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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 29, 2024 14:09:19 GMT -5
An idea came to me the other night while I was watching Seattle and Fairfield, two Catholic schools on opposite sides of the country, play in the CBI semifinals. Just kicking it around, and I wondered what your thoughts might be.
Do you think there would be any viability or interest in a post season tournament strictly for Catholic non-power programs who weren't invited to the NCAA or NIT? Would giving a tournament a specific focus result in more interest?
Could the College Insider Tournament (CIT) be more viable if it was re-booted as the Catholic Invitational Tournament? It couldn't even find a television home this year and could only field nine teams. Perhaps focusing on a select subset of the NCAA field with a singular identify would spur more participation. Even after the the NCAA and NIT pick their teams, there could possible be 16 Catholic teams for a tourney.
Anyway, just something that came to mind. I like postseason tournaments, even the smaller ones, and I think the idea of one with a specific focus like this has potential.
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Post by calihanmole on Mar 29, 2024 15:02:25 GMT -5
It’s an interesting idea. I’d watch. Maybe EWTN could broadcast the games.
While I like the idea, I haven’t seen a lot of evidence of Catholic colleges going very far out of their way to collaborate and do big things. When the new Big East formed there was a lot of talk about it being a “Catholic” conference by guys like us on message boards and Twitter. But then, of course, Butler was included and the ADs and everyone involved said their intention was never to start a “Catholic” athletic conference. I think what Catholic schools have more of in common now is they are private schools with a lot of history and NCAA experience. The dedication to Catholicism just isn’t a primary driver for many administrators anymore. I’m not saying they’re bad people, but we are an increasingly secular society and I think admins and decision makers at Catholic schools are thinking NCAA or bust most of the time. And who would organize and execute a Catholic post season tournament? I suppose some Catholic billionaire could do it, but these tournaments are and will be driven by corporate sponsors.
What I see in the future is a world where virtually every D1 basketball team goes to a post season tournament. I could see some tournaments being 16 teams, some being 8, and I could even envision small 4 team tournaments that keep the operating cost low. I think this could happen because players will expect the opportunity to keep playing, and because there might eventually be enough NIL money to pay all players who participate. Making any tournament strictly Catholic might make it too difficult to put on.
On the other hand, I wonder how the new transfer portal will influence post season tournaments. This year was bonkers in that some schools turned down invites to the NIT. Why? Because they lost players to the portal, anticipated losing players to the portal, and possibly because some coaches wanted to focus on recruiting out of the portal instead of going to the NIT. It’ll be interesting to see what post season tournaments look like in five years. Can’t rule out the NCAA taking away auto bids, or even the NCAA as we know it imploding.
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