Iowa was not one of the 32 teams selected for the NIT tournament. No dancing this year.
The NIT reduced down to 32 teams this year. One of the automatic selection criteria is any team that won their conference regular season but did not get into the tournament. There were 8 of those teams. That cuts the field down to 24. I would expect Iowa to be able to beat a good portion of the teams in the tournament but can understand how the selection committee would pass on them. There were just too many losses to teams that Iowa should not have lost to. Plus, Iowa does not have a great record in the NCAA or NIT tournament over the last few years.
I’m disappointed because I would have liked for Haluska and Henderson to get a few more games before their careers were done. That has to hurt to be pretty certain to get into the NIT and then when the show is over realize that you will not be playing any more college games.
It would also have been very nice for the team to get some post season exposure and start getting Tyler Smith ready to take over the team next year.
This has to be one of Alford’s low points as a coach but hopefully it will all start to turn around next year.
Hopefully everybody involved with the program will be very motivated by this and work that much harder in the off season.
Anybody want to guess on where Haluska will end up next year? Do you think Henderson will head overseas or just start looking for a 9-5 job?
I’m guessing Haluska will get drafted late and end up having a better career than people expect. He is a competitor and team player that will do well in the pros. I expect Henderson to follow Brunner and Horner overseas and enjoy playing basketball for a few more years. It would have to be so much better than working in an office for a living.