Thad Matta said after the Ohio State basketball was bounced from Big Ten Tournament by Rutgers that he was not sure if the Buckeyes would accept a bid to the National Invitation Tournament. The Buckeyes were not invited to take part in the NIT this year after finishing with 17-15.
When asked which two teams were on the outside of 32-team field, NIT chairman Reggie Minton listed the Ohio State and UNC-Asheville.
Minton said on ESPNU that, both of those teams were tough decisions for us. Both the teams were worthy, but when we matched them up against the other team resumes, we just felt they came a little short.
Minton added that no teams turned down the NIT invitation this year.
An OSU spokesperson told to cleveland.com that the Ohio State would have accepted a bid had the Buckeyes been invited.
According to Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State signed a non-binding agreement in the January to take part in the NIT if invited. Under that agreement, the Ohio State could still reject an NIT bid if invited, but cannot play in other postseason tournaments such as the CIT or the CBI. A team which signs a non-binding NIT agreement can still play in the NCAA Tournament if selected.
So the Ohio State's season will end at 17-15 with no postseason play. The Buckeyes went 2-5 in their last seven games.
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The last time Ohio State did not participate in a postseason tournament was 2004-05, its first season under Matta when it was not eligible for postseason play.
The Buckeyes were 15-10 after a win against the Rutgers on Feb. 8. That was not a great mark, but the Ohio State still had chances left to play its way into the NCAA Tournament if it could pick up some solid road wins.
Instead the Buckeyes lost three straight from that point, playing tough but still failing to pull out wins at the Maryland and Michigan State. Then they blew a lead late and lost at the home to Nebraska, 58-57, on Feb. 18. That loss put the Buckeyes in a position where their only shot of avoiding the NIT was to win the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State opened the Big Ten Tournament play with a 66-57 loss to Rutgers, the lowest seed in the bracket. That was probably the game which knocked the Buckeyes out of the NIT.
The Buckeyes fate was really sealed before any of that happened, though, because they again struggled in most opportunities to get the big wins. Ohio State was 3-8 against teams in the top 50 of the RPI, and also had three losses against the teams outside of the top 100.
Mrudula Duddempudi.
