The Hlog

NIT Selection Show? NIT Selection Show????

The funniest and strangest thing I've heard in many moons was hearing that ESPN2 will air an NIT selection show Sunday night.

"Desperate Housewives" shares the same time slot with "Desperate So-So Basketball Teams."

The standard shots of the NCAA tournament selection show won't necessarily apply to the NIT's show. When they show a team celebrating riotously on the NIT show, will it be because it found out it wasn't chosen to be in the field of 32? When they get angry, bitter comments from coaches and players, will it because they weren't slighted by the NIT?

Or will we get some acting? Which, by the way, is called flopping in basketball. Will any coach of a major-university program be able to convince us he's pleased to be in the NIT, and eager to hit the road to play in Peoria? Will any player persuade us that the opportunity to continue a disappointing season is a good thing?

I love it. It's a half-hour devoted to frustration, disappointment, resentment. The winners get enough time and glory. It's high time that the mediocre got their moment, and I'm not talking about contestants of "American Idol."

The NIT selection show will become hotter than the Dallas Mavericks, more sensational than Tom Brady's personal life. Pathos, dark comedy, human struggle -- this show will have it all. 

Iowa and Northern Iowa will be in. Or they'll be out. Either way, they'll never be the same. Neither will we.
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