[NU Sports] Hoops, etc.

[Steve Fridley]

On Feb 20, 2005, at 12:02 AM, SjT (Stephen J. Truog) wrote:

<<I'm not sure the NIT takes us even if we do slip over .500 -- they 
didn't
last year. <<

That was a couple years ago - last year we finished under .500 even 
though we reached that mark in conference play (remember Mississippi 
Valley State?)

<<Besides, there are gonna be some big names missing the big dance
that will get in ahead of us. In the Big Ten alone, the top three are 
locks
(and hopefully will be given better seeds than the committee shafted 
them
with last year), but it's gonna be tough to get a fourth. Ohio State is
making a nice run, but Minny's gonna need a serious run in the league
tournament to make any kind of a case and Indiana's early schedule with
that young team just killed 'em. And Iowa is out unless they get a 
miracle.
So chalk 3, maybe 4 Big Ten teams in the NIT ahead of us. But we'll 
see.>>

Well, Ohio State isn't going anywhere this year.  They're a step ahead 
of the NCAA sanctions with their self-imposed postseason ban for this 
year.  So that's one less team out in front of us for the NIT, if we 
make ourselves eligible.  Last time, when we were denied, we limped to 
the finish line with something like a four-game skid and a blowout loss 
to a bad Michigan team in the BTT.

I don't like being on the bubble with a .500 record, but that's the 
most likely eligible outcome:  Loss @Illinois, win over Michigan, loss 
to MSU, win at Indiana, and a 16-15 or 15-15 record, depending on our 
1st round game.  Of course, we lost to Michigan or Indiana and we have 
to win two in the BTT.  A win at Indiana is far, far from automatic - 
but seems more likely than our chances to win two BTT games.