Illinois St., SIU make NIT field filled with NCAA near-misses

Virginia Tech and Arizona State are this year's Syracuse, and Hokies coach Seth Greenberg is suddenly sounding very much like Orange coach Jim Boeheim did last March.

The Hokies (19-13) and Sun Devils (19-12) were No. 1 seeds in the NIT, the traditional consolation prize for the best teams left out of the NCAA Tournament. The other top seeds announced Sunday night were Ohio State and Syracuse, and all had their gripes with not playing elsewhere next week.

"All these schools had very good basketball seasons, played at a very high level," Greenberg said. "I understand the committee has a tough decision. I have a tough time facing my kids. But it doesn't diminish what we accomplished this year."

Illinois State and Southern Illinois were selected from the Missouri Valley Conference, with the Salukis (17-14) at home against Oklahoma State (17-15) at 8 p.m. Tuesday and the Redbirds (24-9) moving into action Wednesday with a home game against Utah State (24-10).

Ohio State and Minnesota will represent the Big Ten. The Buckeyes (19-13) will host UNC Asheville (23-9) atat 6 p.m. Tuesday, and the Golden Gophers (20-13) will host Maryland (18-14) at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.