Though it didn't come as much of a surprise come Sunday night, the Northwestern Wildcats narrowly missed out on their first ever NCAA Tournament bid, thanks in large part to their opening round loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Big Ten Tournament. But, the Wildcats' season isn't over just yet, as the team will participate in the 2012 NIT starting on Tuesday, when they'll host the Akron Zips in Evanston.
The Zips won the MAC regular season title but lost to the Ohio Bobcats in the conference tournament, and thus, along with Northwestern, find themselves as a team in the NIT left to wonder what could've been. Akron finished the season at 22-11, with their most impressive win coming over the Mississippi State Bulldogs to open the 2011-2012 season.
Game time/date: Tuesday, March 13, 8:00 p.m. CT
Location: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Ill.
TV: ESPN2
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