bincitysioux

Wilmer needs to finish that dunk.....

Sloppy start so far. Of course Sonnen hits his first 3 against us.....

I believe that is basically how they did it up until this year. Except only 6 teams made it and the regular season champ still hosted the semis and finals.......

I think either Belmont or Oral Roberts will be added.

Damn, you got my hopes up! I would like to get a road game with USD going next season. Would be great to have at least one Dakota school in the Sioux Center each year.........

The NIT is about TV ratings. Once the "autobids" (regular season champs that don't make the NCAA's) are settled, they are going to go with teams that will put eyeballs on TV sets. ESPN wants good ratings this season, to sell advertising for next years tournament. I think Fargo was deserving of consideration for the NIT. But being left out is not the travesty that Saul had been making it out to be. There were better teams that were left out, and there teams not as good that got in. Happens with any tournament selection process.

Speculation, or inside knowledge? Having NDSU, SDSU, USD, and UNI all at home in addition to the Big Sky schedule would make for about the most exciting home schedule for basketball in decades. I wondered if the UNI and SDSU games were a one time deal or part of home-and-home. Assumed SDSU was home-and-home but questioned UNI.

Have to consider that there will be 12 teams starting in 2014 when Idaho comes aboard, and will likely go to divisions, so not every team will play twice during the regular season. Having said that, I like only having either 7 or 9 teams be in the tournament, especially if it is at a neutral site. It still gives the #1 seed a bye and an advantage. Including Idaho, there were 6 teams in the league that drew fewer than 1,500 fans per game. So I don't see the fans of the bottom 3 to 5 teams in the league making it a priority to get their travel plans in order early on regardless of the location. For the record, I like the current format where the regular season champ hosts, allowing the best team the easiest path to the Dance. If UND would have gotten hot and won this year's tournament, we surly would have been a 16 seed. Although the chances are still slim, Montana has a much better chance of getting a win in the tourney with a 13 seed than we would have.

Good discussion going at Bobcatnation.com about going to a neutral site for the Big Sky tournament. Both the Bozeman and Grand Forks newspapers have hinted that a change could be coming.............

Wayne Nelson tweet:

Good lord, that is pathetic and a bit embarrassing............................

Schleusner is taking over for Kotelnicki as Special Teams and Recruiting coordinator according to an SFI tweet.

The Summit has 4 men's teams and 3 women's teams playing postseason ball. The Big Sky has 3 Men's and 4 Women's teams still playing.

The Lady Griz got a 13 seed and drew #4 Georgia. Game will be in Spokane, so not really a horrible draw at all for Montana. Northern Colorado, Eastern Washington, and Idaho St. will all play in the WNIT.

Beating NDSU, SDSU, UNI, Montana, Weber, etc would have done wonders for our RPI. Low major conferences like the Big Sky and Summit make or break their RPI during the non-conference season.

Final RPI is very important to the schools from major conferences when it comes to seeking an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. Therefore, they are reluctant to schedule too many teams from low-major and mid-major conferences that have weak RPIs. Schools from the Missouri Valley that have RPI's ranging from 40-125 have alot better chance of getting games with a high-major than does a school like us at this point. The Big Sky had 2 schools with an RPI under 100, while the rest were in the 200's and higher. That is not very appealing to a mid-level program that is a member of a high-major league that may find itself on the bubble come selection time. For example, if Minnesota would have played us this year instead of NDSU, their RPI would have taken a significant hit regardless of the outcome of the game because NDSU's RPI is so much higher than ours. I don't know how the formula works, but I actually think that this year in a hypothetical situation, a Minnesota win against a North Dakota (or SUU or UNC or whoever) in place of a loss to NDSU (or SDSU, or UNI, or whoever) would have hurt their RPI more. The RPI is a big key to making the at-large selections, and there is a big difference between playing a school with an RPI in the 60-70's versus playing one with an RPI in the mid to low 200's.

You can watch all of the CIT games for free here: www.watchcollegeinsider.com/ The championship game will be on CBS College Sports.

Mollberg.

Agree. I am glad the team gets one and hopefully several more games to play. And winning one of these non NCAA/NIT tournaments would be a huge accomplishment. But to me both the CBI and CIT have a "Beef 'O Brady's Bowl" feel to them. There are 164 DI teams playing post-season basketball this year. Regardless, I'm stoked to be playing Northern Iowa again, and hope they can advance!

There are a few different sources for the basketball RPI, but I think the most readily accessible one to fans is realtimerpi.com. During the season, it updated a day or two after each game. Currently it has North Dakota at 224. For comparison, Montana is 75, Weber St. is 85. This is not an official source, I think the NCAA maintains that and I don't think it is updated as quickly as this one. It is based on the enitre season.

Definately will be a challenge. Hopefully it is a repeat of the Weber games. Blown out in the regular season, give 'em hell in the post season. Northern Iowa is a tough draw, but I don't feel they are heads and shoulders above us.

The Great West Conference gets an autobid to the CIT. Chicago St. won the tournament this year. That is how UND got into the CIT the last two years.

They were on the bubble. There was a strong case for them.

Another North Dakota opponent, Fargo Institute of Butfootball, will travel to Western Michigan for the CBI tournament.

I heard that too. Also heard Doug Gotlieb start laughing when that guy said it. That would be great if it happened. Notoriety and money for the Big Sky.......