I just looked up both The Crown and NIT brackets. Creighton is in The Crown, but I didn't see Seton Hall listed in either field. Did they decline their invitation to The Crown? I figure Fox doesn't want them in the NIT, but I saw we still had 2 reserved spots in The Crown and only put one team in the field. They must have declined their invitation? Or am I missing something here?

(03-16-2026 05:22 PM)Nameless Wrote:  I just looked up both The Crown and NIT brackets. Creighton is in The Crown, but I didn't see Seton Hall listed in either field. Did they decline their invitation to The Crown? I figure Fox doesn't want them in the NIT, but I saw we still had 2 reserved spots in The Crown and only put one team in the field. They must have declined their invitation? Or am I missing something here?

SHU players declined all post season last night.

Kind of surprised Seton Hall declined the Crown.

The Crown field is as follows:

Creighton

Oklahoma

Colorado

Baylor

Minnesota

Stanford

West Virginia

Rutgers

Big 12: three

Big Ten: two

ACC: one

Big East: one

SEC: one

(03-16-2026 06:55 PM)Nukem2 Wrote:  

(03-16-2026 05:22 PM)Nameless Wrote:  I just looked up both The Crown and NIT brackets. Creighton is in The Crown, but I didn't see Seton Hall listed in either field. Did they decline their invitation to The Crown? I figure Fox doesn't want them in the NIT, but I saw we still had 2 reserved spots in The Crown and only put one team in the field. They must have declined their invitation? Or am I missing something here?

SHU players declined all post season last night.

Was totally unaware. Thanks!

(03-16-2026 07:22 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  Kind of surprised Seton Hall declined the Crown.

The Crown field is as follows:

Creighton

Oklahoma

Colorado

Baylor

Minnesota

Stanford

West Virginia

Rutgers

Big 12: three

Big Ten: two

ACC: one

Big East: one

SEC: one

Me too. Last year the field was kind of a joke but this year I think it's solid.

(03-17-2026 05:43 AM)Nameless Wrote:  

(03-16-2026 07:22 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  Kind of surprised Seton Hall declined the Crown.

The Crown field is as follows:

Creighton

Oklahoma

Colorado

Baylor

Minnesota

Stanford

West Virginia

Rutgers

Big 12: three

Big Ten: two

ACC: one

Big East: one

SEC: one

Me too. Last year the field was kind of a joke but this year I think it's solid.

It is, indeed. But it would be better "optics" for the Big East if the league had two in the Crown field.

Between the NIT (which offers four all-sports P4 members), the Big Dance and the Crown, the Big East has only four members participating in post-season play. Not ideal.

I wonder how much longer we will continue to have non-NCAAT postseason tournaments. The CBI is gone, the NIT seems to be on its last legs, and if the Crown cannot convince Seton Hall to participate (a team with a very strong non-tournament resume), I just wonder with the dynamics of the portal what need there is for a secondary tournament.

The players themselves don't care. Many of them are banged up, expecting to enter the portal, etc.. As I'm typing this, I don't even remember who won the Crown or NIT last year. There's not much prestige in it. Seton Hall won a couple years ago and what did it matter? The following season was a disaster. But to my earlier point, although the players will try to win, they honestly don't care if whether they do or not. It's NCAA or bust for them.

The question of non-NCAAT postseason tournaments continuing is a valid one.

I like the concept of the Crown. And I've long held a soft spot for the NIT (so I still loosely follow it every March).

But ...

The tourneys do give ESPN hoops to televise. So there is some revenue to be generated.

(03-17-2026 12:48 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  I wonder how much longer we will continue to have non-NCAAT postseason tournaments. The CBI is gone, the NIT seems to be on its last legs, and if the Crown cannot convince Seton Hall to participate (a team with a very strong non-tournament resume), I just wonder with the dynamics of the portal what need there is for a secondary tournament.

I agree. If the 500k from The Crown can't convince players to want to participate, it's a sign the portal is more important to them and they will forego the small amount of revenue generated from the tournament to chase a bigger payday, possibly elsewhere.

Although, $500k divided by 15 players isn't that much money per player. I wonder if Fox will up the ante a bit and double it to make it more worthwhile in the coming seasons. Likely not, as looking at both the NIT and Crown fields, The Crown actually has the better cohort of teams playing and may actually garner more interest. I would say it definitely will garner more interest this year, but the NIT has much better brand recognition.

I also wonder if the NIT may become the tournament for mid majors squeezed from the NCAAT for the 17-14 type teams from major conferences. Kind of like the "G6 playoff" some always want to push for on the football side.