Un-Connon Opinions: Men’s basketball should look to National Invitation Tournament as postseason option

Believe it or not, the Bruins still have a chance to go dancing this March.

But should UCLA men’s basketball (18-11, 11-5 Pac-12) lose either of its final two games to Arizona or crosstown rival USC, its hopes at earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament could be gone for good. There’s always the automatic bid route too – which would require the Bruins to win the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas – but with No. 14 Oregon in the way and a 1-3 neutral site record to their name, that path seems unlikely as well.

Even if UCLA is unable to complete the seemingly impossible task of flipping a 7-6 nonconference record into an NCAA tournament bid, that doesn’t mean its season has to end in Sin City.

There’s always the National Invitation Tournament.

Now, I’m sure most lifelong UCLA fans probably just did a spit take. Or laughed out loud. Or (insert some other exaggerated cartoonish reaction here).

The Bruins haven’t gone to the NIT since 1986. Just last year, then-Daily Bruin Sports editor Ryan Smith wrote a column of his own ranting about how UCLA shouldn’t touch the second-tier tournament with a 10-foot pole.

But that was last year. Things have changed in 2020, and the Bruin faithful have to accept a reality check.

Smith was so averse to the Bruins accepting a bid for a multitude of reasons, but the gist of his argument centered around two things: spending time on their coaching search and preventing injuries in a tournament they were unequipped to win.

First of all, UCLA actually has a coach this time around – coach Mick Cronin signed with the Bruins in April fresh off nine straight NCAA tournament appearances with Cincinnati. Cronin’s rocky road through nonconference play may have put that streak in jeopardy, but the growth his team has shown on the court is nothing short of remarkable.

Cronin is here to stay, and a string of do-or-die postseason games could only further help the first-year coach imprint his playstyle and culture on a young roster.

And that young roster has been remarkably healthy all year long, a trait not shared with last year’s squad.

Then-freshman guard David Singleton broke his foot in the Pac-12 tournament, and then-redshirt junior forward Alex Olesinski missed the entirety of nonconference play with a foot injury of his own. Then-freshmen guard Tyger Campbell and forward Shareef O’Neal had been ruled out for the entire season with a torn ACL and open-heart surgery, respectively.

Taking a trip to the NIT would have been a risky move for last year’s team, but only one Bruin – redshirt senior guard Prince Ali – has missed multiple games as a result of injury this season.

Not only is UCLA healthy this time around, but it would actually have a chance at winning the whole thing, should it accept a bid. Then-interim coach Murry Bartow’s 2018-2019 squad probably didn’t even get an invite when it was all said and done, while Cronin’s Bruins are a near lock to get a call if they don’t hear their name called on Selection Sunday.

The Bruins’ 9-2 tear leading up to the Arizona State-Arizona homestand was their best 11-game stretch since the Lonzo Ball year in 2017. Despite the fact that this UCLA team is without a former five-star recruit or a McDonald’s All-American, it has won each of its last three games against ranked opponents.

It would be easy for Cronin and UCLA Athletics to say no and hang up the metaphorical phone, but a program in the midst of a 25-year championship drought no longer has the prestige required to brush off an NIT invite.

Even if the Bruins’ trip to the NIT fell flat, that wouldn’t be a new blemish on the program’s resume.

The Bruins went to the NIT and won it all under first-year coach Walt Hazzard in 1985, then decided it was a good idea to go back in 1986. The plan backfired, as UCLA fell in the first round to UC Irvine.

While other notable blue bloods have stumbled in the NIT in recent years, the fallout is never as drastic as it seems in the short term.

One year after winning the 2012 NCAA championship, Kentucky accepted a bid to the 2013 NIT, where it fell in the opening round to Robert Morris on the road.

Georgetown was in the midst of a 35-year championship drought when it agreed to host Harvard in the first round of the 2019 NIT, and the Hoyas wound up suffering a three-point loss to the Crimson on their home floor.

Between the Bruins’, Wildcats’ and Hoyas’ past failures in the NIT, there could be enough uncertainty to convince UCLA to call it a year after the Pac-12 tournament.

However, there’s more to analyze under the surface, and this year’s Bruins are different.

With two games left on its conference slate, Georgetown was 6-6 over its last 12 games. As for the Wildcats, they were without five-star freshman forward Nerlens Noel, who had torn his ACL against then-No. 7 Florida on Feb. 12, 2013.

The Bruins are 10-2 over that same stretch as the 2019 Hoyas, and unlike the 2013 Wildcats, their roster is at near-full strength.

UCLA was picked to finish eighth in the conference in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, the lowest the program had landed since the poll’s debut in 1984. There’s no better way to wrap up an underdog season than turning a late-year hot streak into another banner to hang in Pauley Pavilion.

It wouldn’t rival the 11 true championship banners up in the rafters, but it’s still something.