BY LOREN BRANCH

With the NCAA Tournament being the focus of March Madness, there are some who forget there are other college basketball post-season tournaments such as the second most important one, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Credit goes to the announcers in the Maryland v. Alabama NIT matchup.

Before the tip-off, the announcers made a statement that sounded something like this, “If you’re wondering why you should watch this game, besides the fact that it’s a matchup between two good teams, we’re going to tell you some things we plan to discuss during the broadcast.” They continued to list off a few things that included the pro-potential of Maryland star big man, Alex Len, and some potential rule changes for college basketball. Throughout the game they actually spoke on each of these points and I believe it made the game more interesting for the novice fan.

This was a different way of attracting viewers, but also creative. My only question now is, why did they feel the need to pull out this new trick? Maybe the ratings were down for the tournament, or maybe they were just trying to draw in more viewers. Either way, I think this was a great idea that could definitely draw in sports fans.