I've heard the outrage of some who can't grasp how Iowa could tie for fourth place in the Big Ten and earn the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament, only to be uninvited to the NIT.
First off, Iowa also tied for sixth in the Big Ten. Second, it was only 17-14. Third, it was 96th in the final RPI rankigns. Fourth, it closed its season with a dismal performance in a 74-55 loss to Purdue at the Big Ten tourney. That was nine days after the Hawkeyes lost to Penn State to snap the Nittany Lions' 13-game losing streak.
Fifth and most important, the NIT changed the way it does business prior to this go-round. It assembled a panel of retired coaches, including Dean Smith and Gene Keady, and evaluated teams much the way the NCAA tournament committee does. That meant no more inviting a Big Ten or Big East or ACC team just because it had a winning record of some sort. It meant that the playing field was level for everyone. Also, the NIT is in its second year of taking every regular-season conference champion that didn't earn an NCAA bid. The ate eight of its 32 slots this year.
If anything, the NIT has done everything it can to be regarded as legitimate, considering the material it gets. It now seeds teams according to their performances, not by who's more likely to draw a crowd at home, or who would bring better television ratings. Good for the NIT.
Fourth-place tie or not, Iowa's overall body of work wasn't as good as NCAA qualifiers Illinois and Purdue, or even perennial underachiver Michigan, which reached the NIT for the umpteenth straight year.
Northern Iowa (84th in the RPI, with an 18-13 record and a win at Iowa) was every bit as deserving of an NIT bid as Iowa.
What this does is save Iowa a road trip to lose to someone like Bradley or Missouri State. If you don't think that would have been the result against a team fired up to beat a Big Ten squad in front of its own fans, you need to watch a tape of that Iowa-Purdue game on a neutral court in Chicago.
"Rebuilding" season or not, when you can't even get into the NIT, you have a void that needs filling. Iowa better schedule itself some attractive nonconference games at home - the Iowa State and UNI games will be on the road - because demand for Hawkeye tickets isn't going to be great.
Oh, it better win a lot more of those nonconference games next season, too. Every game counts, as Iowa is painfully aware of today as it watches 65 other teams head to the NCAAs and 32 to the NIT.
Finishing in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big Ten doesn't mean jack when your overall record is 17-14.