The Not Important Tournament

For college basketball, this is the time when legends are made, hearts are snapped in half, and champions are crowned. For three weeks, the nation becomes enamored with office pools, wall-to-wall coverage, and reminiscing about fraternity keggers gone by.

However, in the supposed spirit of competition, the NCAA gives the squads who couldn't crack the top 65 teams in the nation the chance to skip more class and continue to compete.

For you faithful readers out there, can anyone name the last five winners of the NIT? How about the last three? Hell, how about last year's "champion"? Of course you can't. Wake Forest, Tulsa, Memphis, St. John's, and Michigan (the last five champions for those of you keeping score at home) all realize what the NIT truly stands for: the Not Important Tournament.

Granted, this tournament gives teams who had their bubble burst by the NCAA selection committee a chance to shine and prove why they should have been included in the dance. However, who watches and who cares?

Of this year's field of 40 rejects, the team holding the most legitimate beef with the selection committee was arguably Notre Dame. The Irish accepted a bid to play in the little dance, but seemingly neglected to inform its players. With the stand more than half-empty in South Bend, Notre Dame performed gutlessly to be ousted by Holy Cross.

This was the team that had the most compelling case to be invited to the big field? Notre Dame proved to be a shining example of why the tournament is useless. Sure, schools like Denver, San Francisco, and Wichita State can adorn the halls of their broken-down, high school-esque gyms with NIT propaganda.

However, for schools like the aforementioned Notre Dame, Maryland, and Georgetown, what is the benefit of playing against inferior competition in a meaningless tournament? Especially a tournament that nothing short of a championship will be seen as a complete embarrassment.

An argument could be made that teams that go deep or win the NIT could use that as a springboard to catapult them to bigger and better things next year. Well, that argument would be weaker than George Bush's new plan for Social Security. Last year's champion, Michigan, finished the year 13-18, including an impressive 4-13 conference record.

In fact, the last time a team got to the Final Four of the NIT one season and the following season reached the Final Four of the NCAAs was the 1985 and 1986 Louisville Cardinals. In '85, the Cardinals finished fourth in the NIT and won the whole thing in '86.

If you want to argue the point that the NIT gives semi-star players the opportunity to acquire postseason experience while seasoning their own stellar game, that case is more viable, but not much. The last MVP of the NIT to play in the NBA is Robert "Tractor" Traylor, who won the award in 1997 while starring for Michigan Wolverines.

As for this year's NIT, the most intriguing storyline has already vanished. John Chaney's Temple Owls were bounced out in the first-round by Virginia Tech. While Chaney's future with team hangs in the balance, why Temple would even accept a bid to compete in this tournament made no sense.

They had the opportunity to deal with the top-rated coach in America who most resembles his team's mascot, without the media glare that would no doubt follow him like his shadow. For Chaney and Temple University, it seems like an early exit in the NIT was far more counterproductive than a no show would have been.

It would make far more sense to allow the players of these respective schools to return back to class, without the distraction of participating in a glorified pick-up tournament. Of course, however, the college basketball suits will take any opportunity to further pierce the granite of a rock is search of plasma, rather then allow these kids to pick up and further their education.

After all, these are athlete-students, not student-athletes. Don't fret either, the NCAA will never allow us to confuse the two.