THE U-M WOLVERINES WON'T BE GOING TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. For the third time in the last four years they'll be headed to the NIT:

Hello, NIT -- that haunting, yet familiar acquaintance of Tommy Amaker's teams.

Players knew this was coming. They talked about the team's victory total and .500 mark in the conference after Friday's loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. But they also admitted to a lack of "signature wins," and defensive breakdowns and mistakes such as turnovers that doomed them all season.

The Wolverines (21-12) open with Utah State (23-11), runner-up in the Western Athletic Conference. Michigan hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998.

MSU, meanwhile, is seeded #9 in the East bracket. Here's the whole shebang.