By Adam Studzinski

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Sunday night was a difficult one for the commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference.

In fact, Commissioner Doug Elgin said he can’t remember many worse nights.

“Not only the news that Illinois State doesn’t get into the NCAA Tournament, but the seeding of Wichita State as a 10 seed,” said Elgin. “It was disappointing to say the least.”

It was the snub of ISU which Elgin said was especially difficult.

“To see those kids, and to see the talent that that team has, and how it improved – the team improved over the year – to me that was the big part of the disappointment,” he said.

Elgin explained for leagues like the MVC to get multiple bids in the Big Dance you need to have separation of your top teams – which the Valley had this year. Illinois State and Wichita were each 17-1 in league play.

“You don’t want four teams tied at 13-5. That doesn’t distinguish those teams. You need to have teams be outstanding and excellent,” said Elgin. “And certainly we had two teams be just that.”

ISU has been forced to settle for a #1 seed in the NIT, while Wichita takes on #7 seed Dayton in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Redbirds coach Dan Muller tweeted Monday inviting the power conference schools to schedule a home and home series with ISU, which Elgin called “beautiful.”

“It was on point because if the requirement is you have to play top 50 teams, and you can’t get those top 50 teams, does that exclude all of those teams who were unable to get top 50 teams on their schedule? Or do not have those teams in their league?” he said.

Muller’s tweet drew a reply from the athletic director at Ole Miss. Muller said they’re working to find a place for Ole Miss on their schedule next season, however his squad doesn’t have many dates left open.

The Redbirds begin play in the NIT Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. against UC-Irvine at Redbird Arena. Pregame on WJBC and WJBC.com is at 7:30 p.m.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].