WELCOME TO THE NEW LANDSCAPE
By Hugh Durham
You still
don’t like the idea of more teams playing college
basketball deep into March? Do you believe that a
saturation point was reached? Does your thought process
lead you to the conclusion that programs like The
Citadel do not deserve postseason despite winning 20
games?
For many the answer to each of the above is yes and that’s
a shame because there is absolutely a place for the
CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
When I was first asked to be on the selection committee I
thought the entire concept of the tournament was
tremendous. As a former coach, who has spent time at the
mid-major level, I know full well the things working
against so many smaller programs. Each member of the
selection committee recognizes the fact that good
basketball is not reserved solely for the power
conferences. As those who follow mid-major basketball
already know -- every season there are a lot of great
players, outstanding coaches and deserving teams left
out of the postseason mix.
Consider this; teams that finish third, fourth or fifth in
power conferences almost always end up in the NCAA
tournament. So why then would teams that have similar
seasons at the mid-major level not be worthy of
postseason? Take a look at Oakland, which finished third
in its’ conference race (13-5) and won 22 games overall.
It took a shot in the closing seconds of the Summit
League tournament championship game, by the league’s
player of the year, to beat them. With all things being
relative, a team with a profile like that in the Big Ten
would have been a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
For so many years college basketball has had only two
tournaments. In recent years the popularity of the NCAA
tournament has grown by leaps and bounds so most fans
focus solely on the 65 teams competing for a National
Championship. There is less interest in the NIT, despite
its’ great tradition and history. That’s not a knock on
the NIT, but it’s just fact that the NCAA Tournament has
grown into one of the biggest sporting events so it only
stands to reason that everything else would be
secondary.
But while it may not have the national appeal it once had,
the NIT certainly means a lot to all those
participating. Ask the people at Penn State if the NIT
is irrelevant. They are on their way to Madison Square
Garden for the semi-finals. And how about Baylor? The
Bears have carried the momentum from the Big 12
tournament into the NIT. Neither program has captured
the imagination of the national media and fans, but for
the two schools, their fans, players and coaches it is
certainly a big deal.
So would it not stand to reason that a program like James
Madison would also be very enthusiastic about its run
through postseason in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Much like the programs at Baylor and Penn State, Matt
Brady is trying to change the culture of his program at
JMU. He is trying to establish a new foundation for a
program that has had its’ share of struggles in recent
years. With their first round win in the CIT, JMU
reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since the
1999-2000 season.
Virginia Tech ended the regular season with 18 wins. Had
they beaten North Carolina, 19 wins may have gotten them
into the NCAA Tournament. Seth Greenberg did a fine job
this season and he was rewarded with an invitation to
the NIT. His team finished 7-9 in the ACC. James Madison
finished 9-9 in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Remember Seth’s team was one of those teams on the
bubble for the NCAA and deservingly so.
You can make a pretty compelling argument that James
Madison, in many ways, was to the CAA what Virginia Tech
was to the ACC. Both were very good teams at their
respective levels. And remember that a program like
James Madison is on the wrong side of the “Buy-Game”
equation. They don’t have the luxury of paying teams to
come to their arena to lose.
Teams from power conferences have the opportunity to pad
their early-season win total, something most everyone
else doesn’t. The smaller programs aren’t asking anyone
to feel sorry for them because they fully understand the
grand scheme of things. But it is a fact that they would
have better records if they had the opportunity to play
four or five home games against lesser opponents each
year.
Now some people will maintain that the number of teams in
postseason was fine with just the NCAA and the NIT, but
I disagree.
In 1985 the NCAA tournament field expanded to 64 teams.
Nearly 25 years later they have increased the field by
one, while the number of schools playing division I
basketball has increased by roughly 125.
People are reluctant to accept change, but change is
inevitable and it was time to provide another
opportunity for schools that otherwise would have
received no consideration at all. And that brings me
back to The Citadel. Coach Ed Conroy turned in one of
the best seasons in the history of the program. They
posted 20 wins and swept the season series with
cross-town rival the College of Charleston. Everybody,
including me, thought Charleston had an outstanding
season. The Citadel beat them twice and won 20 games. As
Rich Zvosec, a former coach and member of the CIT
selection committee said to the media, “Winning 20 games
at The Citadel is like winning 100 games somewhere
else.”
You still don’t think a program like that deserves to be
in the postseason?
Those of us involved with the tournament had no allusions
that it would somehow replace the NIT. That’s
ridiculous. But we did feel that teams like The Citadel
earned the right to play in postseason. If any of these
16 teams had similar seasons in the power conferences
they would have been NCAA or NIT bound for sure.
In many ways the inaugural CIT is like a December bowl
game. Those games don’t capture the imagination of
everyone across the country, but they are a big deal to
the players, coaches, fans and institutions
participating.
I am looking forward to working with the other members of
the selection committee to make this tournament even
better next season.
When he retired in 2005, Hugh Durham ranked 8th
among active Division I coaches with 633 career wins and
was Durham was the 25th winningest DI coach in history.
He is the only coach in NCAA history to be the all-time
winningest coach at three different Division I schools
and is one of just eleven coaches to have led two
different teams to the NCAA Final Four (Florida State,
1972 & Georgia, 1983). The Hugh Durham National Coach of
the Year Award was established in 2005. |
