By Eric Stock
ST. LOUIS – After offering full-throated cheers for their favorite basketball team over the last three days, Illinois State basketball fans filed out of Scottrade Center Sunday knowing they face an excruciating week of waiting.
ISU’s NCAA Tournament fate may have taken a hit following a 71-51 loss in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game to Wichita State, the team with whom the Redbirds shared the regular season title.
“With a 20-point loss, it’s probably bad, but we deserve (to make the NCAAs),” ISU fan Jeff Underhill said.
His brother Jim added “I think we do (have a chance), but this bad of a loss hurts us.”
Redbird fan Mark Hill said he hopes projections that have the MVC as a one-bid league won’t come to fruition.
“I think it’s probably true with the way they lost, unfortunately, I think probably the NIT,” Hill said. .
The Redbirds broke a school record for wins (27) this season while winning the school’s first regular season title since 1998.
“I’m pretty good about not worrying about things I have no control over,” Redbird coach Dan Muller said in his postgame interview on WJBC.
“I hope we are in for these guys,” Muller said of his players.
According to CBSsports.com, only two teams with 27 wins failed to make the Big Dance (Drexel and Oral Roberts, 2012) and only four schools with an RPI of 30 or better were denied an invite. ISU entered Sunday’s play with an RPI of 26.
The field of 68 teams will be announced on March 12.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
