With Northwestern on the brink of eligibility for the National Invitation Tournament, this year’s senior class remembers the 2001-02 season when the Wildcats were passed over by the NIT committee.

In that season, the Cats went 16-13 and were seventh in the Big Ten at 7-9. But in its fifth season of NIT eligibility, NU was one of 58 teams with an above .500 record not to participate in the postseason.

“We got beat pretty badly by Michigan in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament,” Carmody said. “And we didn’t get (the bid). I was as surprised as anyone.”

In 2002, the NIT field expanded from 32 teams to 40. But even with eight extra spots, the Cats didn’t get invited.

“I thought we deserved it,” Carmody said. “A lot of it’s controlled by athletic directors on the East Coast. At the time, I guess it served the purpose of letting some smaller schools in that normally wouldn’t be able to get in. But I felt we were certainly deserving of it.”

Of the 40 teams that made the NIT field, three had a worse record than NU — Arizona State was 14-14, Temple was 15-14 and Vanderbilt was 16-14. But 39 of the 40 teams had a stronger Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) than the Cats, who were 127th.

NU seniors Davor Duvancic and Michael Jenkins and redshirt junior Vedran Vukusic were on the team in 2002. They were part of the first Big Ten team with a .500 record to miss the NIT since 1985.

“Once I found that out I was not disappointed, I was mad,” Vukusic said.

Georgetown was the only other major-conference team in 2002 to finish with a winning record and not participate in the postseason. The Hoyas were 18-11 that season and ranked 55th in the RPI but declined an invitation to the NIT.

–Abe Rakov