The school hastily prepared the larger arena for play after America East officials informed Stony Brook a bigger facility was needed for the conference tournament championship game.

"We're real excited," Pikiell said. "The students are excited. We're selling a lot of tickets right now."

The Seawolves lost in the conference tournament semifinals to preseason favorite Boston University. But against Illinois, Stony Brook will play in the larger arena for the first time in two seasons.

A sellout is expected.

Supinie

But the Seawolves figure to carry the day when it comes to raw emotion and an honest excitement to be a part of the NIT.

This is the first-ever post-season experience for Stony Brook since it moved from Division III to Division I in 1999. It's not a small school. Their web site lists fall, 2009 enrollment at 24,692.

On Monday, coach Steve Pikiell (who was once a team captain for Jim Calhoun at Connecticut) said students were lined up buying tickets and that there was a "buzz" on campus. Ten bucks a seat, get 'em while their hot!

Tupper

PKlee_IlliniHQ Asked if the game could've been played at Huff, Bruce Weber said, "It's not a legal court." #Illini head to Stony Brook tomorrow.

"I don't think we have anyone to blame except ourselves when it comes down to it. It starts with me," Weber said. "Just getting the guys to be ready early in the season. We let some games slip by that ended up costing us."

Stony Brook (22-9) is making the first postseason appearance in its 11-year Division I history. Illinois (19-14) was hoping for its 29th NCAA tournament appearance but settled for its fourth NIT berth. Though Illinois is seeded No. 1 in the NIT, it couldn't host a first-round game because Cirque du Soleil is performing at the Assembly Hall this week. If it continues to win, Illinois would host a second-round game March 22 and a third-round game March 24.

illinihq.com

Since 1982, Illinois has gone bowl-less and tournament-less only twice. 1995-96, and 1998-99. Make that three times. And in the last 30 years, only 1998-99 had more combined football + basketball losses (26) than this year (23).

alioneye.com

1. We should be very proud of the way our team played in Indianapolis. The win over Wisconsin was a gritty, gutsy showing in a game we absolutely had to win. The loss to Ohio State was another showing of character and a glimpse of what's ahead in the seasons to come. D.J. Richardson played like an upperclassman, Tyler Griffey had a coming-out party, and DMac did all he could to stave off a determined and outrageously talented tOSU squad.

Chris Yates

With all the fretting over our dance fate, it's time to step back appreciate the good and look forward, no matter what tournament we play in.

AK Illini

"You have a chance to get in, you've gotta play your way in. I just don't understand all this hand-ringing at the end of the line. It's the national championship, it should be about the best teams. Not about the teams, 'I'm just as good as that last one in.' That's just not good enough, and we're wasting too much time on it."

thebiglead.com

"We were stunned," guard Demetri McCamey said. "We thought we were in. We thought we had a pretty good weekend and showed we could compete with the top teams in the country. The committee thought otherwise. Now we have to show they made a mistake with what we do in the NIT."

That berth was only a consolation prize for the Illini after they watched for their name to pop up on the NCAA board.

"For me, it was easily the one of the toughest things in basketball," Illinois forward Bill Cole said. "You're watching until that last team gets in, then suddenly there are no more spots left. It's a terrible situation."

Supinie

-We can't see Minnesota getting left out now. They dominated Purdue yesterday, and the Big Ten title game is so late in the day that it is really to the Gophers' advantage.

-Two of the following three teams will not make it: Virginia Tech, Illinois, and Florida. We are going to be picking apart each of their resumes all day today. If Mississippi State wins, they all might be out.

bracketology101

The Illini beat Wisconsin and then took Ohio State to overtime in the Big Ten tournament ... but with Minnesota and Mississippi State still fighting for automatic bids on Sunday, there isn't much room on the bubble.

Illinois is one of the weirdest cases for the committee: It lost six of its final eight games, and its RPI (at 72) is terrible. But it has a killer resume of quality wins -- Clemson and Wisconsin on the road, Wisconsin again on a neutral floor, and Michigan State and Vanderbilt in Champaign. I'd put the Illini in the field, but I feel like their real chances are 50-50.

Luke Winn

Minnesota has stormed on to the scene, beating Penn State, Michigan State, and Purdue in consecutive days, and bumping Illinois from Joe Lunardi's last four in into his last four out. For the Illini to get back in the tournament, they likely need losses from both Minnesota and Mississippi State, not to mention a little love from the committee for their big wins over Michigan State and at Wisconsin in consecutive games in February.

espn.com

Had the Illini gotten the Buckeyes today, we wouldn't need this blog post and hand-wringing and constant refreshing of Joe Lunardi's and Jerry Palm's sites.

Willhite

"I'm not confident," coach Bruce Weber said. "(But) I think we have a lot of things going for us."

"We're a little nervous," junior Bill Cole said. "But I'm confident we're one of the best bubble teams."

"Bite my nails," Mike Davis said of his plans for the next 24 hours.

Klee

Meanwhile, McCamey and Illinois downplayed any sort of bad feelings that may linger.

"It was no strategy. It's part of the basketball game," McCamey said. "If people are talking to me, I'm going to talk back and try to play."

But Illinois coach Bruce Weber added: "(Turner's) too good a player to be honest and he should just play basketball, but that's just my opinion. Everybody plays differently if that's what they have to do, I guess that motivates him."

Chris Hine

I think we can all agree on this much: If the Illini team that competed so hard at this weekend's Big Ten Tournament has been the Illini team that took the floor every game, no one would be worrying about their NCAA Tournament fate.

They'd be in easy.

As it is, there will be a bundle of nerves as the selection show approaches on Sunday and Illinois now has to worry if its spot might be swiped by another Big Ten team, Minnesota.

Tupper