Imagine you're on one of these teams. Your season is over, most likely in an extremely disappointing fashion. For the first time all year you're probably looking forward to going to class simply so it will take your mind off basketball for a few days. Heck, you could even go to South Padre for spring break this year! But instead you have to get on a bus and go play Austin Peay for reasons that will never be explained to you. I suppose the reason is money, but none of your fans will pay to see this game so how does that help you? Three more schools get to finish their seasons with a win and a bittersweet reminder of what could have been. Hoo-ray.

And I used to think that football bowl season was sad and pointless. Let's do everyone a favor and end this charade, okay?

Postseason NIT [NIT]
College Basketball Invitational [CBI]
CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament [College Insider]

Stop the presses! Ohio State has won a championship! This is like the Red Sox ending the Curse of the Bambino! Or at least like Susan Lucci finally winning a daytime Emmy. Clearly, the rioting and overturning of cars will continue unabated in Columbus until Monday.

Clearly, the secret is to not face an SEC team in the final. And having Jamar Butler go buck wild helps, too. Butler had 19 points and 8 assists to make damn sure the Buckeyes didn't go home empty-handed this season. Seven-foot freshman Kosta Koufos poured in 23, a total he only exceeded once this season, and that was way back in November. Something tells me these guys will be back in the Big Dance next March. Memo to Thad Matta: ask yourself, What Would Huggins Do?

CBI Preview

If Tulsa vs. Bradley is the championship game nobody ever wanted to see, the brilliant decision to turn it into a three-game series must have driven viewership into the negative digits. This is like the college basketball version of "Groundhog Day", where two coaches wake up every morning and prepare for the same team again, and when they finally break the cycle tonight, nobody will know or care about their triumph.

Then again, if I ever get my wish to write a Trivial Pursuit card, you can expect a question about who won the first and only College Basketball Invitational.

NIT Semifinals, Madison Square Garden

Massachusetts 78, Florida 66. No 2 ½-peat for the Gators. The UMass Minutemen spoiled the NCAA tournament rematch by overcoming a nine-point halftime deficit in convincing fashion. New York native Dante Milligan had 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks in front of his family and helped the Minutemen move on to face Ohio State. This is so nice for the downtrodden people of Boston, who just haven't had much in the way of sports triumphs to root for recently.

Ohio State 81, Ole Miss 69. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, actually get another shot at winning a postseason tournament. Jamar Butler and Evan Turner each scored 17 points for Ohio State. Ole Miss was toast from the get-go, as they managed to tie the game at eight-all with 14:58 left in the first half before OSU blew the game wide open. It'll be Buckeyes vs. Minutemen for the NIT championship tomorrow in a nice little appetizer for the main event.

CBI Championship Series

In order to explain this mess, I'd have to take a serious interest in it, and I'm not sure I can do that. Suffice to say that, rather than playing one championship game nobody really cares about, the brain trust behind the inaugural CBI decided the last two teams standing should play a three-game series to decide which team will be the answer to a future killer sports trivia question. C-USA also-ran Tulsa currently has a one-game advantage after beating MVC entrant Bradley 73-68 on Monday night. Bradley has a chance to even the score tonight in Peoria, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that I hope they have too much pride to subject us to more of this charade.

We'd like to congratulate the West Virginia Mountaineers on their NIT championship last night; that's something that can never be taken away from them. In fact, fans can buy the officially licensed T-shirt above. Truly, it's quite an honor.

**PLEASE NOTE: In our rush to put up a graphic immediately after the closing buzzer, we inadvertently used in incorrect image. We apologize for the error. The correct Championship Tee Shirts will ship, not the "misspelled" shirt! Thank You!

Honestly, we'd rather have the misspelled one.

Congratulations, West Virgina, NIT Champions [The Fanhouse]

Far be it from us to understate the importance of the NIT — no place is more dangerous than Crisler Arena in mid-March! — but during the Kansas State-DePaul game the other night, an injured Wildcat sat on the bench eating popcorn. Hey, nice seats if you can get 'em; pass my change back from the vendor, if you could.

Boy, That NIT Action Sure Is Exciting [Awful Announcing]

Georgia Sports Blog interviews NITology founder Mike Scullin and finds that projecting teams from the bottom up has its advantages.

A lot of traffic comes from message boards. Mostly, it's fans from message boards belonging to teams that I project into the NIT. I've been getting a lot of email lately from Auburn fans. They're in with the last spot right now so I hope they'll be happy.

We're pleased to note that he has Illinois projected in the big tourney (unlike Mandel). And you know what's really scary? Right now, Connecticut is projected to miss the NIT. That, friends, is crazy.

NITology — The Other Bubble's Expert Weighs In On Georgia [Georgia Sports Blog]
NITology Projections [Official Site]