Connect with us

Hoops

How Should OSU Fans Feel about a Potential NIT Berth?

Published

on

The unfortunate truth that’s settled in following Oklahoma State’s second-straight Big 12 blowout is that, despite Mike Boynton’s feelings, he may not have an NCAA Tournament team.

The Cowboys are in the toughest league in the nation and do have signature wins in Lawrence and Morgantown. But their big Bedlam win has lost some of its luster as those huge wooden wheels have fallen off of the schooner. So, without an improbable 3-1 or 4-0 finish the Cowboys may not have enough to go dancing.

If the Cowboys aren’t a March Madness team, what do we think about a trip to the Big Apple and an NIT run inside Madison Square Garden? What, if any, benefit is there in participating in the “consolation” tourney?

There’s a stigma to it, for sure. Hearing the “NIT” chants in Norman wouldn’t be super fun next year. That is, if the Sooners don’t end up there themselves. It’s not something you set out to do, especially at a school like Oklahoma State that used to be known for basketball.

Travis Ford’s 2010-11 team lost in the second round of the NIT in his third year. Sean Sutton lost in the first round of the NIT in all three of his seasons. Eddie Sutton went 2-2 in two different trips to the Garden.

Eddie also turned down an invite when his 1995-96 team went 17-10 and got the call. Of course, that team was one year removed from a Final Four run. This current team, if we’re honest, was set up to fail from the beginning and the program is light years away from where it was back then.

The struggles of a first-year head coach were compounded with an FBI investigation, the dismissal of one of his best players and his highest-rated freshman and then the fact that he had to try and do it all in the meat grinder we know as the Big 12.

But if the Cowboys miss out on Selection Sunday and get a ticket to the Big Apple instead, is there any benefit to it? I’d have to say that there is. It’s additional practice and playing time for a young coach and his team that look to continue to build. Kendall Smith, Jeffrey Carroll and Mitchell Solomon will be gone after this season. That’s Boynton’s top two scorers and his team MVP according to his own words. So any extra time you can for Lindy Waters or Thomas Dziagwa or Yankuba Sima definitely can’t hurt. I don’t think it’s quite as much benefit as, say, a young, rebuilding football team gets from making a bowl game. But it’s definitely something.

Would missing the Tournament be a disappointment for this team? Sure. But is it something that we should be too shocked or upset about? I’m leaning towards no. Boynton has done a lot with what he inherited when he took the keys in Stillwater. The next question — and the most important — will be what he brings in through recruiting as he tries to build this program moving forward.

Most Read

Copyright © 2011- 2023 White Maple Media