The National Invitation Tournament gave University of Hawai'i men's basketball its first national stage and, in a way, helped supply the final push toward the building of the Stan Sheriff Center.

Which is why, after a nearly 35-year association and despite occasional frustrations, what becomes of college basketball's "other" tournament bears watching here as intently as anywhere.

What the rival NCAA will do with the NIT is the $56.5 million question — the amount the NCAA paid to acquire it this week and end a four-year antitrust suit in U.S. District Court.

It could continue the postseason NIT as is, modify it, expand it into the NCAA Tournament or fold it altogether. Greg Shaheen, vice president for NCAA basketball championships, said yesterday "all elements of the operational models will undergo a review. The events will proceed under the current structure for the foreseeable future."

In the meantime, Shaheen said, "the selection process for the NIT preseason and postseason events are undergoing an extensive review." He said the review is expected to be completed, "in a matter of several weeks."

The best case scenario for UH and hoops in general would be to keep the 40-team NIT, but run it under the same selection rules as the 65-team NCAA Tournament.

The knock on the NIT has long been that it chose and matched teams based purely upon New York marketability. Like a puppet show with the strings being pulled from New York, everything was geared toward the final four box office. That criticism was validated in trial testimony where it was disclosed ESPN and the NIT "jointly" made the selections.

Sometimes that worked to UH's advantage such as 1998 when the 'Bows had a touch of Cinderella to them and the NIT kept Alika Smith, Anthony Carter & Co. here. In other seasons, when UH was viewed as road fodder, the 'Bows were dispatched to Utah State, Minnesota or Michigan.

Eight times UH has appeared in the NIT, none bigger than the 1971 debut when the Fabulous Five went to Madison Square Garden in the school's first postseason appearance. But it was a year UH didn't get to New York, 1990, that coach Riley Wallace likes to say the NIT was the final straw for an argument that the school continue to play its home games at Blaisdell Center. For it was the unavailability of the Blaisdell Center for a third-round NIT game that added to the case for an on-campus arena.

For UH, while the NIT has been both celebrated and cursed, its loss would be deeply felt.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.