Iowa's selection raises questions

Selection Sunday came and went, and the IU basketball squad was among the teams waiting, watching and praying its name would be revealed as a NCAA Tournament team. However, with a 15-13 record, the Hoosiers' hopes for an at-large bid went by the wayside with Friday's embarrassing display against Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament.\nAn announcement of IU as a tourney team would have been very surprising. But perhaps more surprising was the Committee's decision to select five teams from the Big Ten and IU not being among them. Instead, Iowa, a team that finished the conference season with a 7-9 record, slipped in the back door.\nI had a front row seat for Mike Davis' press conference following the loss to the Gophers, and maybe it was his assertion that IU came into the conference tournament as the No. 4 seed - a fact he repeated on 18 occasions - but I don't think Davis ever imagined five teams from the Big Ten getting into the NCAA Tournament and his Hoosiers not being one of them. \nIU went 10-6 in conference play and I'm sure the presence of Iowa's Athletics Director Bob Bowlsby on the Selection Committee will provide plenty of fodder for the online chat rooms and local journalists. But Iowa's resume appealed to the Committee over the Hoosiers' profile because of one main reason: quality non-conference wins. Iowa beat Louisville, Texas and Texas Tech - all \ntournament teams, albeit with the since-suspended Pierre Pierce - compared to \nIU's ineptness against top notch opponents outside the Big Ten. \nIowa's run to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament couldn't have hurt its case. The Committee's last impression of the Hawkeyes was a buzzer-beater loss to Wisconsin on a running, off-balance three-pointer, whereas the Committee's last glance at the Hoosiers couldn't have inspired those making the selections to extend an invitation to the boys from Bloomington.\nNow the cream and crimson will compete in the NIT, still wondering how a team that finished three games behind them in the conference could leap frog them into the pinnacle of college basketball. The head scratching will continue, some bitterness may linger, but what's done is done and the Hoosiers must move on. It will be hard for the players and coaches to get motivated for the NIT, especially when all the national focus will be on that "other" tournament. But there are still plenty of quality teams left out there. Notre Dame, Memphis, \nMaryland, Virginia Tech, Saint Joseph's and DePaul all missed out on a chance to dance. Now the 40 teams extended invites to the NIT will fight it out for the chance to storm New York City.\nThe Hoosiers have gone from the Big Dance to the Big Apple. Heck, I'd rather go to Times Square than the Arch anyways. And for a team who didn't participate in any postseason play last season, the NIT should be a welcome sight in IU's move back toward the sport's Holy Grail.\nBut the question will remain: How do you explain to Mike Davis that the No. 7 seed is dancing and, wait I forget what seed we were... Mike, a little help please.\n"How many times do I have to say it? We're the fourth seed."\nAh, that's right. How could I forget?