"Post season play coming"

[agibson]

The AD tweeted last night
http://twitter.com/#!/ValpoAD/status/45287057437896704

Post season play coming for Men's Basketball. More opportunities to see Cory, Howard & Mike in a Valpo uniform. Watch for the announcement

I suppose this is likely just confidence?  That there will be post-season play somewhere?

Or... can something have already been decided?  In the past the CBI and CIT have talked about competing with the other tournaments for teams.  Is it possible that one of them has already made Valpo such an attractive offer that they agreed to sign in advance, and pass on any NIT possibilities?  Seems unlikely, but the wording of the tweet makes me wonder.

In any case, nice to hear from the top that there is a plan!

[vuweathernerd]

they might have something as a backup in case we don't get an nit invite. personally, i'd prefer the nit over the cbi/cit (but who wouldn't?)

[agibson]

personally, i'd prefer the nit over the cbi/cit (but who wouldn't?)

Yeah, I guess that's right.  I have in mind the conversation we had a while back about whether we'd prefer to play in the NCAA tournament vs. another tournament.  One thread is that it would be nice to have a reasonable prospect of winning a game or three!

But, I suspect that we do have a reasonable chance of competing at the NIT level this year.  It'd be even more true if the games were on neutral courts.

[covufan]

personally, i'd prefer the nit over the cbi/cit (but who wouldn't?)

Yeah, I guess that's right.  I have in mind the conversation we had a while back about whether we'd prefer to play in the NCAA tournament vs. another tournament.  One thread is that it would be nice to have a reasonable prospect of winning a game or three!

But, I suspect that we do have a reasonable chance of competing at the NIT level this year.  It'd be even more true if the games were on neutral courts.

I've often thought that the NIT should go to a few regional neutral courts scheduled in advance.  I believe that Dayton usually sells out for the play in game.  If the NIT had a few sites previously arranged, they wouldn't have to worry about which teams could host - just where to put those teams for max attendance.  If you had two games at one site, you could also arrange TV and radio coverage ahead of time.  Some of the NIT games I've seen on TV looked like 1500-3000 fans in a 12,000 seat arena.  As rlh noted in another thread, when VU played at Iowa in the NIT a few years ago, it was only 24 hours after the NIT field was announced, and the crowd - well it really wasn't a crowd, more of a gathering - was sparse at best.  As a potential visiting team, I'd rather play in front of a neutral crowd that picks up rooting for a hard playing underdog team.  I'm sure the team feeds off that kind of environment.