ENGELKE: Terps' snubbing is just silly

It's become a time-honored tradition on the day after Selection Sunday to scrutinize the NCAA Tournament bracket and see which teams were rightfully or wrongfully excluded from college basketball's biggest event.

So who was the biggest snub this year?

Some might argue it was Colorado, which finished the year 21-13 and claimed victories over tournament-bound Kansas State, Missouri and Texas during the regular season.

Others have pointed to Alabama, which made a deep run in the SEC Tournament and finished 12-4 in conference play.

And don't forget about Virginia Tech, which missed the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season despite beating Duke, a No. 1 seed.

The biggest postseason injustice, though, doesn't belong to any of those teams.

Rather, that distinguished dishonor goes to the team you know all too well, the one that resides just across the campus in Comcast Center. That's right, the Terps were the biggest losers Sunday when they learned that even the NIT didn't want them in its 32-team field.

Of course, the Terps weren't going to make the NCAA Tournament. We all knew that. But really? No NIT?

"I'm shocked," coach Gary Williams told The Washington Post following Sunday's NIT selection show.

Williams should be surprised. By not selecting the Terps, the NIT selection committee effectively said the Terps belong more in the company of CBI-bound Oregon — whose 16-17 season included a home-court loss to WAC middleweight Idaho — than NIT-bound Northwestern, which finished with a postseason resumé nearly identical to that of the Terps.

And that's just flat-out wrong. The Terps claimed victories over three NCAA Tournament teams — Clemson, Florida State and Penn State — and won their opening-round game in the ACC Tournament in dominating fashion over NC State.

That's not enough for an NCAA Tournament bid, but it certainly should get you a nod in the NIT.

"After 19 wins and beating Penn State, Florida State and Clemson, it's disappointing that we're not at least in the NIT," Williams said in a release. "It's kind of surprising we weren't selected."

The NIT picked two teams — California and the aforementioned Wildcats — with worse records than the Terps (19-14) and seven — Miami, Texas Southern, Colorado State, Milwaukee, Oklahoma State, Washington State and Nebraska — with the same number of wins.

Granted, there were only 18 at-large spots for this year's NIT because of a high number of automatic qualifiers, but the Terps still deserved one of those bids.

They were swept by the ACC's three NIT-bound teams — Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech — but their overall postseason portfolio is still more impressive than some of the other at-large NIT teams.

"I guess there are different reasons why you pick teams," Williams told the Post, "other than based on the ability of the team."

According to the NIT's "principles and procedures for establishing the bracket," the selection committee "shall select the best available teams to fill the NIT field."

So Colorado State, which suffered a handful of bad losses, including one to Air Force, is better than the Terps? What about California, which ended the regular season with only 17 wins, or Oklahoma State, which finished 6-10 in the Big 12?

There are more than a few places where the Terps could have slipped into the tournament, but the NIT failed to live up to its own standards.

It's the first time in 18 years that the Terps won't be playing in a postseason tournament, but it shouldn't be. The Terps didn't have the best season in the world, and everyone — Williams and his players included — knew that. Still, they deserved a spot in the NIT, and the selection committee's decision not to give them one is preposterous.

jengelke@umdbk.com