Orange Watch: Syracuse basketball declines NIT bid
Welcome to the reality of the new world of the transfer portal in college basketball, which not so coincidently opens today, March 18, and goes until May 1.
Which in the case for Syracuse and several other teams (Pitt, St. John's, Washington) listed in various NIT prognosticator's brackets before the 32 team field was released Sunday night, equates to declining an invitation to the secondary tournament because of the ongoing saga of roster management and/or coaching staff turnover.
For Adrian Autry and his staff, the likelihood that at least three, and perhaps more, players move on, starting as soon as Monday, makes clear the university simply could not commit to fielding a competitive NIT roster for games that would have been played on the road beginning with a geographically-friendly northeast pairing.
It also leads to the question: Why open the portal the day after the postseason tournaments are announced? The NIT this year ends April 4, the NCAA championship game is April 8. Open the portal April 9-May 15 (two weeks later).
That's not to say that players would still not opt out knowing they plan to enter the portal or to avoid injury risk, but it would at least provide the option of more competition to showcase their talent.
Which leads to a second question: Why not disband the NIT and expand the NCAA Tournament? The NIL and transfer portal era have made the NIT antiquated. The best collegiate players today (already being paid) want to play in March Madness, or they're ready to move on to play professionally - fulltime.
The College Football Playoff is expanding to an NFL-like 14 teams as early as 2026, it's time to allow more teams into the Dance.
For Syracuse, it's time to move on from the third straight season of missing postseason play for the first time since the late 60s-early 70s, a winning tradition that Autry seeks to revive (NCAA or bust?) next season with a new-look roster.
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