The Wildcats knew they weren't going to the NCAA Tournament and they were bypassed on Selection Sunday by the National Invitation Tournament, as well.
But Weber State will be playing postseason basketball for the third consecutive year -- and playing again at the Dee Events Center, in an in-state contest against a team coached by a WSU alum.
Weber State (24-6, 14-2 Big Sky) will host Utah Valley on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
The Wolverines (20-12, 9-1 Great West) are coached by Dick Hunsaker, who graduated from Weber State in 1977 and was a later a WSU assistant. In 1985, he was named the Weber State alumnus of the year.
The 32-team CollegeInsider.com Tournament field will have a strong Utah contingent, with Utah State also participating. The Aggies will host Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Smith Spectrum in Logan.
The Wildcats are happy to continue their season, Weber State coach Randy Rahe said.
"We always view it as, any postseason tournament, it's a privilege and an honor to be selected, so we're excited about going to that tournament and we're going to go try to play our best."
They're also excited to make another appearance at the Dee Events Center.
"We've been traveling the whole last month of the season," Rahe said. "It's good to be home, it's good to be able to play in front of our fans and we're excited that our two seniors, Darin (Mahoney) and Kyle Bullinger get another chance to play at home. It's a good situation for us and hopefully we'll play well."
Rahe admitted there was disappointment to not be selected by the 32-team NIT.
"A little bit," he said. "If you look at our numbers, our RPI is 70 and it's above a lot of teams that got in, and our record, everything, our season speaks for itself."
Weber State star Damian Lillard, the second-leading scorer in the country and a candidate for collegeinsider.com's Lou Henson mid-major player of the year award, was featured Sunday night on the front page of the CIT website at collegeinsider.com/tournament.
Lillard was hurt by the NIT snub, posting on Twitter after the tourney's selection show: "No NIT? #slapintheface. 24-6 overall / 14-2 in league."
Rahe said the Wildcats can't worry about the NIT now.
"We're just going to get ready to go play the next basketball game.You can't spend any time on that. We've got a day and a half to get prepared for Utah Valley. That's going to be our focus, what we're going to do, try to get ready to play the best game we can."
As to whether being left out of the NIT adds any extra motivation to make a strong showing in the CIT, "I guess we'll find out," Rahe said. "We'll have to go prove it up and play well Tuesday night."
There are six rounds in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, which is bracketed regionally and played at on-campus sites. First-round CIT games will be played Tuesday through Thursday; the second round is Friday through Sunday, with the top four remaining seeds receiving byes to the quarterfinals March 20-21.
For ticket information, see WeberStateSports.com.
Montana Madness
Big Sky Conference champ Montana got a better-than-expected seed with its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Grizzlies jumped up to a No. 13 seed, higher than most bracketologists predicted, and will face No. 4 seed Wisconsin at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M.
It's the highest seed for the Big Sky since Portland State earned a 12 seed in 2009.
Montana's 14-game winning streak since losing to Weber State in their first meeting of the regular season is tied for the nation's longest.
Wisconsin defeated Weber State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2003. The Big Sky Conference hasn't had a single-digit seed in the tourney since Weber State was a No. 9 seed in 1983.
Iona/Idaho
BYU will face Iona in an NCAA Tournament First Four game Tuesday at Dayton, Ohio. That would be Metro Atlantic member Iona College, located in New Rochelle, N.Y. -- not Iona, Idaho, the hometown of new Weber State football coach John L. Smith.
BYU (25-8) barely made the 68-team NCAA Tournament field to avoid a scenario in which the state of Utah didn't have a team in the Big Dance for the first time since 1994.
There will be a contest this year pitting Iona, Idaho vs. BYU, however.
That would be Sept. 8, 2012, when Smith takes his Wildcats to Provo to face the Cougars on the gridiron in his second game as the head coach at WSU. Weber State and BYU will be meeting for the first time since 1979.
Roy Burton covers Weber State sports for the Standard-Examiner. You can reach him at rburton@standard.net, follow @RoyBurton on Twitter and read more posts about the Wildcats at blogs.standard.net/wsu-sports-blog.
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