Furious Tom Crean goes off on teams declining NIT invite
Former college basketball coach and ESPN analyst Tom Crean was not a fan of several teams asking not to be invited to this year’s NIT, which included St. John’s.
Crean was on ESPN’s “NIT Selection Special” show when he started to lambast the idea of teams not wanting to play in college basketball’s other main postseason tournament.
The Red Storm publicly announced that they had told the NIT selection committee that they did not want to be extended an invite shortly after they had learned that they didn’t receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“After thorough consideration of all that goes into postseason participation, we believe at this time it is best for our team and basketball program to prepare for next season,” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said in part of a statement regarding the decision.
It is believed that the transfer portal opening on Monday played a role in the decision process for teams.
However, Crean wasn’t buying that excuse from any school that was opting out of the NIT.
“There’s no question about it. I would want to coach, I would want to develop my team,” Crean said. “You’ve got bigger staffs than you’ve ever had. There’s plenty of time for the portal. There’s plenty of time to talk to recruits. There’s plenty of time to negotiate NIL deals.”
That’s when Crean, who coached at Marquette, Indiana and Georgia, started to get more stern in his comments.
“There’s not plenty of time to play. There’s not plenty of time to get your players on the floor and give them a chance to get better,” he said. “There’s not plenty of time for guys to continue to play that may never get to play again and that to me is absolutely ridiculous. It’s each coach’s choice, I get it, but if you take away a chance to play the games, to put your team on the floor.
“Let them opt out. The bowl season has it all the time. Let it happen, who cares. Give your players and coaches a chance to keep coaching and playing and don’t shortchange.”
Other notable teams that opted not to participate in the NIT included Syracuse, Pitt, Memphis and Ole Miss.
The first round of the NIT begins on March 19.