They are adamant that the first four games are official games. The problem is that the media all call them play in games, but that is not an official designation.

That being said - the first four games look feel and act like play in games and I pretty much think of them that way too. The NCAA was stupid in the extreme for doing this. When they only had the one play in game I thought it was a ridiculous slap in the face. They just increased the problem by four. No matter how good X league is, the NCAA can (and should) leave out the 10th best team in that league in favor of a conference champion from a smaller league. No one would care that much and the 10th place team would not have much problem understanding why they were in the NIT.