NU's postseason chances just improved, or did they?

as if this wasn't enough, now there is a fourth postseason tournament out there. that means of the 340 D-I teams, 129 will get a tournament spot. that's 38%.

so things are looking up for NU, until you consider that last year 67 teams finished .500 or better and did not participate in postseason play. eleven of those 67 teams won 20 or more games. so the Wildcats will have some competition, assuming they are even eligible, since they'll need to finish above .500 to qualify.

what's more, the selection criteria states that "Teams whose conferences have less than fifty-percent (50%) of their teams participating in the NCAA and NIT tournaments will be given higher priority for selection into the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament." that doesn't bode well for a big ten school, since you figure at least six schools are a virtual lock to get into either the NCAA or NIT. so basically this tournament is there for teams that get screwed over by the NIT, but its rules increase Northwestern's chances of getting screwed over again.