Meet Your NIT Champs

West Virginia wins the NIT. Not too bad really. First NIT championship in 65 years...really only the 2nd post season tournament championship for the Mountaineers ever. Pretty cool. It's not the NCAA tournament...but I still think it's better than losing in the first round of the NCAAs. And that joke about the NIT winner being the 66th best team in the nation? Not true...there are several teams that make the NCAA ever year that West Virginia could have easily disposed of.

Anyway, great experience for a young Mountaineer team. The rigors of going through a tournament like that should pay huge dividends next year. History, though, says otherwise. The last team to win the NIT and then make the NCAA tournament was Memphis in 2002. But, I think West Virginia is on the road to a strong season next year (if Beilein stays).

But the biggest thing the NIT victory shows is that West Virginia can win big games. For years, West Virginia was an underachieving teams. Early exits from the Big East tournament, NCAA tournament and NIT were expected. West Virginia was never expected to win a bowl game. Playing against a Top 25 team in basketball or football...put it down as a loss. But not anymore. Catlett and Nehlen are gone and suddenly, not only is West Virginia winning a large majority of the games they are supposed to win, they are winning some games that people don't give them a chance to win. The deep runs in the NCAA tournament, Big East tournament and, now, NIT show that West Virginia's mindset as immediate losers seems to be past. The bowl wins means the guaranteed loss stigma has passed (and moved on to Notre Dame). It's about time.

Obviously, both squads have a ways to go before they bring home the coveted national championship. But both have shown they aren't nearly as far away as they were 10 years ago. Would you be surprised to see WVU football playing for a national championship this year? No. Winning it? Not as farfetched as it used to be. And, WVU basketball is heading down that same path. Beilein is a winner...and his teams are too. Florida...watch out because the Mountaineer dynasty could be coming soon.