A sullen Bill Carmody didn't know what to say after the Wildcats' lost to Minnesota 75-68 in overtime Thursday at the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. The first-round exit for NU all but puts the dagger in any hope of making the NCAA tournament.

"I told our guys that it is a body of work and a few years ago they said the last 10 games were important and now it's not true. We'll put our resume out. It's hard, it's disappointing."

Drew Crawford, who had ice on his feet, knees and right shoulder, sat with his eyes closed in a silent locker room at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Crawford had two scares in the second half against Minnesota, both times going up for a rebound and falling awkwardly on his elbows.

Watching Crawford grimace at the pain and shock of hitting the floor so hard was probably a metaphor for how the Wildcats felt in that loss.

"It was a game we needed to win but we won a lot of good games this year," Crawford said. "The thing we do is focus on the next game we have at hand. Whether that is an NCAA tournament game or an NIT game, we want to go out and play to win. We want to be in the tournament but we can't guarantee anything."