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Along with the No. 1 seed for the MAC Tournament comes another big prize. The Falcons earned an automatic bid to the NIT Tournament should they be unable to win three consecutive games in the conference tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Bowling Green has not been to the NIT since 2002 and has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1968. Just three years ago, the Falcons were only 9-21 and finished last in the division. But Bowling Green seniors Nate Miller, Darryl Clements and Brian Moten put their stamp on the program with Sunday's win.

If you would have told me that we'd be in any post-season tourney going into this season, I wouldn't have believed it. So, an automatic NIT birth is super. But, yes, let's not settle for that. Hopefully, we can break our NCAA drought. 2008-09 regular season MAC Champions does have a nice ring to it though. Let's hope we can carry this momentum through the next week.

I would take the finals of the NIT anyday over an NCAA berth!

zete wrote:I would take the finals of the NIT anyday over an NCAA berth!

Much like I would rather see BG lose by 3 TDs in a BCS game as opposed to winning the Motor City Bowl, I would rather we get get a shot in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Our goals need to be very high. The NIT is not high enough to me for this team.

I can't wait to see "Bowling Green" on an NCAA tournament bracket. I don't care who we're playing. I hope I see it in less than a week.

BGGrad01 wrote:

zete wrote:I would take the finals of the NIT anyday over an NCAA berth!

Much like I would rather see BG lose by 3 TDs in a BCS game as opposed to winning the Motor City Bowl, I would rather we get get a shot in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Our goals need to be very high. The NIT is not high enough to me for this team.

I can't wait to see "Bowling Green" on an NCAA tournament bracket. I don't care who we're playing. I hope I see it in less than a week.

Agreed. The NIT is completely meaningless to me. I'd much rather lose by 60 points in the real tournament than win the NIT.

The real tourney is where it's at. Screw the NIT, although it is nice to have a guaranteed fall-back plan.

I guess i'll take a different stance. BG men's basketball WILL be playing post season basketball for the first time since 2002! Right now I don't care where, what, or who; we are playing! We have a few day's/weeks where the younger players can continue to develop under Orr in a game atmosphere. We talk about how important it is for the football team to get to a bowl because of the extra practice time, why is this different? After the mess it was left in this team needed to learn how to play together, and they did. Then they needed to learn how to win games again, and they did. Now they need to learn how to deal with the post season atmosphere, and they will. Considering where we were predicted to finish and how we started the season playing at the end of March ANYWHERE is a great thing! Rome wasn't built in a day and I strongly believe the days of BG men's basketball tripping over its own two feet is over.....

The biggest problem with the NIT is we always play on the oppostion's Court. ithink either BYU or Buttler CREAMED us the last time we we in the NIT. At least the NCAA tries to make it a little fairer by putting us on a neutral court. So, I guess until we can have home court advantage in the NIT, you are right, the NCAA is a better exposure.

zete wrote:At least the NCAA tries to make it a little fairer by putting us on a neutral court.

...sort of. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure that's always debatable. Higher seeded teams (esp. the 1s) always stay pretty close to home, don't they?

Peregrinner wrote:

zete wrote:At least the NCAA tries to make it a little fairer by putting us on a neutral court.

...sort of. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure that's always debatable. Higher seeded teams (esp. the 1s) always stay pretty close to home, don't they?

Correct that the higher seeded teams are usual pretty close to home, but the NCAA implemented a system several years ago in an attempt to get more teams to play closer to home. A couple weeks ago, I heard this was a priority this year given the economy and travel costs related to the tournament.

I hope we make it and I hope we play somewhere in the midwest.

zete wrote:The biggest problem with the NIT is we always play on the oppostion's Court. ithink either BYU or Buttler CREAMED us the last time we we in the NIT. At least the NCAA tries to make it a little fairer by putting us on a neutral court. So, I guess until we can have home court advantage in the NIT, you are right, the NCAA is a better exposure.

The BG - Butler NIT game was closer than the score indicated. If Keith McCloud doesn't foul out, BG might have beat Butler. The game was very close until he left.. Keith was playing out of his mind that night.

tiznow wrote:

zete wrote:The biggest problem with the NIT is we always play on the oppostion's Court. ithink either BYU or Buttler CREAMED us the last time we we in the NIT. At least the NCAA tries to make it a little fairer by putting us on a neutral court. So, I guess until we can have home court advantage in the NIT, you are right, the NCAA is a better exposure.

The BG - Butler NIT game was closer than the score indicated. If Keith McCloud doesn't foul out, BG might have beat Butler. The game was very close until he left.. Keith was playing out of his mind that night.

To add to this. I remember us having to play BYU in the NIT after we came oh so damn close to dancing. Talk about a buzz-kill. Our NCAA hopes were dashed, then we have to travel to Provo less than a week later for an NIT game. That was one time when I totally understood a let-down in play. One second, you're sitting there watching the brackets announced, and the next you're one of the last teams left out. That had to sting.

San Fran Falcon wrote:

tiznow wrote:

zete wrote:The biggest problem with the NIT is we always play on the oppostion's Court. ithink either BYU or Buttler CREAMED us the last time we we in the NIT. At least the NCAA tries to make it a little fairer by putting us on a neutral court. So, I guess until we can have home court advantage in the NIT, you are right, the NCAA is a better exposure.

The BG - Butler NIT game was closer than the score indicated. If Keith McCloud doesn't foul out, BG might have beat Butler. The game was very close until he left.. Keith was playing out of his mind that night.

To add to this. I remember us having to play BYU in the NIT after we came oh so damn close to dancing. Talk about a buzz-kill. Our NCAA hopes were dashed, then we have to travel to Provo less than a week later for an NIT game. That was one time when I totally understood a let-down in play. One second, you're sitting there watching the brackets announced, and the next you're one of the last teams left out. That had to sting.

On top of that if we weren't the last team out in that bracket, I think BYU might have been. Certainly both teams were in the top 5 or so that missed out on the big dance. Both teams had excellent teams and great tourney resumes as well.