BYU Basketball: Why NIT may not be too bad
By Adam Gibby
BYU Basketball still has an outside shot of making the NCAA Tournament.
There is a discussion going around asking whether the NIT or NCAA Tournament would be better for BYU Basketball. The idea of course being that in the NIT the Cougars would potentially host a few games and potentially win the whole tournament while in all likelihood the NCAA Tournament would result in a one and done game hundreds of miles away from Provo.
Personally, I disagree. If you can play in the NCAA Tournament, of course you play in the Big Dance. And BYU fans shouldn’t be so quick to forget that it was UCLA who was one of the final four teams in last year that made a run to the Final Four.
Aside from that however, the NIT may actually be good for the Cougars.
To this point in the season BYU has been playing to make it into the NCAA Tournament. Because of this, Mark Pope has played his best roster every single game for all 40 minutes. While I’m in no way suggesting that Pope would tank the NIT, with the NIT prize being…minimal, the bigger prize may be getting next years’ players more playing time against quality opponents.
While Alex Barcello and Te’Jon Lucas should be and will be starting, getting backup players like Erickson and Knell into the game more will give those players game experience in a somewhat high stakes (lose and go home) game that will pay big dividends next season when the projections are not looking so great.
Again, BYU needs to do what they can to win and advance to the next game, but if Erickson’s 2-3 minutes can be bumped up to 12-13 minutes for three or four games, he will have played more in the NIT than he did during the entire regular season.
Again, I’m hoping (although not holding my breath) for the NCAA Tournament, but if it doesn’t work out, I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing the less experienced guys get ready for next season.