NIT 2012: Washington Huskies Will Prove They Deserved March Madness Berth

The Washington Huskies became the first team in college basketball to not ride a major regular-season conference championship to a NCAA tournament bid. The Huskies are determined to prove they deserved that berth this week in Madison Square Garden.

The Huskies will head into Tuesday’s NIT contest against the Minnesota Golden Gophers looking to get their first neutral site win of the season. The Huskies have posted a 0-3 mark so far in such games, but this will be a different scenario all together for the Huskies.

Washington felt pushed to the side and disrespected by the lack of a tournament bid this season. Head coach Lorenzo Romar attempted to make a case for his team after its one-and-done Pac-12 tournament appearance by saying, “I would think the Pac-12 champions would be able to find a place in the NCAA tournament.”

He was wrong.

The tournament selection committee went another direction when selecting the tournament bids, leaving the Huskies the chance to prove their worth to the college basketball world in the NIT.

Despite the lack of a tournament bid, the Huskies have taken to the court for the NIT and owned the tournament field. Their closest contest was against Oregon, when they won the game, 90-86.

The Huskies will head into the Final Four at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night facing a Minnesota team that lost a lot of steam early in the season with the injury of star player Trevor Mbakwe, but played strong despite the loss.

This is the Huskies' chance to prove the world that they were worthy of a tournament bid. Not only are they 0-3 on the season at neutral sites, but when they hit crunch time in the Pac-12 tournament, they folded.

The Huskies can’t be in denial that a poor conference tournament showing likely pushed them over the edge in the tournament selection process, so finding a way to win the next two games is a must for this Washington squad to prove its worth.

The selection committee chose wisely as this tournament has been full of March Madness, but could the Huskies have added to the pageantry? They think so, and they will prove it when they hit the court of Madison Square Garden this week.