“NIT champs, huh? So you’re the 66th-best team in the nation. Way to go, losers!”
I will sock the next wise ass who says this. We need to dispense with this mindless cliche once and for all. To argue that Georgetown or St. John’s is a worse team than No. 16 seeds Vermont or South Carolina State is sophistry, an argument built on the fallacy that the 65 teams selected for the NCAA Tournament are the 65 best teams in the country.
They are clearly not; Georgetown and St. John’s are like those who filed suit against the University of Michigan, they are on the losing side of affirmative action. On Tuesday, lawyers argued for and against the merits of the policy before the Supreme Court. So that makes a discussion of the NCAA’s affirmative action policy that much more relevant. I speak of the policy which guarantees a spot for the champs of each of the 31 Division I conferences. These conferences range from the heaviest of hitters (ACC, Big 10, and yes, Big East) to the euphemistic “mid-level” conferences (West Coast, Missouri Valley, Mid-American) to the ones too lousy for euphemism (Metro Atlantic, Southland, Patriot League).
Like race-based preferences in college admissions, this policy ensures that the 65 tournament slots are not offered to the 65 best teams in the nation. Just take a look at this year’s Final Four-not a single team won an automatic conference bid.
But like affirmative action at universities, affirmative action at the tournaments is a good thing. Simply put, both make things a lot more interesting.
I grew up a few miles from Valparaiso University, perhaps the all-time top beneficiary of NCAA affirmative action. Bryce Drew could have played at any number of top-tier hoops powers, but his father happened to coach at a team in the lowly Mid-America Conference. After several years of dominating the MAC, winning automatic bids to the NCAAs and promptly losing to a No. 2 seed, Bryce Drew came to his final year of eligibility, and what looked like his final college game, a two-point loss to Mississippi State. But one miracle last-second three-point shot later-instant tourney legends.
I still remember that Thursday afternoon. I watched the game while sitting on a massage bench in my high school’s training room. About 20 kids cut class to sit and watch basketball all day; the room was packed once another dozen ran out of class to see the final plays of a game that was supposed to be a blowout. (https://7ziphelp.com/)
This affirmative action, you see, is the spice of the tournament’s life; they make the Cinderellas as charming as they are. Sure, Gonzaga maybe be legitimately among the top 65 this year, but without taking advantage of the opportunity given by NCAA affirmative action years before. If Gonzaga weren’t West Coast Conference champs, they wouldn’t have the chance to be perennial Cinderellas. If they didn’t have the high profile of a perennial Cinderella, they would have the recruiting clout to be a legitimate top 65 team this year.
So if you’re gonna hate on the NIT, you better hate on the Valpos and Gonzagas too. That’s affirmative action in action, and the NCAAs are better for it.
