The line for basketball student tickets at Stony Brook University stretched down the sidewalk past coach Steve Pikiell's office window Monday afternoon. The chance to play in postseason is a novel thing for Stony Brook.
The Seawolves and their fans weren't too concerned about it being the NIT rather than the NCAA. Due to scheduling conflict at Assembly Hall, top-seeded Illinois (19-14) plays at eighth-seeded Stony Brook (22-9) on Wednesday (8 p.m., ESPNU).
"We're in a totally different place,'' Pikiell said. "We're thrilled about having the opportunity to extend our season. In a league like the America East Conference, there are no at-large bids. This is a huge opportunity, like nothing our community has ever felt.
"I was a captain at Connecticut for coach (Jim) Calhoun. We played in the NIT when we were used to playing in the NCAA. (Illinois) played in the national championship. We're playing in postseason for the first time.''
Located on Long Island, N.Y., Stony Brook earned the automatic bid to the NIT after winning the America East regular-season title while playing in tiny Pritchard Gymnasium, a 1,680-seat facility as the 4,000-seat Stony Brook Arena sat empty awaiting funds in the midst of a planned renovation. The school hastily prepared the larger arena for play when America East officials informed Stony Brook a bigger facility was needed for the conference tournament championship game.
"We're real excited,'' Pikiell said. "The students are excited. We're selling a lot of tickets right now.''
The Seawolves lost in the conference tournament semifinals to preseason favorite Boston University, but Stony Brook will play in the larger arena for the first time in two seasons against Illinois. A sellout is expected. Stony Brook moved to Division I in 1999 and last hosted a major-conference foe three seasons ago, when Villanova showed up for a 72-44 victory.
"'The big challenge, the one we have talked about, is to get our kids refocused,'' Illinois coach Weber said. "It's going to be an exciting atmosphere for their campus. It sounds like they will fill their arena and having a Big Ten team come in there, you don't have that opportunity very often. You know they will play with a lot of emotion.''
Illinois was unable to host the first-round game because Assembly Hall is already booked for a week with Cirque du Soleil. Aging Huff Hall was out because of limited bathrooms and parking because of ongoing renovations. The court is also painted for volleyball.
