But alas, that’s exactly where Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar and his Huskies find themselves this morning.
Just a year after being one overtime loss from UConn away from playing George Mason for a chance to go to the final four, the Huskies find themselves without an invite — not only to the Big Dance but to any dance.
I’m not sure if the NIT is actually actively trying to lend itself less credibility by not inviting the Huskies to their second-rate tournament but it’s hard to argue that they haven’t.
Despite going 19-13, the resumé that Romar and his team built for the NIT is a pretty impressive one. Consider that earlier in the year they beat Oregon (number 3 seed) by 12 in Seattle and then went to Pitt (number 3 seed) and lost by just 4. They closed out the season by impressive back-to-back home victories against USC (number 5 seed) and UCLA (number 2 seed). They won their opening round game in the Pac-10 tourney against Arizona State before being ousted by Washington State.
I’m not sure if the NIT selection committee, which includes Dean Smith and C.M. Newton, was trying to prove that you actually can get snubbed by the NIT but they made their tournament look even more bush league (if that’s even possible) in the process.
