Mizzou basketball postseason: What Tigers must do to make the NIT or another tourney
Unless the Missouri Tigers run the table at the SEC Tournament, their chances of an NCAA Tournament bid are looking extremely slim.
Mizzou ranks No. 84 in the NET and No. 104 in KenPom, far, far away from qualifying for an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.
A brutal January and 2-7 start in SEC play are culprits, though an 0-2 mark in the Hall of Fame Classic and a loss to Charleston Southern don’t help. Injuries also played a factor in Mizzou’s season, one that started with aspirations of playing in the Big Dance. Mizzou’s Quadrant-1 record is also lacking at 2-10.
But the Tigers’ postseason hopes aren’t dead.
There’s a chance they earn an at-large bid for the National Invitational Tournament, or commonly known as the NIT. It’s not where many around the program expected to be — especially before the season — but it would salvage a season that looked to be on the cusp of falling out of control.
With Mizzou trending up after winning its first conference road game, a strong finish to the regular season and a win or two in the SEC Tournament could boost them to postseason contention.
There’s still a long way to go, though, including plenty of NIT bracketology.
What is the NIT?
The NIT is a 32-team postseason tournament that runs around the same time as the NCAA Tournament. It’s usually comprised of a mix of mid-major teams that didn’t win their conference tournament and at-large power conference teams that were on the wrong side of the bubble.
It’s considered a consolation tournament today, but in its heyday was more prestigious than the NCAA Tournament. But over the decades, the NCAA Tournament came out on top.
How are teams picked for the NIT?
The NIT has an eight-person selection committee, primarily made up of past college coaches and athletic administrators. Former MU interim athletic director Wren Baker, now North Texas athletics director, was named to the committee last year.
Just like the NCAA Tournament, there are automatic qualifiers. Those are the teams that were first in conference regular-season play but didn’t win their conference tournament. There were eight automatic bids last year.
From there, the field is selected by the committee. The first four seeds in the NIT are the first four teams out of the Big Dance.
The committee chooses a field of 32 it feels should qualify for the NIT. Each member puts in a secret ballot and those are put together to determine the field. Then once it’s set, they seed the teams from there.
When and where are games played?
The first round of the NIT is set for March 17, two days after Selection Sunday. After the NCAA Tournament field is selected, the NIT has its own selection show.
Games in the first three rounds of the NIT are hosted by and played at the home arenas of the better-seeded teams. The semifinals are then played at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The semifinals are set for March 31; the championship game is April 2.
What does Mizzou need to do to make the NIT?
While the NIT axed its rule a few years ago requiring teams to be above the .500 mark, it’s in Mizzou’s best interest to keep working at its resume.
The Tigers have three games remaining: Mississippi State, at Mississippi and Alabama. A 2-1 finish and at least a win in the SEC Tournament puts them in solid position to qualify for the NIT. That lands them at 17-16 and 8-10 in the SEC.
But in that hypothetical, the Tigers are likely a lower seed and not hosting a game in the NIT.
Mizzou’s best comparison from last year’s field is Arkansas, who finished 18-16 and 8-10 in the SEC. The Hogs lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
However, keep in mind the conference as a whole is weaker this season. So an 8-10 mark this year isn’t exactly the same as Arkansas’ SEC record from last year.
A pair of wins in the SEC Tournament would boost Mizzou’s resume and might also lead to the Tigers hosting a game in the friendly confines of Mizzou Arena, where they’re 11-3 this season so far.
Look out for
In the past, there have been some experimental rules that were put in place, including in last year’s NIT. Some of the rules are actually put in place for the regular college basketball season, which includes the new international three-point line and resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound.
There were some other slight changes to the rules. A big change was resetting of team foul counts at the 10-minute mark of each half. It basically divides the game up in to quarters for foul purposes. It’s good for a foul-happy team like Mizzou as teams aren’t in the bonus for the rest of the half.
In that scenario, they also got rid of the one-and-one and instead just made it two free throws whenever a team hit the bonus. Teams also entered the bonus after the fifth foul of the 10-minute segment.
There will likely be other experimental rule changes, so look out for those if Mizzou qualifies for the NIT.