Tom Crean lambasts NCAA Tournament snubs skipping NIT Tournament

Tom Crean lambasts NCAA Tournament snubs skipping NIT Tournament

At this point, depending on which side you’re on, it’s not a secret that some feel the NCAA Tournament selection committee did not do a great job selecting–or seeding–this year’s 68-team field. It doesn’t help that there were five bid-stealers–NC State, Oregon, UAB, Duquense and New Mexico–who added fuel to the fire, making the committee’s methodical at-large selection and seeding that much more difficult to navigate when it was all said and done.

But there were multiple teams left out of college basketball’s biggest tournament who ultimately decided not to participate in the NIT Tournament: St. John’s, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Mississippi, Indiana and Oklahoma. Two of those teams–Oklahoma and Pittsburgh–were among the committee’s first four out, while the two others (Seton Hall, Indiana State) both accepted invites to the NIT.

Former Marquette, Indiana and Georgia head coach and current ESPN analyst Tom Crean blasted said teams who decided to skip the NIT Sunday evening on the NIT Selection Show.

“I would want to coach, I would want to develop my team,” Crean said. “You’ve got bigger staffs than you’ve ever had. There’s plenty of time for the (transfer) 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. 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. The (college football) 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 to put 5-6-7 people on the floor and go play. [Declining an invite] makes absolutely zero sense to me.” 

Mic drop. Crean is 100 percent right here. This isn’t the first time that one or multiple programs have skipped the NIT. North Carolina famously became the first preseason No. 1 to miss the NCAA Tournament last year, skipping the NIT; Duke, Xavier and Lousiville, among others, rejected the NIT in 2020-21. For a team that falls just short of the cut line, especially from a power conference, it’s not an uncommon feat.

We’re not in the room, but more often than not, more than one person is oftentimes involved in this decision. In UNLV’s case, head coach Kevin Kruger stated that every player wanted to play in the NIT if they were afforded the opportunity to participate.

They may not come from a power conference, even though the Mountain West, who got a conference-most six teams into the tournament (UNLV fell short because of three Quad 4 losses), is a mid-major powerhouse. Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway had his team starters (Kadary Richmond, Dre Davis, Al-Amir Dawes, Dylan-Addae-Wusu, Jaden Bediako) make the decision. They accepted.

If I were in their shoes, as a player or coach, I’d want to compete with a chip on my shoulder to prove to everyone in the country that I was worthy–especially if I felt like I deserved a shot in the big dance. Maybe not everyone shares that mentality, and that’s perfectly okay. But Tom Crean’s right on the dot of robbing players of extra opportunities to improve as players or, better yet, play their last game(s) together as a team and in their respective athletic careers.

Is he right? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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