Tigers are glad to make the NIT

[IE]

OLUMBIA, Mo. - In the beginning of the season, Missouri guard Jason Conley taped a newspaper clipping to the inside of his locker room door. The headline of the article read, "Preseason NIT watch list," and Missouri was highlighted. On the front of the locker, Conley had taped up a sign that read "never again."

"He's just letting the guys know that he never wants to go back to the NIT again," Missouri guard Jimmy McKinney said before the Tigers' Big 12 opener against Iowa State on Jan. 8. "None of us do. That's not the way it's supposed to be."For the Missouri men's basketball team, "never" became Sunday, as the Tigers received their second consecutive bid to the National Invitation Tournament. The Tigers will play DePaul at Mizzou Arena at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The winner will play either Clemson or Texas A&M in the next round.

It is the seventh consecutive season the Tigers have played in the postseason and the third time in that span they have played in the NIT.

DePaul (19-10) finished fifth in Conference USA and lost in the second round of the conference tournament on a last-second shot by Alabama-Birmingham. The Blue Demons are led by forward Quemont Greer, who is averaging 18.3 points and guard Drake Diener, who is averaging 13.6 points. The Tigers last played DePaul on Dec. 29, 2001 - a 63-62 loss. Overall, Missouri is 2-2 against the Blue Demons.

After Friday's loss to Oklahoma in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament, many players drew on crucial wins toward the end of the season as a reason the Tigers deserved an invitation.

"Our play was up and down all season," guard Thomas Gardner said after Friday's loss. "We pulled out a big win against Kansas, we were able to win yesterday (against Nebraska), and then today was a hard-fought game. Hopefully that's enough to get us in."

It was enough to get the Tigers in, but was it good enough for the season?

Even before the Oklahoma game, Conley was holding on to the hope that his team could still achieve the automatic NCAA bid by winning the Big 12 tournament. However, in doing so, the Tigers would have had to defeat three Top 25 teams in three days. As it turned out, they couldn't get past the first.

But considering the Tigers' youth, inability to play a consistent and complete game, NCAA probation, and rumors about their head coach being fired, making the NIT is an accomplishment.

The Tigers received an invitation after their first-round win against Nebraska in the Big 12 tournament on Thursday. Although the Tigers lost in the next round to Oklahoma, they still finished with a 16-16 record, which is enough to qualify. Also, the Tigers had three wins over Top 25 teams to ensure their eligibility.

"I think this team has gotten a lot better," Missouri coach Quin Snyder said. "I think every chance we get to go out and play again. ... It's an important thing, not just for this year's group, but for our guys down the road."

Making the NIT is an accomplishment for this year's team considering Missouri started the Big 12 season 2-7, which included five consecutive losses from late January to early February. But the Tigers rebounded to win six of their last nine games and regain a .500 record and establish eligibility. Included in those wins were victories against Oklahoma and Kansas.

The Tigers have consistently played better when the season winds down and a postseason berth is on the line. Last season, the Tigers rattled off six wins in February to earn an NIT berth; this year it was four wins in February and one win in March to do the trick.

Now the Tigers will see if that energy and late-season good fortune can carry them past the first round of the NIT, something that hasn't happened since the 1995-96 season.

"We're definitely going to try to win it," Kleiza said. "It's a big plus for this group just to keep playing, to keep going together."

 

[IE]

DePaul 1 win short of a bid?

It would be easy to say DePaul's bubble burst Sunday when the Blue Demons were passed over for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but coach Dave Leitao preferred to look at the positives.

Like going to the NIT and winning it.

"Somebody's going to do that, and if that's the case it might as well be us," Leitao said.

The Blue Demons start their NIT quest Tuesday at Missouri (16-16), 8 p.m. on ESPN.

DePaul's 19-10 record simply wasn't good enough for the NCAA, where 20 wins might have been the magic number for at-large teams to get an invitation.

"Bubble teams with 20 wins seemed to be the distinguishing factor in the committee's decision," said DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto.

Senior guard Drake Diener didn't have a good feeling when he arrived at the DePaul Athletic Center to watch the unveiling of the brackets, but the finality of not getting a bid still was a tough pill to swallow.

"I'm sure it's going to be tough to get over it," Diener said. "Coming in, I tried not to get my hopes up. I was not expecting to be there after some of the things that happened the last few days. I had a bad feeling today because a lot of the talk didn't have us involved.

"It's pretty disappointing not to be where we want to be. I know a lot of teams in the past have been in the same situation and made the best of it. To have that chance (in the NIT) is good, but it's still disappointing."

Conference USA wound up with four teams in the NCAA field: Louisville, Charlotte, Cincinnati and Alabama-Birmingham. Looking back, the Blazers' 59-56 victory over the Blue Demons on Thursday in the tournament quarterfinals likely decided the NCAA bid in their favor.

Leitao thinks it was more a series of games down the stretch that cost his club the bid. The Blue Demons lost three of their last four games and five of eight.

"I don't think one moment or one game decides it," Leitao said. "We had several opportunities to continue to prove ourselves. That (the UAB game) was one of them.

"You can keep going back in time if you choose to find specific moments, but I don't think it was any particular game or moment that did not make our case."

After beating Cincinnati by 19 points Feb. 12, the Blue Demons were 16-5 and looked to be a cinch to make the NCAA. But narrow losses to Charlotte, Marquette, UAB and Louisville down the stretch hurt going into the C-USA tourney.

"Last year in close games we found a way to get over the hump," Diener said. "This year, we couldn't find a way. If you look at the games with Charlotte, Louisville and both UAB games, if we win just two of those, there's no doubt we're in.

"If you can't win the close games, maybe you don't deserve to be in."

Diener agreed that a win over UAB on Thursday would have punched DePaul's ticket into an NCAA bracket.

"I don't think there's any doubt that we'd be in," he said. "Even if we had lost to Louisville (in the semifinals), we would have been 20-10."

Early-season losses to Northern Illinois, Bradley and Northwestern also came back to haunt the Blue Demons.

"The people that made it in made their cases on the basketball court," Leitao said. "And the people that didn't, didn't make as good a case. That's how it goes and how it should go."

This will be DePaul's third straight postseason appearance under Leitao.

"Two years ago when we went to the NIT, everybody was overjoyed, and now everybody is the opposite of that," Leitao said. "It probably is a testament to the progress we're making as a team and as a program."

Did Leitao think the Blue Demons deserved an NCAA bid?

"My personal opinions have nothing to do with it," Leitao said. "I like my team and I like what we've done over the season. We had many opportunities, as did a lot of teams, to prove ourselves on the basketball court."