PlanetHolt.com

Well, things didn’t quite go as planned. We now know that Ohio State turned out to be unstoppable down the stretch, Illinois didn’t win another regular season game (let alone three), and Minnesota ended up with the Big Ten’s fifth NCAA tournament bid. Illinois is the number one overall seed in the NIT! That hurts—but I’m not sure it’s wrong.

The Illini finished the regular season 18–13, and after the Big Ten tournament, 19–14. Our RPI was in the 70s, and we lost to Utah, Bradley, and Georgia. (Not to mention Northwestern and Minnesota.) Now, we did beat Wisconsin (in Madison and Indy), Michigan State, Vanderbilt, and Clemson (at their place), but if you were to ask me if I thought a 19–14 team with an RPI in the 70s should get in, I’d almost certainly tell you no. (Notice I don’t talk about the poor finish. Our last eight games were absolutely brutal, and I’m not sure any other team in the country played a stretch like that to close the season. The bubble teams that did get in would have fared no better than we did.)

It’s only because the field was historically weak this season that Illinois was even on the bubble. We can argue over whether Utah State or Florida or whoever had a stronger resume than the Illini, and that’s all fine, but it doesn’t matter. NCAA tournament teams beat Utah. NCAA tournament teams beat Bradley, beat Georgia, beat Northwestern and Minnesota. NCAA tournament teams don’t let teams go on 20 point runs. NCAA tournament teams don’t go down 20, even if they do eventually battle back to force OT. We had our chances, and while I’m as disappointed as the next Illinois fan, our team has to do better.

Some, including Coach Weber, have brought up expansion. While it’s true we’d be in if the field were a little bit bigger, I still don’t think that’s what’s right for the game. Quibbling over the last four in and first four out misses the point. Wherever one draws the line for who’s in and out, there will be some left on the sidelines. Making the tournament, especially as an at-large, is reserved for the elite, and that’s the way it should remain.

Next up for us is #191 (all rankings are from Ken Pomeroy’s ratings) SUNY-Stony Brook, who automatically qualified for the NIT by virtue of winning the America East conference regular season. They’ve only played two top-100 teams, losing to both Rhode Island and St. Johns, and only played four teams in the top 200, beating #180 Lehigh, #125 Boston University (twice), #129 Vermont (twice), and losing to #168 St. Peter’s and Boston University. However, they’ll be up for the game. This is their first Division I postseason appearance, having only moved up from Division III in 1999, and due to the unavailability of Assembly Hall, the game will be played at their home court.

Illinois played fairly close games against Iowa and Indiana, both of whom are ranked around Stony Brook. Of course, both Utah and Bradley are ranked above Stony Brook, and we know what happened against those teams on a neutral court. While I hope there are a fair number of Illinois supporters at the game, I expect the atmosphere to be raucous and certainly biased in Stony Brook’s favor.

We need to come out fired up, with something to prove. After all, this is a team that believes itself worthy of the real thing. We need to pound our opposition and demonstrate that the committee made a mistake. Let’s go out and win the NIT and make the Big Ten NIT champions for the third consecutive year—and then, in the future, let’s never speak of it again. This program is too good for the NIT, even if this year we didn’t play like it.

Finally: what the heck is a Seawolf?