You still don’t like the idea of more teams playing college basketball deep into March? Do you believe that a saturation point was reached? Does your thought process lead you to the conclusion that programs like The Citadel do not deserve postseason despite winning 20 games?

For many the answer to each of the above is yes and that’s a shame because there is absolutely a place for the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

When I was first asked to be on the selection committee I thought the entire concept of the tournament was tremendous. As a former coach, who has spent time at the mid-major level, I know full well the things working against so many smaller programs. Each member of the selection committee recognizes the fact that good basketball is not reserved solely for the power conferences. As those who follow mid-major basketball already know -- every season there are a lot of great players, outstanding coaches and deserving teams left out of the postseason mix.

Consider this; teams that finish third, fourth or fifth in power conferences almost always end up in the NCAA tournament. So why then would teams that have similar seasons at the mid-major level not be worthy of postseason? Take a look at Oakland, which finished third in its’ conference race (13-5) and won 22 games overall. It took a shot in the closing seconds of the Summit League tournament championship game, by the league’s player of the year, to beat them. With all things being relative, a team with a profile like that in the Big Ten would have been a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

For so many years college basketball has had only two tournaments. In recent years the popularity of the NCAA tournament has grown by leaps and bounds so most fans focus solely on the 65 teams competing for a National Championship. There is less interest in the NIT, despite its’ great tradition and history. That’s not a knock on the NIT, but it’s just fact that the NCAA Tournament has grown into one of the biggest sporting events so it only stands to reason that everything else would be secondary.

But while it may not have the national appeal it once had, the NIT certainly means a lot to all those participating. Ask the people at Penn State if the NIT is irrelevant. They are on their way to Madison Square Garden for the semi-finals. And how about Baylor? The Bears have carried the momentum from the Big 12 tournament into the NIT. Neither program has captured the imagination of the national media and fans, but for the two schools, their fans, players and coaches it is certainly a big deal.

So would it not stand to reason that a program like James Madison would also be very enthusiastic about its run through postseason in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Much like the programs at Baylor and Penn State, Matt Brady is trying to change the culture of his program at JMU. He is trying to establish a new foundation for a program that has had its’ share of struggles in recent years. With their first round win in the CIT, JMU reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

Virginia Tech ended the regular season with 18 wins. Had they beaten North Carolina, 19 wins may have gotten them into the NCAA Tournament. Seth Greenberg did a fine job this season and he was rewarded with an invitation to the NIT. His team finished 7-9 in the ACC. James Madison finished 9-9 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Remember Seth’s team was one of those teams on the bubble for the NCAA and deservingly so.

You can make a pretty compelling argument that James Madison, in many ways, was to the CAA what Virginia Tech was to the ACC. Both were very good teams at their respective levels. And remember that a program like James Madison is on the wrong side of the “Buy-Game” equation. They don’t have the luxury of paying teams to come to their arena to lose.

Teams from power conferences have the opportunity to pad their early-season win total, something most everyone else doesn’t. The smaller programs aren’t asking anyone to feel sorry for them because they fully understand the grand scheme of things. But it is a fact that they would have better records if they had the opportunity to play four or five home games against lesser opponents each year.

Now some people will maintain that the number of teams in postseason was fine with just the NCAA and the NIT, but I disagree.

In 1985 the NCAA tournament field expanded to 64 teams. Nearly 25 years later they have increased the field by one, while the number of schools playing division I basketball has increased by roughly 125.

People are reluctant to accept change, but change is inevitable and it was time to provide another opportunity for schools that otherwise would have received no consideration at all. And that brings me back to The Citadel. Coach Ed Conroy turned in one of the best seasons in the history of the program. They posted 20 wins and swept the season series with cross-town rival the College of Charleston. Everybody, including me, thought Charleston had an outstanding season. The Citadel beat them twice and won 20 games. As Rich Zvosec, a former coach and member of the CIT selection committee said to the media, “Winning 20 games at The Citadel is like winning 100 games somewhere else.”

You still don’t think a program like that deserves to be in the postseason?

Those of us involved with the tournament had no allusions that it would somehow replace the NIT. That’s ridiculous. But we did feel that teams like The Citadel earned the right to play in postseason. If any of these 16 teams had similar seasons in the power conferences they would have been NCAA or NIT bound for sure.

In many ways the inaugural CIT is like a December bowl game. Those games don’t capture the imagination of everyone across the country, but they are a big deal to the players, coaches, fans and institutions participating.

I am looking forward to working with the other members of the selection committee to make this tournament even better next season.



When he retired in 2005, Hugh Durham ranked 8th among active Division I coaches with 633 career wins and was Durham was the 25th winningest DI coach in history. He is the only coach in NCAA history to be the all-time winningest coach at three different Division I schools and is one of just eleven coaches to have led two different teams to the NCAA Final Four (Florida State, 1972 & Georgia, 1983). The Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award was established in 2005.