The argument for the NIT being the superior tournament in the early years, so we're talking about the 40s here, results from several facts: the NIT was the first post-season tournament (est. 1938), it was always in NYC, and it was held at MSG. The NCAA tournament was scheduled around the NIT. In this era the NCAA didn't control things the way they do today, for example there was no requirement for conference winners to participate in their tournament. So we can't confuse the NIT today with what it once was, or compare it to what the NCAA tourney is today.
In those early years, there were examples of NCAA winners losing in the NIT and vice versa. The very examples I gave below are a testament to this. We won the NIT in '44, beating DePaul with George Mikan (that year college player of the year who also led the nation in scoring). UTAH LOST IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE NIT THAT YEAR. Yet, Utah won the NCAAs. We were heralded as national champions. Gosh darn it, if it weren't for those Red Cross sponsored games at MSG that pitted the NIT champion against the NCAA champion! Even though Utah lost in the first round of the NIT, they beat us in that game. A few years later, incidentally, in 1949, Kentucky would win the NCAAs yet lose in the NIT. But by the 1950s, with the NCAA instituting mandatory participation for conference winners, the NIT was eclipsed by the NCAAs.
As a SJU supporters, we must always defend the NIT, or else history will be forgotten and an important part of our early legacy will mean nothing. Nothing warms my heart more than thinking of how Al McGuire (SJU grad '51) stuck it to the NCAA in 1970 as Marquette coach by snubbing the NCAAs and playing in the NIT.