Ah, Northwestern. Poor, poor Northwestern.
By now you know that the Wildcats are the only power conference school never to make the NCAA Tournament. They played their way onto the very edge of the bubble this season, but that bubble may have burst last night when Northwestern fell to Minnesota in overtime in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.
SB Nation's Chris Dobbertean handles Bracketology for us, and after having Northwestern as one of the last four teams in for weeks, he now has the Wildcats as one of the last four teams out. Sad times.
Northwestern (18-13 8-11 Big Ten, RPI: 47, SOS: 12, non-conf. SOS: 9)
Thursday's loss to Minnesota likely doomed the Wildcats, who own just one Top 50 win (against 10 losses), to the NIT. They likely needed to beat Michigan today anyway, and now they won't even get the chance.
For updates on Chicago-related March Madness, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago or drop by the Northwestern blog Sippin' On Purple. For more news and notes from around the country, visit SB Nation's men's basketball news hub or the bracketology blog Blogging the Bracket.