The NIT's Gonna Act as an Agent of Change

College basketball's original post-season tournament is constantly reinventing itself.

Mainly because, these days, it's a necessity.

With its payoff being a final four appearance at Madison Square Garden, the NIT offers enough prestige to remain relevant.

That's the case even though its consigned to the shadows of the NCAA's Big Dance.

 

It's caused the NIT to be more radical in adjusting its format to maintain interest.

• Moving venues to home courts was a smooth move to ensure better attendance;
• Offering guaranteed invitations to conference champs is damn near a humanitarian move to recognize teams that prevailed in a season's long haul; and the same goes for
• The Dance's first four out also receive invitations.

 

It's also like college football's massive slate of bowl games that have nothing to do with the playoffs.

Teams keep playing, generating revenues -- as hypocritally as the Dance does -- and providing more experience in preparation for the next season.

Even better, it's an awesome revenge opportunity.

 

This season, the NIT's decided to give players a sorta-look at how FIBA plays, since a good number of players will wind up earning paychecks in European and Asian teams when they're done with school.

These tweaks come from recommendations by:

• the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee,
• the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Competition Committee, and
• the Division I Coaches Oversight Committee.

 

Here are the five changes, which are significant:

• The three-point line will be extended by approximately 1 foot 8 inches to the same distance used by FIBA for international competition (22 feet 1.75 inches).
• The free throw lane will be widened from 12 feet to 16 feet, consistent with the width used by the NBA.
• The games will be divided into four 10-minute quarters as opposed to two 20-minute halves.
• Teams will shoot two free throws beginning with the fifth foul of each quarter.
• The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound instead of the full 30 seconds.

   

 

Odds are the players and fans will, too.

The bracket is set, as are each team's motivation levels.

And here's another guarantee: the NIT winner will be much better than the nation's 69th-best team.