By Eric Stock

NORMAL – Illinois State men’s basketball coach Dan Muller said he knew his tweet slamming the NCAA selection committee would get national attention.

“My wife allowed me to send it,” Muller conceded.

Muller finds himself at the center of a national debate over the perceived slight that schools from mid-major conferences such as the Missouri Valley Conference receive come NCAA Tournament time.

“I was enjoying typing it, it was funny,” he continued. “I’m not this bitter guy sitting in my basement thinking of ways to come up with devious things to send out, but I also wanted to draw some attention to it.”

Muller has spent much of the past few days conducting media interviews as he explains what he perceives as a bias against mid-major schools who he said can’t do what the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee asks of them.

“I’ve got no ill will towards anybody I just think the system is a little broke and I hope it gets fixed before it gets any worse,” Muller declared.

ISU was kept out of the NCAAs despite a school-record 27 wins and a 33 RPI, leaving the Redbirds to turn their attention to the NIT. ISU drew the school’s first No. 1 seed in the NIT and will host UC-Irvine at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

After all the tension of waiting for an NCAA invite, senior guard Paris Lee said it’s time to relax now and just play.

“The wait kind of had all of us tense and now that we found out everything, we are relieved and everyone is going to be ready to play,” Lee said.

Senior guard Tony Wills has a tough defensive assignment going up against Big West Player of the Year Luke Nelson.

“We are just going to have to grid it out and play our defense and just show that we are still one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Wills said.

While Wills was disappointed about the NCAA snub, he will get to see his brother Dre play in the ‘Big Dance’ as Vermont takes on Purdue on Friday in Milwaukee.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].