While DePaul, UIC and Notre Dame were invited, Illinois softball coach Terri Sullivan is crying “foul” for the second year in a row because her Illini team was not picked to play in the 48-team NCAA tournament.
Sullivan’s main complaint is that Minnesota made the NCAA field and the Illini did not. Minnesota finished in eighth place at 7-8 in the regular Big Ten season and was not one of the six teams picked to play in the conference tournament. Illinois tied Penn State and Northwestern for fifth with a 10-9 record and beat Iowa and Wisconsin in the conference tournament.
Illinois, a second-year program playing with freshmen and sophomores, had an overall record of 34-24. Minnesota’s record was 35-19. The teams split their two meetings.
“That isn’t fair,” Sullivan said of the selection of the Gophers and not the Illini. “My players asked me, `Why even play the conference season and the Big Ten tournament? What do we have to do?’ I told them I honestly don’t know.”
The NCAA selected six Big Ten teams: Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State and Minnesota. The host Gophers were seeded No. 3 behind Arizona and DePaul in the Region 2 tournament in Minneapolis.
Last year Sullivan contended that on the basis of overall records, conference records and head-to-head play, Illinois deserved the NCAA berth over Wisconsin.
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Notre Dame (41-15) and UIC (42-20) were assigned to the Iowa City regional. The Irish will open against host Iowa (35-18) and the Flames will face Nebraska (45-12).