The pressure is officially on.
Once tagged as the “Baby Boilers,” Matt Painter’s squad of young overachievers are no longer a Cinderella story. Picked in the Top Ten of almost every pre-season poll, the newly minted Big Ten favorites were tapped to host the first round of the annual pre-season bash known as the NIT.
While the name is synonymous with the “almost-rans” and “has-beens” in March, their place at the front of the season is firmly cemented: most every team that emerges victorious at Madison Square Garden in late November finds themselves dancing come tournament time.