Huskies out of postseason for first time since 2007

For the first time since 2007, the Washington Huskies men’s basketball team will not play in the postseason.

After finishing 17-15 overall and 9-9 in the Pac-12, then losing in the first round of the conference tournament, the Huskies had long been eliminated from NCAA tournament contention.

But the 32-team National Invitation Tournament (NIT) didn’t extend an invite to UW, either, so the Huskies’ season is officially over.

Six Pac-12 teams were invited to the NCAA tournament: Arizona (as a No. 1 seed), UCLA (4), Oregon (7), Colorado (8), Arizona State (10) and Stanford (10). And two more Pac-12 teams, California and Utah, accepted bids to the NIT, Cal as a No. 2 seed and Utah as a No. 5.

The Huskies played in the NIT in each of the past two seasons. They lost in the first round at Brigham Young in 2013, and advanced to the semifinals in 2012 – after winning the regular-season Pac-12 championship – before losing to Minnesota in New York.

In Lorenzo Romar’s 12-year tenure as Washington coach, the Huskies have missed the postseason three times – in 2003, 2007 and now in 2014. Romar’s teams have played in the NCAA tournament six times (2004-06 and 2009-11), in the NIT twice, and once in the College Basketball Invitational (2008). The Huskies were not interested in playing in the CBI this season.