The Valparaiso men?s basketball program felt that it had a worthy resume to receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, but instead it was one of the first four teams left out, so it will receive a No. 1-seed into the NIT.
The Crusaders (26-6) will host Texas Southern (18-14) Tuesday at 9:15 p.m.
Valpo won the Horizon League regular season championship with a 16-2 league record, but fell to eventual conference tournament champion Green Bay in the tournament. Despite that, veteran coach Bryce Drew felt secure.
"We thought we were built for an at-large team,? Drew told the Associated Press. ?If you look at our numbers, our numbers were better than a lot of teams in the tournament, so we thought we'd get in.
?There's some letdown when you see some of the teams that got in and you compare your numbers against theirs. Obviously, we have a great opportunity in front of us because I don't think Valpo has ever been a No. 1 seed before."
The Crusaders (26-6) will host Texas Southern (18-14) Tuesday at 9:15 p.m.
Valpo won the Horizon League regular season championship with a 16-2 league record, but fell to eventual conference tournament champion Green Bay in the tournament. Despite that, veteran coach Bryce Drew felt secure.
"We thought we were built for an at-large team,? Drew told the Associated Press. ?If you look at our numbers, our numbers were better than a lot of teams in the tournament, so we thought we'd get in.
?There's some letdown when you see some of the teams that got in and you compare your numbers against theirs. Obviously, we have a great opportunity in front of us because I don't think Valpo has ever been a No. 1 seed before."
