Should State have played on?
Mar 17, 2009
No.
N.C. State's 2008-09 season ended the same way it did last year, with a loss in the opening round of the ACC Tournament and no post-season play to speak of.
The Pack took a small step forward this year finishing at 16-14. They held it together down the stretch more so than in last year's unmitigated disaster. But some folks thought they had done enough to make it to the National Invitation Tournament.
Unfortunately the Wolfpack just missed the cut, and I can't say they should have made it. The NIT tries to spread its invitations evenly across major conferences and mid-majors. Surprisingly the SEC has four teams going: Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Auburn. But no other conference has more than three teams in.
With no other postseason option out there, Wolfpack head coach Sidney Lowe won't have to think about the next game for a while.
"It was strange not to schedule practice and think about the night before what we're going to do for practice," Lowe said on his radio show on 99.9 The Fan. "It's a little disappointing, especially since there was another team with the same record we had and they got in."
Georgetown had the lowest win total of any team invited to play in the NIT. The Hoyas finished with an identical 16-14 record. To me it in no way means the Wolfpack were more deserving. The Hoyas were awful and had a Big East stretch where they lost seven of eight. But they beat Connecticut on the road by nine points. They beat Memphis, Syracuse, and Villanova. Those are four very highly ranked teams.
N.C. State knocked off Wake Forest at home. To me the Hoyas are a no-brainer over the Wolfpack.
There will be plenty of talk around this team in the off-season. Will Brandon Costner return for another season? Will Lorenzo Brown come in and be a contributor as a freshman? Will Sidney Lowe survive if he misses the NCAA Tournament for a fourth straight year?
Well, it's time for me to fill out my bracket (NIT) and submit it to Mike Maniscalco's pool. I have Georgetown knocking off Miami in the final. Saint Mary's and Notre Dame are my other semi-finalists. And by the way, remember it's not proper to refer to it as the "NIT Tournament" as I hear it called so frequently. That's like saying the National Invitation Tournament Tournament.
Sounds silly.
