NU tussles with Tulsa in NIT first round

First and foremost, congratulations are in order to Coach Carmody for his first NIT berth at NU and to the team for persevering this year after a couple of difficult years. It would be nice to have a little run and make it farther than any other team in NU history (i.e., past the 2nd round of the NIT).

So much for the NU-ND NIT match-up speculation. NU got the #5 seed and travels to #4 seed Tulsa for a Wed night battle @ 8pm central. Game will be broadcast on ESPNU and WGN Radio. Tulsa was the #2 team in Conference USA finishing a distant second to Memphis. Common opponents are a neutral site game vs Illinois (L 44-48), Texas A&M CC (W 66-43), and SMU (W 64-55 at home, W 74-64 @ SMU). NU had similar results so the transitivity property suggests this will be another vintage NU nailbiter.

The winner will then take on the winner of #1 Auburn (2nd place in SEC West) and #8 UT Martin (regular season Ohio Valley champion).

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

Did ya know that NU was just two victories shy of finishing in a tie for 2nd in the Big Ten this year? Yes, I realize that NU was 3 games behind Illinois and Purdue in the final regular season standings, and, no, I do not need my head examined. Had NU hung onto late 2nd half double-digit leads and pulled out the home games against the Illini and the Boilermakers, that would've bumped NU up to 10-8 for the season and knocked both Illinois and Purdue down to 10-8. Hence, NU was two victories away from a tie for 2nd place finish in the conference.

That just goes to show how close NU was to breaking through to the first tier of the Big Ten this year and how closely grouped the 2nd through 9th place teams were. There's some food for thought for those NU fans who are gnashing their teeth over yet another finish in close proximity to the Big Ten cellar.