SLIPPERY ROCK— The NCAA Division IIMen's Basketball Tournament begins Saturday.

Slippery Rock University's season ended last Friday.

When the brackets for the 64-team national tournament were released Sunday night, SRU (21-8) wasn't invited to the party.

"This is just a totally unfair way to end our season,"SRU coach Kevin Reynolds said. "We deserved and earned a better fate. That's what I told our players."

SRUhad to finish among the top eight teams in the final Atlantic Region rankings to qualify for the tournament. The Rock entered the PSAC Tournament ranked ninth while Indiana (Pa.) University was ranked seventh.

After nipping IUP (19-6) 73-72 in the final regular season game for both teams, The Rock soundly defeated the Crimson Hawks, 86-69, in the first round of the PSACtournament.

SRUled that game by 31 points with five minutes to play.

"If I knew this was going to be like the BCSin football, I'd have left my starters in and won the game by 50,"Reynolds said. "But I was never taught to coach that way and I won't coach that way."

Despite losing two of three games to SRUthis year and finishing below The Rock in the final PSACWest standings, IUPreceived a bid to the NCAATournament.

Pitt-Johnstown (22-7), which wasn't included in the top 10 of last week's regional rankings, earned an automatic NCAAbid through the Atlantic Region by winning the WVIACTournament.

The final Atlantic Region rankings are not released publicly.

"Pitt-Johnstown winning its tournament pretty much knocked the would-be No. 8 ranked team back to No. 9 and out of the tournament,"said Will Adair, a PSAC assistant commissioner who has served on the Division IIbasketball tournament committee in the past.

"That team might have been Slippery Rock, but we don't know that. There are no at-large bids here. If you don't finish among the top eight (ranked) teams, you don't get in.

"Apparently, the committee didn't feel Slippery Rock squeezed in there at the end,"Adair added.

Gannon (25-3) and Kutztown (24-4) joined IUPas PSACteams gaining bids. Alderson-Broaddus (26-5) and West Virginia State (24-5) also earned bids from the WVIAC. Johnson C. Smith (23-7) and Virginia Union (21-6) earned bids from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

All of the qualifying teams from the Atlantic Region had better records than SRUthis year — except IUP.

"When you have the chance to compare teams head to head — I mean, we won two out of three,"Reynolds said. "I know IUP's been a top-level program for a long time and we're the newcomer. I'm sure that hurt us, but it's supposed to be about 2009."

The Rock won nine of its final 10 games, its nine-game win streak halted by a 103-90 loss to Kutztown in the PSAC semifinals. Kutztown won 15 straight before bowing to Gannon in the conference title game.

IUPdropped three of its final four games.

"I know there's not eight teams in this region better than us,"Reynolds declared.

PSACpublicist Matt Beltz said SRUwas not denied a bid because the region didn't want four teams from the same conference in the NCAAfield.

"The criteria for selection has nothing to do with conferences,"Beltz said. "Each school is considered individually."

SRUwas 21-8 this season. The Rock was 21-87 over the previous four seasons before Reynolds' arrival. SRUwas 52-160 in the eight years since its last PSACTournament appearance in 2000.

"The committee did the wrong thing,"Reynolds said. "This is a joke. It's such a disappointment because we earned it."

Reynolds was named PSACCoach of the Year. The Rock's Denell Stephens, who averaged 20 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, was named PSACWest Player of the Year. He is The Rock's first Player of the Year since Myron Brown in 1991 — the last time SRUplayed in the NCAAtourneyament.

Point guard Kyle Camper, despite leading the nation with 305 assists for 10.5 per game average, received only second-team all-PSACWest status.

Two IUPplayers, Gerald Brooks and Darryl Webb, made the first team.

Looking toward next year, Reynolds said, "we need our returning players to get better and we need to add some pieces in recruiting and build depth.

"Not only do we lose Stephens and Camper, but Jamar Scales scored nearly 1,200 points here and Erroll Robinson was close to 1,000.

"We need two point guards, for sure, to replace Camper and two players to replace Stephens. We'll find them. We'll be back."