the above scenario played out, we would have been a foot note for 1/2 of the first weekend. Right now they are getting positive exposure. Tough to put a price on that. If they win out, this will be remembered next season by the selection committee if we find ourselves in the same situation.
I think that the exposure is limited. To prove this, go to any newspaper - other than one of the participating team's local paper - and search for NIT articles, scores or schedules. You'll find them hidden by NCAA information, if you can even find anything.
I don't know. My co-workers all noticed that Valpo was at MSG. Then again, they all know that I played at Valpo and have a massive brown flag on one of my office walls, so that might have helped them to notice :).
All great comments, and all had merit. It's a hard. Thing to put value on but I will say this, during halftime did anyone see Valpk U's "commercial"? From my understanding every university that makes it to NYC gets a freebie from ESPN. That in itself has to be worth it's weight in gold for a small Midwestern school.
Luis we get another one during the final.
You cannot compare the 2 tournaments but from a viable and relevant alternative, our run has helped this school immensely. Plus maybe Drew and Peters see what we can do next year and stay. Revenue aside, this run has helped this small school outside of Chicago gain more relevance Ina national landscape IMO. Plus, next year if the same fate befalls us, maybe the committee will remember us and want we did in 2016.
As far as Syracuse is concerned, my hats off, they bested s better Virgina team but that was their only win of merit. They definitely benefitted from Michigan State getting knocked out early. To me, they didn't serve a bid and shame on the committee for "rewarding" them the ,losses when Boiheim we out. He was out because he broke rules. No consideration should ever be given under those circumstances.
Quote from: valpospartan on March 28, 2016, 02:45:43 PM
Quote from: jack on March 28, 2016, 12:28:12 PM
Playing devil's advocate - If we got in as a 16 seed and got pounded the first game, would the talk be that we should have taken an NIT bid and tried to get deep?
If the above scenario played out, we would have been a foot note for 1/2 of the first weekend. Right now they are getting positive exposure. Tough to put a price on that. If they win out, this will be remembered next season by the selection committee if we find ourselves in the same situation.
I think that the exposure is limited. To prove this, go to any newspaper - other than one of the participating team's local paper - and search for NIT articles, scores or schedules. You'll find them hidden by NCAA information, if you can even find anything.
How about the NY Times?
I can only read it online but it's the first story on college basketball I came to tonight and since I'm currently in New York state this is the newspaper I would normally be reading if I was here for another reason other than Valpo basketball.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/sports/ncaabasketball/valparaiso-holds-off-brigham-young-to-reach-the-nit-title-game.html
That's some pretty good exposure for a small Midwest D1 school. No doubt, far more national coverage than if we would have been knocked out in the first round of the NCAA tourney. And they're playing for the championship. win or lose, we'll get even more exposure. I feel the NIT was the better way to go this season.
Think about this... While the NCAA tournament is a great recruiting advantage and our name is one of those that millions of people would scribble down once when we won the first game we were on ESPN at 7 PM EST on a weekday night. Think of the number of bars across America where people got off work, hit their dusty saloon and saw this team "Valparaiso" playing, and winning, because the bar automatically turned on ESPN. Then we were the lead story on the 11 PM EST SportsCenter. And we'll be in the same spot on Thursday. I'd wager this is the second best exposure we've gotten to the casual sports fan since the shot.
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Wow! We must really be hitting the big time if we are making the front page of Tom Davis's Butle.... excuse me... Fort Wayne Journal Gazette!
Of course I'm dealing here in hindsight which the committee didn't have. Nonetheless let's take a look at teams that were beaten by teams we beat:
FSU Beat VCU, a 10 seed, Virginia, a 1 seed, Notre Dame, a 6 seed and Syracuse, a 10 seed
BYU Beat Northern Iowa, an 11 seed and Gonzaga an 11 seed.
St. Mary's also beat Gonzaga.
We beat Oregon State, a 7 seed, Green Bay, a 14 seed and Iona a 13 seed.
Oregon State beat Oregon, a 1 seed, Cal, a 4 seed, and Iona a 13 seed
What am I getting at? Not sure, but I feel better. :( >:(
And vu72 to add more insult to injury, St. Marys beat Gonzaga twice.
Would we have been on Good Morning America this morning if we won a game or two in the NCAAT? Don't know...but we have been getting pretty good press and the kids are getting a great experience. A perfect send off when destroying St. Mary's in front of a record crowd, whooping Florida St at home before that, and now playing a championship game in MSG after walking the streets and cafes in NYC (a first for several of the players). Regardless of what we think, the players witnessed a pretty good experience maybe even better.
Quote from: oklahomamick on March 31, 2016, 08:37:26 AM
Would we have been on Good Morning America this morning if we won a game or two in the NCAAT? Don't know...but we have been getting pretty good press and the kids are getting a great experience. A perfect send off when destroying St. Mary's in front of a record crowd, whooping Florida St at home before that, and now playing a championship game in MSG after walking the streets and cafes in NYC (a first for several of the players). Regardless of what we think, the players witnessed a pretty good experience maybe even better.
But we could have played in Des Moines or Spokane or Providence! :lol:
Quote from: VULB#62 on March 17, 2016, 08:30:35 AM
Quote from: IndyValpo on March 17, 2016, 07:09:38 AM
Quote from: bsmith21 on March 16, 2016, 10:18:07 PM
If MSG doesn't get more than that it would look pathetic. NIT is absolutely a consolation prize. I'msure creighton got alot of fans too, but that doesn't change the facts. I'd still rather be in the play in game instead of winning the NIT. I don't feel like I'm alone in that opinion.
Quote from: bsmith21 on March 16, 2016, 10:51:02 PM
So does the CBI CIT and some tournament that that I played in when I was 8. Ask any tournament team they will tell you that theyd rather get a shot
Wow you are really covering some new ground here. Thanks for enlightening the masses.
As it stands today we are in the NIT and I think you will find that everyone, and I mean everyone, here understands the difference between that and the Big Dance without the lesson from you. It doesn't mean we should not support the team and enjoy that tourney.
I might add that in terms of overall potential impact on the program, the snub factor for the last 4 out has kept Valpo in the headlines a lot longer than if we had gotten an at-large. And if we would have gotten a bid to the NCAAT, we would be buried right now among the big name Power 5 schools in terms of publicity. We probably could have gotten an upset win in game one, and some notoriety, but chances are that we'd endure a round of 32 elimination and rapidly disappear from the national radar screen. By receiving the #1 seed in the NIT we have sustained greater national publicity and exposure this week. If we beat the Seminoles tonight, we will be doing it on a national stage and remain on the national radar. If we make it to MSG in NYC we will get primetime national exposure. The Valpo "Brand" has the potential of actually getting more exposure through the NIT than a one and done or even an optimistic two and done in the NCAAT. Bsmith21, you simply cannot lump the NIT in with the other alphabet, pay-to-get-in tournaments that only the participants care about. Yes, it is not the NCAAT, but the NIT, for those who really follow college basketball carries a substantial level of respect and for us right now it might be an even better forum.
But we have to get by the Seminoles first. We did it in 1998. Lets do it in 2016.
I'm not always right about basketball things on this board, but as I review the flow of posts since we started playing I am pleased to see that my post about the meaning of playing in the NIT is now being repeatedly echoed. Nothing like the lights of Time Square and MSG to get Valpo into the national conversation.
Some really interesting things have happened in the past few days. As I posted before, VU was front page sports news in the Fort Wayne papers which typically ignore our basketball program in deference to Butler and the obvious characters IU and Purdue. I was pretty shocked, and now it seems that the broadcast is being carried by the local ESPN affiliate here in Fort Wayne. I probably have to give some props to Brett Rump www.brettrump.com (http://www.brettrump.com) @BrettRumpSports former VU baseball player and now host of The Sports Rush on ESPN 1380. Brett has talked a lot about this NIT run and earlier this year had an interview with Bryce. I am sure this would not be on ESPN 1380 with out his support.
More Twitter love here in the Fort!
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