This isn’t so much about the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments, although feel free to use this thread to discuss those. I am thinking more about what appears to be a mess with the other five tournaments.
Men’s NIT
For those of you who do not know the story, there was talk that Fox would create its own postseason tournament, reportedly limited to teams from the three conferences to which it has broadcast rights - the Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 - with a requirement that any teams from those conferences that were invited to both this tournament and the Men’s NIT would have to decline the NIT bid.
Reportedly, as a result of this announcement, the NCAA changed how teams can qualify for the Men’s NIT. It got rid of its “if you win your conference’s regular season championship but don’t get into the NCAA tournament, you are automatically invited to the NIT” rule (sorry, Princeton), and replaced it with a guarantee that two teams from each of the “Power Six” conferences - Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Pac-12, and SEC - would not only get into the tournament, but would be guaranteed home games in the first round.
Also, as if college basketball games weren’t running long enough as it is, the Men’s NIT will include a fifth TV time-out per half. It is also using the NBA-size free throw lanes, although this and getting rid of one-and-one fouls (which high school doesn’t even use any more) should be on the rules committee’s short list of changes for next year, if you ask me.
Women’s WBIT
“The what now?” The NCAA, which owns the men’s NIT, wants its own “second-tier” women’s tournament, but another company owns the rights to the name Women’s NIT (more on that later).
It already has a major problem: when it first announced its bracket, James Madison was not even in the tournament. Less than an hour later, it was a #1 seed; Miami, which was an announced #1 seed, declined, so James Madison was invited, and, rather than reseed the entire bracket, just stuck the school into Miami’s #1 spot.
Men’s CBI
The only thing worth noting is, it does not bode well for the tournament if it couldn’t even get 16 teams to agree to play in it.
Men’s CollegeInsider (CIT)
You think 15 is bad? As I type this, the CIT has 9 teams, and is still looking for someone to play against Norfolk State.
Women’s NIT
Well, it did manage to get 48 teams into its tournament, but it is taking its time releasing the actual bracket.
I have a feeling the NCAA is going to get tired of people confusing the WNIT with the WBIT and shell out some cash to buy the rights to the WNIT name starting next season.
One problem with all five of these
The college basketball transfer portal opened the day after the brackets were announced. Everybody knew this in advance, as this is the rule in all NCAA sports. This led to a considerable number of schools opting out of the minor tournaments, and the ones that do play are at a disadvantage as they can’t concentrate on getting players from the portal if they’re busy still playing.