Don't Miss
- Bernie Sanders Scored Victories for Years via Legislative Side Doors
- First Draft: New Poll Calls Donald Trump Ahead in Florida, With Ohio a Toss-Up
- The 2016 Race: Donald Trump Is the Most Feminine-Sounding Male Candidate
- First Draft: Six Campaigns Scramble Amid Last Arguments and Final Stands
- First Draft: House Faces Tangled Calculus in Budget Push
- First Draft: Mitt Romney to Join John Kasich at Two Campaign Stops
- First Draft: ‘You Have to Brand People,’ Donald Trump Says
- Ohio Looms Large in Both Races on Tuesday
- Democrats’ Bills to Empower Puerto Rico Face Uphill Battle
- Hillary Clinton’s Deep Ties to Haiti Show Signs of Strain
Credit
Andy Lyons/Getty Images
It
was fairly clear from early on that the superstar freshman Ben Simmons
was not going to be playing in the N.C.A.A. tournament in his one season
of college basketball. His Louisiana State University Tigers were
ranked 21st in the preseason Associated Press poll, but struggled from
the start, and were not quite good enough for a berth.
But
as it turns out, Simmons will not be playing in the postseason at all.
L.S.U. declined to play in the traditional second-tier tournament, the
N.I.T., and also passed on the other scheduled postseason events, the
College Basketball Invitational, the Collegeinsider.com tournament and
the new Vegas 16.
A potential total of 164 teams could suit up for postseason play, but Simmons and L.S.U. will not be among them.
“We
will be able to utilize this time to get better and start preparations
for next season,†L.S.U. Coach Johnny Jones said in a statement. “We
fell short of the mark of getting to the N.C.A.A. tournament; I take
full responsibility for this team, and will do the things necessary to
make sure we are able to reach one of our main goals at L.S.U. in the
future.†The team said an injury to the senior Keith Hornsby, a
talented guard who is the son of the musician Bruce Hornsby, had
factored into the decision.
The
Tigers played somewhat better in the second half of the season and
finished 19-14, tied for third in the Southeastern Conference. But they
were stomped by top-seeded Texas A&M in the semifinals of their
conference tournament, 71-38, in what is virtually certain to be
Simmons’s last collegiate game.
The
6-foot-10 Simmons averaged 19.2 points a game and is likely to be one
of the top picks of the N.B.A. draft, along with Brandon Ingram of Duke.
It
does not take much to get into a postseason tournament, just a winning
record. But with so many slots available, and several other teams
declining berths, some of the tournaments may be having trouble filling
their fields. As of Monday morning, the C.I.T. had announced 26 of their
planned 32 teams, though the tournament was set to begin Monday night,
and the Vegas 16 had not announced a field at all.
Evansville,
Northwestern, Kansas State and Penn State were among the other teams
that said they had declined postseason invitations to one or more
tournaments and chose instead to end their season.
Privately
run tournaments like the C.B.I. and C.I.T. tend to make financial
demands on teams as well, asking them to pay to host a game, though some
or all of that can be defrayed by ticket sales.
The
postseason events have a variety of formats. The 32-team N.I.T. is the
most like the N.C.A.A., with eight seeded teams in each of four brackets
and its final four at Madison Square Garden.
The
C.B.I. has 16 teams, and the novelty of a best-of-three final. The
32-team C.I.T. does not announce the matchups of each round until the
previous round is completed. The new Vegas 16 is played in its entirety
over four days at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
These
events offer a great send-off to seniors and a chance for teams to get a
consolation trophy. Teams like High Point, Houston Baptist and Grand
Canyon are still playing basketball. But Simmons and L.S.U are not.
No comments:
Post a Comment