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The NCAA Tournament has a brother that does not get a lot of love. It is rare that fanbases outside of the competing schools' alma maters get invested in the NIT. Even schools that could not get into the field of 68 for March Madness make it a habit to refuse to join. If they do participate, their stars sit out of the games. St. John's head honcho Rick Pitino made this choice along with the Indiana Hoosiers. Despite the way Indiana State is playing with Robbie Avila, ratings are still not enough. Cue: the 16-team College Basketball Crown tournament.
What is the NIT's new competitor?
This 16-team College Basketball Crown tournament is fairly similar to the NIT. The main difference it features, other than shrinking the competition from 32 to 16, is automatic bids. Squads who fail to reach the NCAA Tournament from the Big Ten, Big East, and Big 12 will have two automatic bids to the competition. These same conferences also have deals with Fox, the company that aims to compete with the NIT.
Another distinct feature of the College Basketball Crown tournament is that it will only host men's basketball squads. This raises some eyebrows. Especially because of how much the women's game has grown due to stars like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. Nonetheless, it looks like this plan is already in motion. The NIT's rival tournament will be held in MGM Garden Arena and MGM Arena. March 31, 2025, will be the day that hits the airwaves on Fox and FS1.
Despite this attempt to innovate the game, a lot of concerns arose from avid spectators and analysts. Issues like focusing on the transfer portal, and giving their players ample rest among others have been pointed out. Some were even questioning why they made this idea given the recent success of Indiana State and the choice made by St. John's.
College Basketball Crown tournament gets blasted
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More than the name being a mouthful, prominent members of the college basketball media world had some things to say about it. Most, if not all, of them were not at all positive.
Matt Norlander of CBS Sports despised the idea from the get-go, “Bad name, bad idea. ACC and SEC aren't even officially attached to this bad idea because of allegiances to other television networks. Not to mention the major logistical issues with the portal and coaching changes for non-NCAAT teams. Folks: This thing stinks.”
Even the legendary Andy Katz from the NCAA had some major issues with it, “Let me add @MattNorlander that I don't get the timing at all. Teams could lose three weeks earlier in their respective conference tournaments and wait to play the same week of the men's and women's Final Four? The portal will be open (unless it gets changed like it should after the Final Four), leaving the possibility of players opting out.”
Fans were also coming together to criticize this tournament, “Another postseason that doesn’t mean jack shit and that I won’t be watching. If I wanted to watch mediocre high-major basketball, I’d just turn on the regular season and watch them like I normally do. Congrats on your College Basketball Crown!”
How about you? Will you watch this over the NCAA Tournament and NIT come Spring of 2025?
