Running 2022-23 NCAA Basketball Thread

Reynolds Coliseum on NCSU's campus used to have a tartan floor.

 

The NIT means different things to different schools. For a place like Oregon, which has recently been in Elite 8s and Final Fours, I get it that the fans wouldn't come out on a Tuesday night. And I heard it was either finals week or spring break week in Eugene, so that's another factor. For a school like North Texas? The NIT is a pretty huge deal. When I was at Virginia Tech in the mid-90s, the Hokies made (and won) the NIT and it felt like a pretty big deal on campus. Home games sold out. We rushed the floor after beating New Mexico State in the quarters on a buzzer-beating 3. Then again, Tech had very little basketball history or cachet at that point, so it should have been a big deal.

 

Mostly, Bobby Stevens' and Alan Bristow's one shining moment in the 1973 NIT. That's when the NIT really meant something.

 

Yeah, NIT still a relatively big deal for Vanderbilt. It was very disappointing not to get a bid to the Big Dance, but I understand why they didn't; they peaked too late, had too many bad losses early in the season. I haven't made a point to watch their two NIT games, but I'll watch tonight's quarterfinal contest against UAB (with some FanDuel prop bets included).

They're growing a program under Stackhouse and these games all mean something, not least to seniors like Ezra Manjon, Jordan Wright and Quentin Millora-Brown, who almost certainly will not be playing in the NBA. Tyrin Lawrence, their best player, is a junior and gets better with every game he plays.

Vandy won the NIT in 1990 and finished runner-up in 1994, when I was a junior. It was a big deal for a program that's rarely been elite in the SEC.

 

My favorite non-Bama team of all time is the 87-88 Vanderbilt “Bomb Squad” that made the Sweet 16. Barry Booker, Barry Goheen and the gang letting it fly from deep when a lot of coaches still treated the 3-pointer as a gimmick; plus Will Perdue cleaning up in the paint. The non-conference games were all on Channel 17 (along with Memphis State) and the Dores got plenty of love from the JP syndication package once the calendar flipped to January. It was quite common then for kids at school who loved UT football to flip loyalty to Vandy or Kentucky for hoops season.

 

Correct - it's finals week in Eugene. Students have better things to do than the NIT.

If Altman wants to orchestrate a buyout to take one of those wonderful junior college gigs, I'm OK with it. I'm not sure they'll kiss his ass to his liking either.

 

I'm going to Nashville next month for a get together with a dozen-plus friends from school who are all turning 50 this year. Haven't been since 2010 and can't wait to see how the city has changed. Taking in a Vandy baseball game on Saturday afternoon, April 29, versus Kentucky. Right now Vandy is #4, Kentucky #23.

Nothing better than Nashville in the spring.

 

Barry was my high school classmate.
I gots pictures. LOL.

 

What, no love for the Vandy "F Troop?"

Jeff Fosnes, Butch Feher and Joe Ford (1973-76).

 

Thirty-five years later and I'm still pissed off that idiot Paul Evans didn't foul Goheen. At that time, if you fouled a guy shooting a three (and they missed obviously) it was only two free throws. Aside from the Elite Eight Team in 2009, that was probably Pitt's best crack at a Final Four. Pitt fans still blame Goheen but it was really Evans who caused that loss.

 

Mom wasn’t thoughtful enough to hang a TV above my crib.

 

That nickname especially works because F-Troop’s vision-impaired lookout was named Vanderbilt.