The emotions were raw Sunday night as Illinois State men's basketball coach Dan Muller and ISU senior point guard Paris Lee met the media in the wake of the team's snub by the NCAA tournament Selection Committee despite a 33 RPI and a Missouri Valley Conference co-championship.
"I'm pretty mad, sad, shocked," said Lee, the Valley's Player of the Year. "A goal of mine in my four years was to at least get to the NCAA tournament once. This is the one of the most stressful weeks I've had in college (waiting for Sunday's announcement)."
Muller said he was frustrated with how "stupid" the committee's selection process has been in recent years.
"Teams continue to outperform their seeds," he said. "Our league wins (games) every year we get in. And yet there's still no understanding of the quality of teams. It's idiotic to me. It really is. (Wichita State) will just have to do it again. Unfortunately, there's only one Valley team in there this year. We thought there would be two."
As a conference champion, Illinois State was automatically invited to the National Invitation Tournament. As one of the first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament, the Redbirds were awarded one of four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team NIT.
The Redbirds (27-6) host California-Irvine in the first round at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Redbird Arena. The game can be seen on ESPNU.
ISU will hold the home court for the following two NIT games if the Redbirds continue to win. A potential quarterfinal-round matchup in Normal against Illinois looms on March 21 or 22.
Illinois (18-14) hosts Valparaiso (24-8) at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2. But Valpo will play without all-time leading scorer Alec Peters of Washington, out for the season with a foot injury.
The NIT's other three No. 1 seeds are Syracuse (18-14), California (21-12) and Iowa (18-14). The event's final four will be held March 28-30 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
"Obviously, we were pretty disappointed and crushed for a little while waiting for our name to come up (on the NCAA brackets)," Muller said. "But now I think most of the people in that locker room are ready to roll in the NIT. Mentally, it's tough because we had high hopes. But we'll go into this thing trying to win it."
This is the 14th NIT for Illinois State, trailing only Bradley's 21 appearances among Valley teams. ISU has never advanced to the final four. The Redbirds last appeared in the NIT two years ago and has played in the event six times in the last 10 years.
"I'm pretty mad, sad, shocked," said Lee, the Valley's Player of the Year. "A goal of mine in my four years was to at least get to the NCAA tournament once. This is the one of the most stressful weeks I've had in college (waiting for Sunday's announcement)."
Muller said he was frustrated with how "stupid" the committee's selection process has been in recent years.
"Teams continue to outperform their seeds," he said. "Our league wins (games) every year we get in. And yet there's still no understanding of the quality of teams. It's idiotic to me. It really is. (Wichita State) will just have to do it again. Unfortunately, there's only one Valley team in there this year. We thought there would be two."
As a conference champion, Illinois State was automatically invited to the National Invitation Tournament. As one of the first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament, the Redbirds were awarded one of four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team NIT.
The Redbirds (27-6) host California-Irvine in the first round at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Redbird Arena. The game can be seen on ESPNU.
ISU will hold the home court for the following two NIT games if the Redbirds continue to win. A potential quarterfinal-round matchup in Normal against Illinois looms on March 21 or 22.
Illinois (18-14) hosts Valparaiso (24-8) at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2. But Valpo will play without all-time leading scorer Alec Peters of Washington, out for the season with a foot injury.
The NIT's other three No. 1 seeds are Syracuse (18-14), California (21-12) and Iowa (18-14). The event's final four will be held March 28-30 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
"Obviously, we were pretty disappointed and crushed for a little while waiting for our name to come up (on the NCAA brackets)," Muller said. "But now I think most of the people in that locker room are ready to roll in the NIT. Mentally, it's tough because we had high hopes. But we'll go into this thing trying to win it."
This is the 14th NIT for Illinois State, trailing only Bradley's 21 appearances among Valley teams. ISU has never advanced to the final four. The Redbirds last appeared in the NIT two years ago and has played in the event six times in the last 10 years.
