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NIT Championship Open Thread

Nevermind the big kids' bracket this weekend, there's bouncyhoops action tonight! The B1G's very own Golden Gophers face off with Larry Brown's SMU Mustangs of the Whatever Conference They're In Now for...whatever it is the NIT champion receives!

By Green Akers
How to remember which Hollins is which? Check to see if he did something useful in the game recently; if so, that's Andre.
How to remember which Hollins is which? Check to see if he did something useful in the game recently; if so, that's Andre.
Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Tipoff: 7:00 pm EST/6:00 CST, ESPN

Context/importance? Well, it's fairly impressive for a first-year coach in the midst of a roster makeover to take his team this far in postseason play, even if it's not against top-tier competition. Iowa rode an NIT finals appearance last year to...whatever you think this season was for Iowa, wherein they were, at different times, a top-ten team and a train wreck of underperformance.

Bottom line, fans of the more blue-blooded teams amongst us might sneer at the NIT, but it still features plenty of good teams, and a new coach most likely welcomes every last minute of NCAA-sanctioned court time he can get. Win or lose, this run should be a good thing for a restructuring Minnesota team.

Also- like you really have anything better to do on a Thursday than catch the some of last wisping embers of college basketball. Don't say 'baseball' to me. You have 160 more chances, and if you're a Cubs fan, your team is already eliminated from the playoffs anyway.