Another Selection Sunday has passed, which means that teams who feel that they got overlooked by the committee and got excluded from the March Madness field are busy trying to manage their emotions. One indirect way for schools to express their disapproval over it is by rejecting invitations to the National Invitation Tournament or NIT. It is not as prestigious as the NCAA Tournament, but the NIT is still an avenue for qualified teams who aren't going to dance in March.

Enter former Indiana Hoosiers and Georgia Bulldogs head coach Tom Crean, who did not hide his true feelings about teams turning down the chance to play in the NIT.

There's no question about it. I would want to coach. I would wanna develop my team. You've got bigger staffs than you've ever had. There's plenty of time for the portal. There's plenty of time to talk to recruits. There's plenty of time to negotiate NIL deals. There's not plenty of time to play. There's not plenty of time to get your players on the floor and give them a chance to get better. There's not plenty of time for guys to continue to play that may never get to play again, said Crean on ESPN.

For Crean, the bottom line should be about being active and maximizing every opportunity to let players play and coaches call the shots in competitive games.

“And that to me is absolutely ridiculous. It's each coach's choice. I get it but if you take away a chance to play the games, to put your team on the floor, let them opt out. All right, the bowl season has it all the time. Let it happen. Who cares? Give your players and coaches a chance to keep coaching and playing and don't shortchange. If a guy doesn't want to play, go sit down. If a coach doesn't want to coach, go recruit. But there's got to be enough people to put five, six, seven people on the floor.”

Crean may have a strong point there. But here's where valuing his stance gets a whole lot tricker — he once did the contrary of the argument he just raised, as reminded by Jay Scott Smith.

Crean coached the Hoosiers from 2008 to 2017 before moving on to the SEC to coach the Bulldogs from 2018 to 2022. He has an overall coaching record in the NCAA of 403-306 and has an 11-9 slate in the NCAA Tournament. In addition to those, he is 2-3 in his career in NIT games.

St. John's Red Storm, Ole Miss Rebels among teams rejecting NIT invites after letdown March Madness fate

Among the teams who have already stated their stance on NIT invites after getting denied entry to the 2024 March Madness are the St. John's Red Storm and the Ole Miss Rebels. The Red Storm, coached by Rick Pitino, are ranked 25th on KenPom but somehow failed to get a ticket as an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.  The Rebels, on the other hand, are 87th on KenPom but have also missed the boat to the Big Dance in the first season of Chris Beard as the program's head coach. For what it's worth, Crean's former employer, Indiana, had also indicated long before Selection Sunday that it won't be accepting an invite to the NIT as well.