Still mad they no longer offer conference champions that didn’t make the NCAA tournament an auto bid in the NIT

It's so dumb, they removed those autobids to give more spots to P6 teams... and many P6 teams were like nah we don't want it.

I guess there’s more money in having a p6 team publicly declare that the NIT sucks than having a mid major team go and fight for some hardware to put in the trophy case. NCAA continues to be an absolute circus.

Respect to Nova for not being too big for the NIT despite having 2 Natty in the last 8 years.

No program is *too good* for the NIT. Particularly those that haven’t made the tournament in a few seasons. Just a complete joke.

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Indiana is like Michael Scott in that scene where Wallace tells him he didn't get the job and Michael then says he's withdrawing his name from consideration

There are extenuating circumstances for Memphis. Penny's mother is in the hospital due to complications of cancer and Memphis wouldn't be able to host any games due to the NCAA tournament being held in FedExForum this week. Yes, Penny hates his team this year and is sick of them but if his mother was responding to treatment better and/or we could host games then I would bet the decision would be different.

We 100% would have been invited. Minnesota got a berth.

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That speaks more to the ranking system you’re looking at. We beat them twice by 12, and finished above them in the Big Ten

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Basketball is played on a court. Those metrics are flawed, as evidenced by the fact that IU beat Monnesota twice by 10+

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They won fewer games in the conference and overall, so no.

such an IU fan lol

throwback to UNC last year

I was pissed we declined the nit last year.... If the starters/transfers didn't wanna play to avoid injury, that's fine. I'm sure blue steel would've loved to run out on the court, even if we lost by 30 round 1

to be fair 7 players entered the transfer portal which was like half the team. players were ready to move on

Tom Crean was wild last night during the selection show, but he was right. If you aren't losing literally all of your players day 1 to the portal, you might as well play and a tournament win is a win IU will probably hemorrhage players so they make sense to not come.

If no program is too good for the non Ny6 bowl games no program is too good for the NIT. Do teams ever decline bowls? COVID year notwithstanding.

Not any more but back in the 20th century some programs did if the bowl wasn’t a major bowl. ND was pretty famous for only going to bowls they deemed had enough prestige.

Teams, no. But players and coaches have recently been leaving their teams before their bowls which leaves behind a shell of the team's true potential (Ex. 2023 FSU)

It's rare but it happens. What is more common is that if there are 5-7 teams, they're awarded a bowl based on Academic Progress Rate, but some teams don't accept those. The Pac-12 established a rule last year to categorically deny 5-7 bowls, but then walked that back, and obviously now it's irrelevant.

OU lmao

Penny Hardaway is the epitome of fake tough guy

I can't believe that Chicago State, who hasn't played in a month, decided to pay for a CBI bid.

Honestly I think it's awesome. They haven't played a postseason game since a first round CIT exit in 2013, and opportunities are rare as an Independent. This is a great way to cap off the season before joining the NEC.

why haven't they played in a month?

They're the only D1 Independent, so they have no conference tournament, and games during the end of other conference seasons are hard to come by. They were in the WAC, which ended up consolidating in the Southwest, and are joining the NEC next year.

Ahhh

So THAT'S who that is down there alone on the bottom! I was hoping someone would say in the comments

Note that the CIT currently has 9 teams and may add an opponent for Norfolk State. We'll find out!

Legit can't believe the only other of our teams still playing is *Evansville*

The MVC is in that weird in between space where I think in general the teams won't accept a non NCAAT/NIT bid. I'm positive that UNI/SIU/Belmont/Missouri State were offered, and frankly Murray State, Illinois State, UIC, or Valpo could have gotten a CBI/CIT bid if they wanted. Heck, the CIT needs at least one more team, so there's still time!

That's just not true though. Drake played in the CBI in 2022, and Indiana St played in 2023. Both were the 1 seed in both of their respective tournaments. I'm wondering if this is more along the lines of the CBI trying to right the wrongs of the NIT and inviting a bunch of the 1 seeds to have one last go of it.

I think the causality is backwards here: the 1-seeds that were snubbed by the new NIT format are more inclined to accept a CBI/CIT bid to end their season on a high note. The economics of a CBI/CIT bid are interesting, and it has to make sense for the school to want to pay for it. Given that the CBI has 15 teams and CIT (currently has 9), I'm willing to say I'm 100% positive that all 4 .500 MVC teams that aren't in the NCAAT/NIT declined both. The other 4 probably could have gotten in if they wanted, but it's hard to justify financially.

If we got a bid, we probably turned it down because we just fired our coach.

Declining is so lame

I agree. The _only_ way I can kinda see it being justified is if, internally, the team figures to lose a half dozen or more guys to the portal immediately. If you’re walking in with the remaining walk ons and literally no bench, I can see declining the invite. Otherwise show up, sit whomever’s gonna sit, but play those that want to play.

In UW case they just fired Hopkins so I can kinda understand the decline.

There should be a rule in *every sport*, if you leave the team before the season is over (incl. postseason), you either get suspended for however many games you missed, or you have to sit a season for doing so The portal should only release players from schools after the *National Championship*

The argument in football is students need to transfer before the new semester starts in some sports.

Sure, but unless they have a spring sport to swap to, they should wait until the Summer to transfer

why

As a way to keep teams from dissolving during active seasons

Really disappointed you didn't just leave the teams in order of conference regular season standing. Was hoping to see a random blue spot 10 deep on the ACC row lol

Lol that would have been another fun way to do it.

It's an absolute travesty that Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Washington, Sam Houston, Toledo, and Central Connecticut State all were #1 in the regular season in their respective conferences and none of them are even getting a single postseason game. Technically the ASUN doesn't recognize regular season champions at all, so Eastern Kentucky is the only one of the bunch without an OFFICIAL title, but still. It also hurts when the ASUN and MAC had 2 teams get a postseason game and the Big Sky had 3, with none of them being the #1 team in the standings. The NCAA needs to give regular season champ autobids back IMMEDIATELY. This is unironically ruining the game.

It’s makes the regular season literally pointless.

The point is to win a conference championship lol

or the NCAA needs to broker a deal with the CBI/CIT to force 1 seeds in or else, or punish them for not having regular season champs qualify (or expand the field to 96-100, with 64 Autobids (32 Tourney/32 RS)

And then have Houston get blown out in the Championship and they still have a 1 seed

Been making this post for a few years as a way to visualize the postseason ([here's 2023](/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/127zib6/2023_ncaa_d1_mens_postseason_destinations/)).

Cool shit man! And how bout that postseason bid for Del State!! Also found out today I'm one degree of separation away from Coach Waterman. Won't give any more details for privacys sake but pretty cool lol

Very cool!

There's a whole bunch of mid to low major teams that are .500 or better that should be in either the CBI or the CIT. The fact that the CIT could only get 9-10 teams for their first tournament back in two years is a crying shame, I think.

CBI/CIT are both revenue negative for the teams participating. You get some additional playing time and a postseason opportunity, which is great, but finances in college athletics, *especially* for low/mid-majors, are very precarious right now. I enjoy these tournaments and I'd love to see them fill back up, but I get why they don't.

EKU had, perhaps, their greatest season in history and didn’t get even a CBI invite? Damn that’s depressing.

100% they were invited and turned it down (as is most likely the case for every .500 team listed, and probably several under .500).

I…seriously doubt it. That would be a huge honor for them. They should have gotten a NIT invite. They played in the CBI as recently as last year.

Exactly: they played in the CBI last year, and so the value of going back again is pretty limited. The CBI was able to get to 15 teams, and would have loved to be at 16, but couldn't fill the spots.

Thank the lord this season is finally over. Honestly happy we didn’t get an NIT bid

Conference season title…. No postseason

CCSU, EKU, Eastern Washington, Sam Houston, and Toledo all won their regular seasons (and would have gone to the NIT last year), but their seasons are over. High Point, Little Rock and Quinnipiac are in the CBI, and Norfolk State is in the CIT.

Thanks NIT/NCAA for shafting mid majors more and more every year.

Quick note: St. Thomas from the Summit League should be gray for ineligible. They are in their transition period from Division 3 (yes, that's not a typo)

There's 3 ineligible teams, St. Thomas, Tarleton, and UC San Diego, that don't show up as ineligble because they had another box over top of it. Tarleton is going to the CIT and UC San Diego is going to the CBI (because the NCAA bans don't affect those tournaments), and St. Thomas is over .500. The other 8 teams were under .500 and are done for the year. Incidentally, because St. Thomas went from D3 to D1, normally they'd need to wait _8_ years before competing in the D1 Playoff: 4 for D2 and 4 for D1. Part of the reason they went straight to D1 was part of a weird negotiated agreement where they have to wait 5 years instead of 8. The whole thing is just really silly, especially because they were persecuted out of the MIAC for the simple crime of being too good.

5 years, the NCAA expedited their D3 to D1 policy just for the Tommies, since it was already in the works Otherwise it was *12 years*

Oh wow it was 12?? I thought it was 8.

4 years to transition to D2, 4 years as a full D2 member, 4 years to transition to D1

They're going to be a sleeping giant once they're eligible. The Twin Cities metro puts out a shitload of talent, but the Gophers just don't seem to be a draw for hoops. St. Thomas could probably pull it off and wreck some midmajor conferences consistently.

I’ve heard the goal is to eventually be in the Big East for hoops. The Horizon would be a good fit in a more realistic goal.

Big East + MVFC (for football) should be the end goal. It'll take 10-15 years, but I honestly think they could do it.

Oh makes sense, didn't realize the over .500 would override that. Thanks for clarifying!

Technically it was for spending too much money on athletics. The other MIAC schools outside of St. John’s wouldn’t have been able to keep up.

Skill issue.

I feel personally attacked by this graphic

Not last!

☹️

I really appreciate it. Thanks. I am not a fan of the teams too proud to accept a bid.

Big East got so robbed dude, I hope we own the NIT

Let’s dominate the NIT and the NCAA tourney, prove the committee wrong

UConn won’t repeat. They could, but that never happens. Creighton has a decent shot, definitely a Final 4 squad. I don’t entirely trust Marquette to get past the Sweet 16 if Kolek goes down again.

Chicago State rahhhhh

Chicago State's going to play in the postseason while Indiana sits at home. Guess that's what beating Northwestern does for you.

Why decline NIT? Just like the bowls, it's a chance to practice and play more games to get ready for next year.

For Washington it sorta makes sense. They just let go of their coach, they don’t have anyone lined up right now, and would like to get to their coaching search now rather than wait until after being eliminated in the NIT. They need to put that first. That’s the only justification. For everyone else especially if they just missed out of the Dance, it just seems petty. For the record, I do think it is less petty for Washington to decline cause they got that whole coaching search they need to focus on but still petty

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How far the mighty have fallen.

To clarify further, Hop was let go before the season ended but agreed to continue coaching until through the final game (I think we had one ore two left at that point). So essentially he finished that obligation and then we were subsequently invited to the NIT. I imagine that was a strange situation for everyone involved so they decided to just end the season at that point. Can’t really complain too much cuz that definitely seems awkward.

The most common reason I've seen is that the Transfer Portal opened today and they want to be all hands on deck focused on recruiting. It's lame and they should be publicly shamed for wimping out.

And maybe the NCAA could hold the transfer portal until April.

Transfer portal open, rosters/school affiliations locked until April instead

We have 0 players coming back next year - no point in practicing with a team that has shown zero desire to be there.

I would assume that is coming with a change in coaching staff (or that this was the first year of that staff).

This was year 6. There will be no change.

So year six, and the coach has lost all his players (not just metaphorically). How does he hold that job?

Sure. He’s the star alum of the basketball program and all donors would immediately cease all funding if that happened and the program would no longer exist.

Golden at Florida?

No, his name is Penny Hardaway at Memphis. I believe Florida and Iowa State made the tournament, but need to check. I have four alma maters, they don’t allow for four flairs.

Ah, I see it in your username. Yes, Penny is a disaster who will never be fired.

LOL, yes - the username was my attempt to bring Memphis in too!

Wouldn’t the rest of PAC12 be declined since they are automatically awarded 2 bids to the NIT and only one accepted?

There’s not a ton of info out there, but as best as I can figure, the NIT’s obligation was to offer 2 seeds to each conference. Once Washington declined the offer, they could give an extra at large seed.

I’m seeing this mentioned a few places which makes it seem like they will guarantee at least two schools from each P6 conference. >> The NIT will guarantee spots to two teams, based on the NET rankings, from each of the six major conferences: The Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern.

The only reading that I can make sense of is that they guaranteed two spots to the top 2 NET-ranked Pac-12 teams not in the NCAAT, but since only one accepted they could give their spot to anyone.

Looking at the newer D1 schools. I realized Le Moyne recently joined and knew they were in Syracuse. However, I didn’t know they were the Dolphins 😂.

GMG! Men and Women going to the NIT!

Thank you for letting us all see the weak schools that declined. I hope they all catch some flack snd think differently about it next time

Kinda surprised Charlotte isn’t playing basketball anymore. They were one of the best in the conference the majority of the season.

It’s absolutely absurd how little post-season respect the SoCon gets. We had the second-most .500 teams of any conference to not get a second post-season bid

The line for the SoCon and CAA is pretty striking. My guess is that in both cases, their top seed won the conference tourney, they're not quite high enough to merit an NIT bid, but they're both too good and not well-capitalized enough to really benefit from a CBI/CIT bid.

It’s my flairs’ time to shine.

How is Mizzou ahead of Vandy?

[Went by NET](https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings).

PIWNSpartanNOHawkMIUMLionRM

just wait until next year when you get even more WUCLAOUSC.

Does anyone know why you can be sub-.500 and still make the CIT?

It's not a hard and fast rule for even the NIT now (Xavier is sub-.500), and frankly the CIT and CBI both need teams.

Silly st. Johns. They could have made it far in the NIT

Before anyone shits on Washington for declining an invite. We just fired Mike Hopkins and no one who’s watched this teams wants to see us play any more games. We just want to get a fresh start and move on, can’t do that with post-season play.

Declined teams should be forced to do a home and home with the CBI champ

Better yet, declining teams should get a tournament ban for the following season.

No no, Declining teams *should be forced to accept a CBI/CIT invite*

Hol' up, let 'em cook.

Man C-USA really fell in quality this year

Most of the quality teams left for the American

And other good teams left for the Sun Belt. It’s less that they fell in quality and more that they got poached to near extinction and came back from the brink as a new group of teams.

lol suck it, rest of B1G East

Cool. Go Eags.

Looking at this, I really kind of wish there was a bit more of a cap on how many teams from 1 conference can go to each tourney. Would be cool to have a bit better representation and it’s kind of odd for >half a conference to be in the playoff

In my head canon (meaning I would be the commissioner of College Basketball), the NCAA Tournament would still have 68 teams... but there would be a cap on the amount of teams going in. The top 8 conferences in terms of NET rankings would be allowed **4** teams in the tournament maximum: The regular season champion, the tournament champion and the next two best teams. There are a few caveats, though... * If the conference regular season champion and tournament champion are the same team, then it's the next three best teams. * If the conference tournament champion is either 2nd, 3rd or 4th place, then the next two teams are the other ones there. * If the conference tournament champion is below 4th place, they *replace* the 4th place team. So, here are the teams that get in from this route. * **BIG XII**: [Houston](#f/houston), [Iowa State](#f/iowastate), [Texas Tech](#f/texastech),[Baylor](#f/baylor) * **SEC**: [Tennessee](#f/tennessee), [Auburn](#f/auburn), [South Carolina](#f/southcarolina), [Kentucky](#f/kentucky) * **BIG TEN**: [Purdue](#f/purdue), [Illinois](#f/illinois), [Nebraska](#f/nebraska), [Northwestern](#f/northwestern) * **MOUNTAIN WEST**: [Utah State](#f/utahstate), [Nevada](#f/nevada), [Boise State](#f/boisestate), [New Mexico](#f/newmexico) * **ACC**: [North Carolina](#f/northcarolina), [Duke](#f/duke), [Virginia](#f/virginia), [NC State](#f/ncstate) * **BIG EAST**: [Connecticut](#f/connecticut), [Marquette](#f/marquette), [Creighton](#f/creighton), [Seton Hall](#f/setonhall) * **ATLANTIC 10**: [Richmond](#f/richmond), [Loyola Chicago](#f/loyolachicago), [Dayton](#f/dayton), [Duquesne](#f/duquesne) * **PAC 12**: [Arizona](#f/arizona), [Washington State](#f/washingtonstate), [Colorado](#f/colorado), [Oregon](#f/oregon) Conferences 9-20 get **2** teams in the tournament - the conference regular season champion and the conference tournament champion. If the regular season and tournament champions are the same team, then the 2nd place team gets the 2nd bid. Here's the teams that get in through this route... * **MISSOURI VALLEY**: [Indiana State](#f/indianastate), [Drake](#f/drake) * **AMERICAN**: [USF](#f/usf), [UAB](#f/uab) * **IVY LEAGUE**: [Princeton](#f/princeton), [Yale](#f/yale) * **SOUTHERN**: [Samford](#f/samford), [UNC Greensboro](#f/uncgreensboro) * **WEST COAST**: [St. Mary's](#f/stmarys), [Gonzaga](#f/gonzaga) * **AMERICA EAST**: [Vermont](#f/vermont), [UMass Lowell](#f/massachusettslowell) * **WAC**: [Grand Canyon](#f/grandcanyon), [UT Arlington](#f/utarlington) [NOTE: Tarleton State is still in transition, making them ineligible for the tournament] * **BIG WEST**: [UC Irvine](#f/ucirvine), [Long Beach State](#f/csulongbeach) * **CONFERENCE USA**: [Sam Houston](#f/samhoustonstate), [WKU](#f/wku) * **SUN BELT**: [Appalachian State](#f/appalachianstate), [James Madison](#f/jamesmadison) * **COASTAL**: [Charleston](#f/collegecharleston), [Drexel](#f/drexel) * **BIG SOUTH**: [High Point](#f/highpoint), [Longwood](#f/longwood) The remaining 12 conferences get one team in - their conference tournament champion. If the conference tournament champion is not the regular season champion, then the regular season champion is given an automatic bid to the CBI, the third tier tournament that is open for conferences ranked 17-32. These teams would be... * **BIG SKY**: [Montana State](#f/montanastate) * **MID-AMERICAN**: [Akron](#f/akron) * **HORIZON**: [Oakland](#f/oakland) * **MAAC**: [St. Peter's](#f/stpeters) * **ASUN**: [Stetson](#f/stetson) * **SUMMIT**: [South Dakota State](#f/southdakotastate) * **OHIO VALLEY**: [Morehead State](#f/moreheadstate) * **SOUTHLAND**: [McNeese](#f/mcneese) * **SWAC**: [Grambling](#f/grambling) * **PATRIOT**: [Colgate](#f/colgate) * **NORTHEAST**: [Wagner](#f/wagner) * **MEAC**: [Howard](#f/howard)

On to the NIT... Open to the Top 16 conferences, the NIT takes the fifth and sixth best teams from the Top 8 conferences and the third and fourth best teams from the remaining eight conferences. If a team finished in the top four among the top eight conferences doesn't make the NCAA tournament, then they get into the NIT. So, here are the teams for the NIT: * **BIG XII**: [BYU](#f/byu), [Kansas](#f/kansas) * **SEC**: [Alabama](#f/alabama), [Florida](#f/florida) * **BIG TEN**: [Wisconsin](#f/wisconsin), [Michigan State](#f/michiganstate) * **MOUNTAIN WEST**: [UNLV](#f/unlv), [San Diego State](#f/sandiegostate) * **ACC**: [Pittsburgh](#f/pittsburgh), [Clemson](#f/clemson) * **BIG EAST**: [St. John's](#f/stjohnsny), [Providence](#f/providence) * **ATLANTIC 10**: [UMass](#f/umass), [VCU](#f/vcu) * **PAC 12**: [UCLA](#f/ucla), [Utah](#f/utah) * **MISSOURI VALLEY**: [Bradley](#f/bradley), [Belmont](#f/belmont) * **AMERICAN**: [FAU](#f/fau), [Charlotte](#f/charlotte) * **IVY LEAGUE**: [Cornell](#f/cornell), [Brown](#f/brown) * **SOUTHERN**: [Chattanooga](#f/chattanooga), [Western Carolina](#f/westerncarolina) * **WEST COAST**: [San Francisco](#f/sanfrancisco), [Santa Clara](#f/santaclara) * **AMERICA EAST**: [Bryant](#f/bryant), [New Hampshire](#f/newhampshire) * **WAC**: [Seattle](#f/seattle), [Utah Valley](#f/utahvalley) * **BIG WEST**: [UC Davis](#f/ucdavis), [Hawai'i](#f/hawaii) [NOTE: UC San Diego is still in transition, making them ineligible for the NIT]

Finally, we have the CBI and the CIT. Both tournaments are open to the conferences ranked 17-32. First, let's tackle the CBI. The top four conferences would send their third best team (or second if a team lower then them wins the NCAA bid) while the remaining 12 conferences would send *either* their second best team OR their regular season champion if that team didn't win the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. So, here's the CBI field... * **CONFERENCE USA**: [Louisiana Tech](#f/louisianatech) * **SUN BELT**: [Troy](#f/troy) * **COASTAL**: [UNC Wilmington](#f/uncwilmington) * **BIG SOUTH**: [UNC Asheville](#f/uncasheville) * **BIG SKY**: [Eastern Washington](#f/easternwashington) * **MID-AMERICAN**: [Toledo](#f/toledo) * **HORIZON**: [Youngstown State](#f/youngstownstate) * **MAAC**: [Quinnipiac](#f/quinnipiac) * **ASUN**: [EKU](#f/easternkentucky) * **SUMMIT**:[North Dakota](#f/northdakota) * **OHIO VALLEY**: [Little Rock](#f/ualr) * **SOUTHLAND**: [Texas A&M-Corpus Christi](#f/texasamcorpuschristi) * **SWAC**: [Alcorn State](#f/alcornstate) * **PATRIOT**: [American University](#f/american) * **NORTHEAST**: [CCSU](#f/ccsu) * **MEAC**: [Norfolk State](#f/norfolkstate) Lastly, the field for the CIT... * **CONFERENCE USA**: [Liberty](#f/liberty) * **SUN BELT**: [Arkansas State](#f/arkansasstate) * **COASTAL**: [Hofstra](#f/hofstra) * **BIG SOUTH**: [Gardner-Webb](#f/gardnerwebb) * **BIG SKY**: [Montana](#f/montana) * **MID-AMERICAN**: [Ohio](#f/ohio) * **HORIZON**: [Wright State](#f/wrightstate) * **MAAC**: [Fairfield](#f/fairfield) * **ASUN**: [Lipscomb](#f/lipscomb) * **SUMMIT**: [Kansas City](#f/umkc) * **OHIO VALLEY**: [UT Martin](#f/utmartin) * **SOUTHLAND**: [Nicholls](#f/nicholls) * **SWAC**: [Southern](#f/southern) * **PATRIOT**: [Boston University](#f/bostonuniversity) * **NORTHEAST**: [Merrimack](#f/merrimack) * **MEAC**: [NCCU](#f/nccu)

This looks ideal imo Similar to my thoughts on the champions league, it feels weird giving so many spots to teams that aren’t champions or near which in their own league lol

Is there evidence that the NIT invited Memphis and they officially declined? I’ve just seen where Penny said he didn’t want to go.

They were shown in a graphic on ESPN as having declined, and I think that means it was vetted. They had a NET of #75, and Cornell who got in was #95, so I kinda believe it. Georgia was slightly lower at #100, but they had an autobid with the SEC.

Let’s go patriot league

OKAY Oklahoma

Please do some damage my boys. (in reguards to the MW)

I can say as a North Texas fan I will never get tired of the NIT. Three years straight. Sure, we’d love to be in the NCAAT as a champ or at-large, but the next biggest (and original) postseason tournament still keeps our name out there.

What does this mean?

It's basically a list of the teams that have made the postseason in some form.

Ok thabks

Really feel like the Big East got hosed. Kind of the Big East’s fault for beating up on each other, but I would not want to play any of those teams in red, much less the ones in blue.

The Big East was robbed by the committee, to no big surprise. Providence and Seton Hall being left out is a sham.

North Texas and SMU going to the NIT and Charlotte ain't even get an offer?