An educated guess at what they'll do with the NIT Season Tip-Off

With the tournament chopped from 16 to 8 teams (Gonzaga, Gophers, Saint John's, Georgia, Saint Joseph's, Western Kentucky, Stony Brook, LIU), I'd assume the 4 "host" schools (Gonzaga, Gophers, Saint John's, Georgia) will be guaranteed spots in the bracketed semifinals and 3rd-place/championship games. Those games will be played Wednesday, Nov. 26 (semifinals) and Friday, Nov. 28 (3rd place/championship), as originally scheduled.

Leading up to that, each of the 4 host schools will host one of the non-host schools sometime between Nov. 17-20. That will leave each of the 8 schools with 3 games to play (up to 4 games are allowed for exempt tournaments). Madison Square Garden appears to be available both Nov. 24 and 25, as neither the NY Knicks or NY Rangers are home those nights. Let's assume the NIT uses MSG for the additional games required in New York.

Here's a guess at how they can pull off the NIT with each team getting 4 games as originally planned, with the only changes being the host schools get 1 home game instead of 2, and the scrapping of the true bracket.

Nov. 17-20 (non-bracketed at host sites)
Saint Joseph's @ Gonzaga
Stony Brook @ Gophers
LIU @ Saint John's
Western Kentucky @ Georgia

Monday, Nov. 24 @ MSG (non-bracketed)
Gonzaga vs. Stony Brook
Minnesota vs. Saint Joseph's
Saint John's vs. Western Kentucky
Georgia vs. LIU

Tuesday, Nov. 25 @ MSG (bracketed/non-host schools)
Saint Joseph's vs. LIU
Western Kentucky vs. Stony Brook

Wednesday, Nov. 26 (bracketed/host schools)
Gonzaga vs. Georgia
Gophers vs. Saint John's

Friday, Nov. 28 (both brackets/championship & 3rd-place games)
Saint Joseph's/LIU loser vs. Western Kentucky/Stony Brook loser
Saint Joseph's/LIU winner vs. Western Kentucky/Stony Brook winner
Gonzaga/Georgia loser vs. Gophers/Saint John's loser
Gonzaga/Georgia winner vs. Gophers/Saint John's winner

Presto, and that would mean all 4 host schools get at least one decent opponent out of the non-host schools. ... Gonzaga and the Gophers would get Saint Joseph's, while Saint John's and Georgia would get Western Kentucky. The one scenario we really want the Gophers to avoid is playing both Stony Brook and LIU. With the nonconference schedule the Gophers recently announced (not strong), it's best they not play the likely 2 worst non-host schools.

How much influence do you think our AD (or whoever) has on shaping this scenario you mention?

And does this mean we'll get another refund for the one less game than we paid for? A small refund might feel good considering the caliber of games we can anticipate for the preseason.

Addendum with shameless plug. ...

If interested in my college basketball takes, follow me on Twitter @Fieldof68Freak. Two warnings: (1) Not much going on now but I'll pick it up as the season approaches, and (2) if you're looking for recruiting gossip it's not the place for you.

I doubt Teague has any more influence than the other ADs.

There will be a refund. We paid for 20 and we're getting 18, and the U has always refunded in the past. Would guess they'll offer options of having extra go to scholarship fund or to apply toward 2015-16 season tickets.

SelectionSunday said:

Addendum with shameless plug. ...

If interested in my college basketball takes, follow me on Twitter @Fieldof68Freak. Two warnings: (1) Not much going on now but I'll pick it up as the season approaches, and (2) if you're looking for recruiting gossip it's not the place for you.

Click to expand...

Selection, you've now created nearly irresistible reason for getting on Twitter! How could you?!

SelectionSunday said:

I doubt Teague has any more influence than the other ADs.

There will be a refund. We paid for 20 and we're getting 18, and the U has always refunded in the past. Would guess they'll offer options of having extra go to scholarship fund or to apply toward 2015-16 season tickets.

Click to expand...

Perhaps less is more considering the preseason.

NIT Season Tip-Off still appears to be one big mess: The latest from Andy Katz

http://www.zagaholic.com/2014/08/the-nit-season-tip-off-still-filled.html

Just got an ESPN mobile alert saying "NIT Tip-Off will have set semifinal matchups - Gonzaga vs. Georgia, Minnesota vs. St. John's". Not sure of additional details. Assuming there would be a third-place game in addition? Also not sure about the games leading up to it.

zipsofakron said:

Just got an ESPN mobile alert saying "NIT Tip-Off will have set semifinal matchups - Gonzaga vs. Georgia, Minnesota vs. St. John's". Not sure of additional details. Assuming there would be a third-place game in addition? Also not sure about the games leading up to it.

Click to expand...

There will be 3rd place game. Always has been. Playing Saint John's will be a virtual road game. Hopefully it's followed by title game with Gonzaga. Gopher NC sked needs the extra pop.

So at the end of the day, I suspect our non-conf schedule stacks up pretty well compared to other power conference teams...probably somewhere in the top half if not better:

Louisville neutral
St. John's road (it is their home floor, after all)
Gonzaga/Georgia neutral
Wake Forest road
and 7 low majors at home (are any of the low majors possible NCAA teams?)

Add that to the B1G schedule and I bet at the end of the year we have another top-20 or better SOS.