After a cataclysmic collapse, a first-round exit from the Big Ten tournament and the firing of coach Bruce Weber, Illinois basketball received one final kick in the gut.
A snub from the NIT.
"Any time the University of Illinois is not involved in postseason play it hurts, so we're disappointed," interim coach Jerrance Howard said in a news release. "For our returning players, this should serve as motivation heading into the offseason so we don't feel this way next year on Selection Sunday."
It's hard to imagine what next season's team will look like.
Illini fans will turn their attention to the coaching search athletic director Mike Thomas is conducting and also wait to hear whether sophomore center Meyers Leonard will leave to enter the NBA draft.
The Illini once looked NCAA tournament-bound when they started the season 15-3 and recorded wins over the Big Ten's top two teams in Ohio State and Michigan State. But nothing could stop the unraveling that ensued.
Illinois lost 12 of its final 14 games, including an embarrassing 23-point loss at last-place Nebraska on Feb. 18, to finish 17-15 and ninth in the Big Ten. They lost 64-61 on Thursday to Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament and Weber was fired after nine seasons the following morning.
It was the third time in four seasons that the Illini did not receive an NCAA tournament invitation. They advanced to the NIT quarterfinals in 2010 and did not participate in a postseason tournament in 2008.
The Illini's pitiful ending this season even sparked some Twitter rumors, begun by former player Mike Davis who said the team would not accept an NIT bid. Illinois officials and Thomas said Illinois would have played in the tournament if invited.
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