UNI and the Big Dance

[BUSongwriter]

Just for fun speculation . . . .If the season ended this week, and UNI would fall to BU in the finals of the MVC tournament, do you think they'd get an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament? Their NCAA NET is 36, and they are in the top 30 of the AP and coaches polls.

I hope, despite our two losses to the Panthers, that we still somehow win the Valley regular season title. But if we don't, I'd be happy with finishing second, UNI winning out, and then us beating them in St. Louis and us both getting in. My guess is UNI can't afford too many, if any, more losses if it wants an at-large. It's unfair the Valley teams have that kind of pressure -- even on the road -- but that seems to be the case.

[Da Coach]

As of now, the answer is probably yes. However, their NET, which is now 36, could likely drop by tournament selection time, since every one of their remaining 13-15 games are against opponents with significantly worse NET rankings than they have.
And they cannot afford "bad losses" to teams with NET numbers of 100 and higher, which by selection Sunday will likely include at least 6 or 7 of the MVC teams.

On the ESPN Bracketology page, Joe Lunardi shows UNI in the tournament as a #10 seed. Though they are currently in as the auto-bid team from the MVC, if they warrant a 10 seed, it is highly likely they would get an at-large seed as well.