Ohio State's Jamar Butler on NIT Championship: '(We) Walk Through It' - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

If you haven't noticed ... and judging by ESPN's ratings you haven't ... the N.I.T. crowned their champion last night. Ohio State beat UMass, 92-85.

While is was a nice win for the Buckeyes, not all of them seemed to be impressed. Especially Jamar Butler:

"That's what happens when you put an NCAA Tournament team in the NIT. They walk through it," senior Jamar Butler said with a smile. "Write that."

Maybe. While I'm not one to dismiss the N.I.T.'s value as others do, you still need to know your role. With the way the NCAA tournament panned out, it wasn't a given that Ohio State would have done anything in the NCAAs. Maybe they would have (Villanova beat them out for that final spot and advanced to the Sweet 16).

Either way, it was a nice ending to Butler's career ... which saw him playing in the NCAA title game a year ago.

Freshman Evan Turner put it in an interesting context:

"It feels good to go out with a win," said Turner, a freshman. "I don't know if this is what a Big Ten championship feels like or a national championship feels like. Hopefully my teammates and I are fortunate enough to experience that some day. But right now, this is good enough."

All hail the NIT champs!