Nobody is going to sit down and try to convince you that making a run in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is comparable to making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. I’m not here to try and argue that the Oregon Ducks winning a couple of games without their three best players in the NIT over the past week conjures up memories of the 2017 Ducks that went to the Final Four and were arguably a rebound against North Carolina away from playing for a national championship game.
Nobody is going to say that NIT success rivals the excitement and thrill of March Madness.
That doesn’t mean that succeeding in the NIT means nothing, though.
What the Ducks have done over the past week — as I mentioned, without Will Richardson, N’Faly Dante, and Jermaine Couisnard — has been incredibly impressive. They blew out UC Irvine in the first round and made light work of UCF on Sunday night at Matthew Knight Arena. Now they will turn around and host the Wisconsin Badgers in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night, with a win sending them to the semifinals in Las Vegas.
If the Ducks can find a way to notch one more victory and get into the final four down in Las Vegas, it will be quite the feat considering the players that they have in sweats on the sidelines. However, how will that potential result compare to some of the best NIT runs that the Ducks have made over the years? That’s a question that I wanted an answer to.
Looking back through the history books, Oregon has made 12 trips to the NIT before this season. Here’s how those past appearances ended up.