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Now that the dust has settled on Marquette's run in the Big East tournament, it's time to take a look at the Golden Eagles' prospects for the postseason, specifically the NIT.

For those unfamiliar with the NIT, it's a 32-team tournament with automatic bids given to teams that won their conference regular season title but failed to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Following its loss to Xavier, Marquette has an RPI of 106 (view the Golden Eagles' NCAA team sheet here), which is at the lower end of the spectrum for teams that will be considered for NIT at-large bids. However, the Golden Eagles' résumé does feature elements that few others do and provided enough of a basis for head coach Steve Wojciechowski to have confidence his team can play more.

"I feel like we can still play whether it's not in the NCAA, the NIT," he said. "I think we've earned that."

Marquette has seven wins against the RPI top-100, which is at the high end for possible at-large teams. The Golden Eagles also have a pair of top-50 wins in true road games (Wisconsin and Providence). That number is only matched by Hofstra (an automatic qualifier), which has top-50 road victories over St. Bonaventure and UNC-Wilmington.

As is the case with all NIT teams, the Golden Eagles have their warts. Marquette suffered seven home losses this season, including losses to Belmont, DePaul and Creighton. Those defeats made a significant impact on its RPI and a non-conference strength of schedule ranked 330th didn't provide many opportunities for high-impact wins.

The combination of the positive and negatives has Marquette on the NIT bubble and at the mercy of the tournament's selection committee, which will announce its field on Sunday night after the NCAA Tournament bracket is released. Marquette is unlikely to net a No.4 seed or better, which would give the Golden Eagles a home game, and their chances could hinge on just how big or small that bubble becomes over the next few days.

Since shifting to 32 teams and awarding automatic bids to regular-season conference champions starting in 2007, an average of 9.9 teams have entered the NIT via automatic bids each season. This season's field should at least hit that average.

As of this writing, 13 conference champions have failed to win their conference tournaments. Only one of those (Indiana) is a lock to reach the NCAA Tournament, leaving the other 12 in line for the NIT. Those 12 teams are as follows: North Florida, High Point, Hofstra, UAB, Valparaiso, Monmouth, Wichita State, Wagner, Belmont, Bucknell, IPFW, St. Mary’s.

Of those 12, you could make the argument that five of them — Wichita State, St. Mary's, Valparaiso, Hofstra and Monmouth — have the potential to make the NCAA Tournament. It's unlikely zero or all five of those teams make the NCAA Tournament. Right now, BracketMatrix.com, which collects bracket projections from all over the web and puts together a field based on the average of those projections, has Wichita State and St. Mary's in the field with Monmouth as one of the first four out.

There are 10 top seeds left standing in traditional one-bid leagues that could wind up in the NIT if they fall in their conference tournaments. Below is a list of those teams and when they play next.

America East - Stony Brook in championship game on Saturday

Big Sky - Weber State in semifinals on Friday

Big West - Hawaii in semifinal on Friday

MAC - Akron in semifinals on Friday

MEAC - Hampton in semifinals on Friday

Mountain West - San Diego State in semifinals on Friday

Southland - Stephen F Austin in semifinals on Friday

SWAC - Texas Southern in semifinals on Friday

Sun Belt - Arkansas Little Rock in semifinals on Saturday

WAC - New Mexico State in semifinals on Friday

The American, Atlantic 10, Big Ten and SEC could all influence the NIT as well, since teams outside of the NCAA Tournament picture are still alive and could win those respective conference tournaments. In the ACC, Big 12, Big East and Pac-12, the only teams left standing are expected to make the NCAA Tournament regardless of how things shake out.

If Marquette makes the NIT, gets a home game and wants to play at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, it will need to be on Wednesday since the Bucks play on Tuesday — the only other day first-round action will take place. If Marquette is slotted for a road game, it would be played on Tuesday or Wednesday.

If Marquette doesn't make the NIT it will have two decisions to make. The first is whether or not it wants to participate in a pay-for-play tournament. If it decides to go down that route, which no one from the team or athletic department has discussed openly to this point, it will need to choose between the College Basketball Invitational and the newly-created Vegas 16.

The CBI is a 16-team tournament that began in 2008. Home teams pay for the right to host games, with the price starting around $50,000 and going up as the tournament progresses. The championship round is a best 2 out of 3 series with each team getting at least one home game.

The Vegas 16 is another 16-team tournament that will be played for the first time this season. Instead of paying for home games, though, teams will pay $50,000 for a trip to Las Vegas to compete in a single-elimination tournament from March 26-30.

Following Thursday's loss, the mood in Marquette's locker room was one of hope rather than finality. Multiple players expressed an interest in continuing the season, but they know they'll have to wait until Sunday to find out if that happens and what that will look like.

"I guess you just got to wait, nothing we can really do about it," freshman guard Haanif Cheatham said. "We just will continue to work hard. Even if it's not our year this year we'll continue to work hard over the summer. We've got a great group of guys who love to work hard. It'll happen for us."