Marquette will host Harvard in the first round of the NIT

The Marquette Golden Eagles will be playing in the postseason this year. 

Just not in the tournament they wanted.

Marquette will face Harvard in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament after being passed over for an at-large bid by the NCAA Tournament selection committee Sunday.

The NIT game will be played at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Al McGuire Center. The game will be televised by ESPN2.

"The goal is always the NCAA Tournament," MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "But I love my team. The opportunity to be around them more is something that I am incredibly excited about."

MU (19-13) hurt its NCAA chances with a non-conference loss to Georgia on Dec. 2 and a Big East defeat at St. John's on Feb. 10.

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But a loss at DePaul on Feb. 24 probably damaged the Golden Eagles' chances at making the NCAA Tournament the most.  

MU did pick up quality road victories against Creighton, Seton Hall and Providence.

"I thought it was a good year," MU sophomore guard Markus Howard said. "There was definitely some highs and some lows but I thought overall we grew as a team.  

"We had a really young team and I really thought we showed a lot of heart at certain times. It's just a really good building block for the future of our program. We have a lot to look forward to."

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The Golden Eagles were not among the first four teams left out of the NCAA field. Those teams were Baylor, Notre Dame, Saint Mary's and Southern California.

The last four schools selected by the tournament committee were UCLA, St. Bonaventure, Arizona State and Syracuse.

Six Big East schools made the NCAA field: Villanova, Xavier, Providence, Creighton, Seton Hall and Butler.

"The Big East is such a tough conference," Howard said. "In my opinion the best in the country. To see those teams make the tournament, as they should, we're happy for them but at the same time we know that we deserve to be there as well.

"That just didn't happen (Sunday). We have to continue to work and get better. There were a lot of things we could have done to prevent this. But we're just working with what we have and really just looking forward to continuing to grow as a team."

Wojciechowski said that playing in the NIT will be beneficial to the young players on his roster. Andrew Rowsey is MU's lone senior.

"Our program is going to be a program that wins a lot in March," Wojciechowski said. "There's a process to all of that. And this is part of the process.

"Hopefully we can learn some lessons on how to win in March. That, for us and where we're at right now, is a great opportunity." 

The Golden Eagles have been in the NCAA Tournament in just one of Wojciechowski's four seasons as head coach. 

MU lost to eventual Final Four participant South Carolina, 93-73, in the first round last season.

The last NIT game for MU was a 54-40 loss at home to Western Michigan on March 14, 2005.

The tournament will experiment with new rules this season, including an extended three-point line, four quarters instead of two halves, a 20-second shot clock after offensive rebounds and a wider free-throw lane.

The last regular-season game at the Al McGuire Center came on Dec. 19, 2014, when MU defeated Alabama A&M, 83-49. The Golden Eagles played host to UW-Milwaukee in an exhibition game in the building Oct. 22.