Liveblogging the NIT "Selection" "Show"

Word on the Twitters is that UNC will not be receiving an NIT bid, but that's not going to stop me from typing along with the talking heads anyway. Let's see how this goes.

9:01 pm Gah. Even the selection show is low-rent, and hosted by what appears to be a fifteen year-old.

9:03 pm UNC doesn't even get a highlight package for "teams we're looking at for the NIT." That does not bode well.

9:06 pm First batch of also-rans. Illinois has to go on the road (scheduling conflicts) while Cincy played well in the Big East Tournament. And folks kept telling me Dayton was good – they beat Georgia Tech in Puerto Rico – so here's their chance to prove it.

9:11 pm The second batch. Herb Sendek has a top seed, and really only Memphis and the two Big East teams to worry about. I'm really curious if State makes the field now. No ACC teams listed as of yet, and there's six to choose from.

9:16 pm Third group in, and it looks like a hockey tournament. I wasn't even aware Quinnipiac had a basketball team, but I'm pretty sure everyone in this bracket but Witchita St. and Nevada looks forward to the Frozen Four. UConn vs. VT might be one of the highlights of the tournament. Also, ESPN is teasing whether UNC is in or out to keep folks watching.

9:21 pm UNC makes the bracket, and immediately the talk becomes that they shouldn't be there, and that William & Mary will win going away. And this is the toughest bracket, by far. Mississippi St. took Kentucky to the wire, State and South Florida are both strong, and the Tribe have some ACC scalps. (Ba-dum-dum) Time for the Heels to step up.

9:24 pm C.M. Newton comes out and says than an NCAA expansion will end the NIT, which is pretty much expected. He also doesn't seem to enthused by the idea.

9:30 pm Still no word on where the game will be played – presumably Chapel Hill, but work on the Smith Center may shift it to Carmichael. Inside Carolina says it's a 9:30 Tuesday tip though. William & Mary have three wins over tournament teams (Maryland, Wake, and Richmond) but they were all back in 2009, when UNC was beating Ohio State and Michigan State. They were 11-6 in the Colonial, got spanked by Old Dominion twice, and play some of the slowest basketball around. The thing they do best? Generate turnovers.

9:36 pm It'll be in Carmichael. That alone might light a fire under UNC.