Illinois Basketball: A brief history of the Illini in the NIT

Selection Sunday came and went, and we all know where the Illinois basketball team ended up — back in the NIT!

The NIT, officially known as the National Invitation Tournament, is also commonly known as the “Not Invited Tournament,” based on rejection from that other, seemingly lesser tournament this time of year that everyone gets all worked up about.

As we wrote about here, the Illini pulled a 2-seed and will face 7-seed Valpo in the first round tonight, 6:15 p.m. CT at the State Farm Center (ESPN2). If, and it’s a big IF, the Illini make it through two rounds at home, they would potentially take on Illinois State in the quarterfinals in Bloomington.

That would actually be pretty amazing, especially given ISU’s perceived snub from the real dance this year. Also because their fans believe Illinois is too scared to schedule ISU on a regular basis. Another fight for another time…

On a side note, I’m actually more interested in the NIT this year than in previous years. No, not because of the tournament itself. Because A) we get to see how the team reacts now that Groce is gone and B) we don’t have to worry anymore about what it means for next year.

A new era is nearly upon us. However, while we await Almighty Whitman’s next move, we can at least watch the team play ball a few more times before the season is over. See coverage of the coaching search and candidates from Writing Illini here, here and here.

Or, as you’ll see from the recent history outlined in this article, maybe they’ll get stomped by Valpo and call it a day because, well, it’s the NIT.

What have past efforts looked like?

2014-15

This is likely the rawest memory of the NIT for Illini fans. Sure, it’s the most recent example, but when you really look back at that season, it hits you just how poorly things ended up.

As became the case with nearly every Groce season, the beginning of March found Illinois squarely on the NCAA bubble. Following two straight wins at home, the Illini were 19-11 and, GASP, looking at needing maybe just one more win to get on the right side of said bubble.

Sound familiar?

That Illinois basketball team headed to Purdue for the last game of the regular season and held a five-point lead at half — a half in which we witnessed arguably the greatest non-Flying Illini dunk in school history, courtesy of Rayvonte Rice.

The enthusiasm from that momentary 12-point lead evaporated rather quickly, as Purdue outscored Illinois 53-36 the rest of the way to win by five. What happened next was dreadful.

The Illini got stomped by Michigan in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament (deja vu, anyone?) and fell off the bubble into the NIT.

As a 3-seed that year, with State Farm Center renovations in full-swing, Illinois had to travel to Tuscaloosa to take on 6-seed Alabama. It wasn’t even a game. Illinois lost by 21 and finished the year 19-14.

2013-14

In Groce’s second year, fresh off the heels of an NCAA tournament appearance with Weber’s senior class the year before (Brandon Paul, DJ Richardson, etc.), making the NIT was actually a reasonable expectation.

This team was young, and we were all still very hopeful about the future of the program under Groce.

As the season wore on, this young Illinois basketball team surprised us a few times, most notably finishing the regular season on a 4-1 run, with two victories on the road against Top 25 opponents. What that team couldn’t truly recover from, however, was a midseason eight-game conference losing streak.

After winning the first game in the Big Ten Tournament over Indiana, Illinois lost to Michigan (seriously) in the quarterfinals and ended up with a 2-seed in the NIT.

Since, you guessed it, the State Farm Center was undergoing the early phase of its renovation, Illinois had to go on the road as the higher seed. A promising start with a comeback victory over 7-seed Boston U in the first-round ended a few days later at Clemson in a tough, one-point loss.

The Illini finished the season 20-15, but back then we were all naive children that believed it was the start of something great.

2009-10

This was an interesting year for Illinois basketball to make the NIT for a couple reasons.

For starters, it was my last year at school there. I enrolled at Illinois in the immediate years following Dee, Deron, Luther, Roger and James. I was #blessed to get Demetri, Chester, Calvin, Shaun and the Mikes.

For those of you that recall, it was an odd time that was highlighted by the controversy around losing the Eric Gordon recruiting battle to shady Kelvin Sampson and Indiana.

My four basketball seasons while on campus went as such: NCAA (first round loss to VT), NOTHING (though an insane run to the BTT championship before losing to Wisconsin), NCAA (first round loss to Western Kentucky in the 5-12 death match), NIT.

Which leads me to my second reason for an interesting NIT appearance: The pessimism surrounding Weber hadn’t boiled over quite yet. Don’t get me wrong, it was simmering right there beneath the surface, but the explosion was yet to come a couple years later.

Of the three most recent NIT appearances, this one was the most successful. Illinois received a 1-seed but, in what would become a cruel trend, had to play its first game on the road at 8-seed Stony Brook.

No joke, Cirque du Soleil was booked at the Assembly Hall. At the time, we couldn’t even blame renovations.

The Illini took care of business on the road before coming back to crush Kent State at home in the second round. In the quarterfinals, Illinois hosted 3-seed Dayton and lost a heartbreaker with a chance to go to Madison Square Garden on the line. They finished the season 21-15.

Next: Is Cuonzo Martin really a good option?

In Summation

According to FightingIllini.com, “This will mark the seventh appearance in the NIT for Illinois. The Illini, who are 8-6 all-time in the NIT, also played in the tournament in 1980, 1982, 1996, 2010, 2014 and 2015.”

Illinois never wants to be in the NIT. I hope that ten years from now, I look back on this post and laugh about an era in Illinois basketball history when four NIT appearances in eight years was even remotely acceptable.

Until then, here we are.