The tradeoff is would you rather be NIT champ or an NCAA 1st round loser? It's not choose between the NIT vs going to the NCAA and wreaking havoc on everyone's brackets. The question as I read it is which end result would you rather have, not which possibility would you take.

Given that tradeoff, I'd kind of lean towards being NIT champs and proving that we belonged all along, rather than sneaking into the NCAA only to bust out early, end the season on a downer, and imply that we were a late season fluke. Also for next year, the media would constantly remind viewers the fact that we were NIT champs last year -- it could act as a springboard towards a great run next year and reduce our chances of getting snubbed or improve our seeding.