Since 1938, the National Invitation Tournament has been staged as a postseason competition for college basketball teams. Today, though, it is often looked down on by fans, and some players as well, as the tournament selects teams who don’t get picked to play in the NCAA Tournament. Whatever the general perception of the NIT may be, the competition does allow for exciting games when teams want to play in it.

Take Thursday night’s NIT Championship Game between Stanford and Miami. The Cardinal and Hurricanes went to overtime in an exciting contest in Madison Square Garden, a game that had Hurricanes alum Michael Irvin riding a roller coaster of emotions. For the semifinals and championship game, it’s a different mentality than earlier rounds, because the natural instinct for players in that situation is the excitement of knowing they’ll compete in a venue like MSG. But for both squads to reach the final round, they had to accept that a title here wouldn’t be as prestigious as an NCAA Championship. But a “glass half-full” outlook paid off very well for both Stanford and Miami.

The same can be said for West Virginia women’s basketball. The Mountaineers will play in Saturday’s WNIT title game against UCLA, after going to overtime in both their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups. WVU enjoyed home-court advantage in previous rounds, and with Saturday’s game in Charleston, will be playing in front of mostly Mountaineer fans. Head coach Mike Carey has mentioned the team’s desire to continue playing several times during this postseason run, and how getting to compete in a tournament, even if it’s not the NCAA, can give benefits to a program.

With the addition of other tournaments, like the College Basketball Invitational and the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, more schools, particularly those from mid-major conferences, now have a chance to face new opposition and exposure to new game atmospheres. Most of the time, if teams make an effort to play as well as they can, it makes for a winning combination, and leaves the average fan wanting more.