The NIT has and always will be second fiddle to the NCAA tournament. However, that doesn't mean that it isn't fun to watch teams that were on the bubble of making the tournament and smaller schools that you may not have never watched if it wasn't for the NIT. Plus, how could anyone complain about an extra 31 college basketball games?! The NIT still doesn't get much media attention until the final four, the exception being when Robert Morris beat top seed Kentucky in the first round in 2013. It should get a lot more attention this year however as the NCAA has decided to test out possible new rules in all 31 games. Every game will now feature a 30 second shot clock instead of 35 and will have a four foot restricted area, not three. The NCAA hopes that the quicker shot clock and bigger restricted area will help increase scoring. Women's college basketball also already has a 30 second shot clock. If all goes well then these rules could be used in following seasons. The NIT is important but is definitely a great guinea pig as all the teams in the tournament are D1 schools and still playing hard to win. The NCAA committee talked about these rule changes during the May 2014 meeting and will have to wait until May of 2015 to discuss more possible rule changes. I think this experiment is a great idea because seeing more scoring in college basketball would be great for the sport, plus, this is the perfect way to test it out, an important tournament that doesn't have an effect on the NCAA champion. It will also bring in more viewers who will want to see the new changes, making more money for the NCAA. The NCAA hit a homerun on this decision, now me and many other basketball junkies will wait to see how it turns out.
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