Marshall's 21 wins not enough for NIT bid

After losing to Miami in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament eight days ago, Marshall coaches and players had hoped their next basketball game would be this week.

But as it turns out there will be no next game for the 1999-2000 Thundering Herd.

Marshall (21-9) was one of 13 schools with 20 or more wins to be left out of the 64-team NCAA Tournament and also was omitted from the 32-team National Invitational Tournament.

Marshall Coach Greg White was not in his office Monday and could not be reached for comment.

Last week, White sent the appropriate materials ­ attendance figures, records, roster and statistics ­ to the NIT office at the request of the tournament comittee. He also spoke by telephone to several committee members.

MAC commissioner Rick Chryst also contacted officials from both postseason tournaments, campaigning to get as many league representatives as possible in each tournament.

Ball State, however, was the only team selected to the NCAA Tournament from the MAC, which the Ratings Power Index ranks No. 8 among the 31 Division I conferences.

The Cardinals (22-8) earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament by winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

The Cardinals, the No. 11 seed in the Midwest Region, will play its tournament opener Thursday against No. 6 seed UCLA (19-11) at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn.

Three conferences rated lower than the MAC ­ Missouri Valley, Mountain West and Western Athletic ­ received two NCAA berths.

Neither Bowling Green (22-7) nor Kent State (21-7) received one of the 35 at-large bids extended by the NCAA Tournament. But the Falcons and the Golden Flashes did receive NIT berths.

Bowling Green travels to Brigham Young (20-10) on Wednesday to play the Cougars in their opening round match-up. Kent will play host to Rutgers (15-15) on Thursday in their first-round game.

It should not come as a surprise that Marshall was excluded from postseason play, given the upsets in conference tournaments this weekend as well as the snubbing of both Bowling Green and Kent State in the NCAA Tournament.

The MAC qualified two teams for the NCAA Tournament three times during the 1990s, but never more than two in that 10-year period.

The MAC also has never qualified more than two teams for NIT during the 1990s and qualified only one team in each of the past four years.

Marshall has not participated in postseason play since the 1987-88 season when the Thundering Herd, 24-8 that season, lost to Virginia Common-wealth 81-80 in the opening round of the NIT.