Deadspin
Yep, a double take on that headline over here too. Following a Gator victory over Arizona State, and a Buckeye win over Dayton, these two proud programs are back in the Championship picture, albeit of the NIT. Come April 1, if Ohio State can beat Ole Miss and Florida does the same to UMass, we may see the first-ever rematch of an NCAA championship game in the next season's NIT.
I've long wondered if it's better for a top program to win the NIT or to bow out in the early rounds. As when West Virginia won last year, it often gives a whiff of overcompensation - like the guy who sets picks and commits hard fouls in a game for charity. But there's no doubt that I'm rooting hard for this final to happen. The comedy potential is just too great. (Ed. Note: Stuff like this always makes us afraid there are cosmic forces at work, and it freaks us. This game should be broadcast by John Locke from "Lost.")
Hat tip: [The Meaningful Collateral]
Comments
I wanna kiss you SO bad right now...
@GorgeForeman: That is definitely some forbidden love between those two.
"But I cancelled my contract with the Orlando Magic for you! FOR YOU!!!"
UF can deliver the knockout blow to tOSU's psyche- just like stealing the last piece of candy from a 4-year old. That is, assuming the 4-year old likes to masturbate in public libraries.
Billy Donovan would strike Thad Matta right in the mouth if his puppeteer weren't out grabbing a smoke.
I can't believe Ohio State won the other night with all that volleyball crap on the court.
Can't wait to add "2008 NIT" to my Gator championships hat.
Deadspin insignificant fact of the day....Thad Matta grew up close to Mattoon.
Next year, The CBI
Ohio State, winners of THE National Invitational Tournament
It's like Soft Shoe Silhouettes from The Electric Company:
Billy: dou-
Thad: -ches
Together: douches!
@FueledbyCopenhagen: Please. Gator Fans would jerk off in a library too if they had ever been to one.
@Get Him A Body Bag, Yeah!: I just hope they don't put the banner on the main rafter with the NCAAs...I hope they hide it. Or better yet, burn it.
And to think I mocked this possibility on selection Sunday.
[deadspin.com]
"The island wants this game to happen, Boone. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner we can open this hatch to watch the game."
INVISABLE BCS TROPHY
slap and tickle fight sponsored by Nike.
I hope this happens because I had them meeting in the finals for my NIT office poll.
At least there is no Joakim Noah this time.
@Get Him A Body Bag, Yeah!: Hey, we've beat you once this season. We can do it again. Championship revenge will be ours!
/no, it won't ... not even close
Thad covets Billy's widows peak.
As a student of Ohio State, I think I speak for the whole student body when I say: Really? We are? Um...cool?
you son of a biscuit eating bulldog!
Isn't it the Final 68, err 69?
I can't wait to feel the palpable excitement of NIT fever when I'm on the OSU campus this weekend.
Larger attendence:
Knicks/Heat of NIT Semi-Finals?
UMASS is FINALLY in a Final Four!
Nothing like fightin' to be number 66...
If Florida loses to Ohio State, they are officially out of the SEC.
Is there a "Ewing Theory" corollary for second-tier basketball tournaments? The Buckeyes hope so!
@mannybeingmanny:
You just made Marcus Camby very sad.
Winner gets ice cream!
Who does the obnoxious, seizure-like dance if Florida takes the crown this year?
Fuck the Gators.
yeah I dont think that camby really cares about the banners being taken down at UMass. Besides Calapari is the one who caused all the problems!
We all joked about possibly playing against Ohio State in the finals...gotta go buy my ticket to NYC right now!!
@BigTenObsession: Camby took money, so that Final Four never happened.
@MattinglysSideburns: The fever here on campus is HOT, HOT, HOT! Our school newspaper is going to devote 6 pages on NIT information and classes the day of the championship game will be cancelled.
@Jefferson Short Bus: i love bringing up that fact to all my friends that are UMass Alumni
@Jefferson Short Bus:
the NCAA is so stupid sometimes. Purdue had to forfeit a game in which the player in question played for less than 2 minutes and scored 0 points. I mean, really?
@Weed Against Speed: Word.
@mannybeingmanny: I should bring it up more often than I get a chance to. Go Owls!
@Le Kangourou de Kataroo is reading this sexy blog.: While their non-selection to the NCAA tournament would indicate it, I would imagine that the eventual winner of the NIT could beat more than a few teams that lost out of the NCAA tourney, making them presumably better than being the 66th ranked team in the nation. I honestly think a win in the NIT is more valuable than a first-round blowout in the NCAA tourney.
Lost in all of this is the possibility of a Miss/Mass final.
@elwood: Yeah, but it's funnier my way.
This is my official apology to the REAL Fuck Lion (notwithstanding Marques Slocum, of course). I was unaware that when you choose your comment name Gawker would let you take a name that someone else has. I'm trying to change my name right now, but for some reason I am unable to edit my profile. I can see it, it knows it's me looking at it, but I can't edit it. I sent an email to Rob to see if there was anything he could do. Again, sorry for jacking your name. Sorry guys, there will be no lion fight at high noon.
@elwood: I'm sure that's what Dave Odom and Tommy Amaker, Lords of the NIT, like to tell themselves.
I just don't know how Ohio State, or the state of Ohio, would cope with being the runner-up yet again:
06 NCAA Football, 07 NCAA Football, 07 NCAA Tournament, 07 NCAA Soccer, 07 ALCS, 07 NBA Finals, 2007 AFC North (Both teams: Cincinnati was the runner-up to Cleveland!).
Must be sports karma for handing the election to Bush in '04.
@Matt_T: Ha! As if there will be two consecutive seasons of the CBI.
@Sandburgh: I'm afraid to say it out loud lest it actually happen.
@Barnacle: "Must be sports karma for handing the election to Bush in '04."
That's a tough statement to back up when you consider that their opponent is "Jeb and butterfly ballots in 2000" Florida.
@Storming the Floor: Karma for them came in the form of a continued life in the shithole otherwise known as Florida.
@Barnacle: You forgot the runner-up in last year's Arena Bowl!!!!
@Barnacle: Yeah, I have to say, if I had to choose between Ohio and Florida to live in, I'd pick Ohio, just because the FLA humidity would make me want to die immediately.
If Ohio State and Florida play in the final, I'm going to jump off a tall building. I know for a fact the Gator fans will attempt to rub it in the faces of everyone else in the state of Florida, thinking that their god-awful team this year should have been in the tournament this year. God can't hate me that much, can he?