By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Time was when the National Invitation Tournament came up in conversation among patrons of Dominick's, a popular watering hole in the shadow of the University of Michigan Law School, about as often as a temperance revival.

At Michigan, almost a Big Dance perennial with 11 NCAA Tournament appearances in 14 years between 1985 and '98, the NIT was to be avoided like a muddy patch of "The Diag," the pedestrian pathway through the middle of the undergraduate campus.

But, for this year at least, the NIT has found something of a temporary home and a warm welcome in Ann Arbor, Mich., of all places.

Rocked by scandal and pummeled by probation that had limited Michigan to one postseason berth in the previous four years, there is joy among the Wolverines just to be playing in late March again as the raucous crowd likely to greet the University of Hawai'i at Crisler Arena for today's quarterfinal should attest.

In an arena now stripped of banners from the notorious Fab Five days, there were 11,241, including the boisterous "Maize Rage" student section, to watch the resurgent Wolverines (20-11) beat Oklahoma Monday night. At least as many are expected for today's 4 p.m. (Hawai'i time) ESPN2 game.

"We're elated to be playing," said Tom Wywrot, Michigan spokesman.

Quite a revealing statement coming from a school that won the 1989 national title and was NCAA runner-up in 1992 and '93.

But, then, the present situation sure beats what the Wolverines had been staring at, the expectation of spending this postseason on the sidelines, too. That was to have been one of the final chapters in a sentence handed down for violations the NCAA said centered around, "the largest acknowledgement of cash payments ($616,000) in the history of NCAA infractions."

The money, which the FBI said was provided to NBA star Chris Webber and others by a booster as part of the laundered profits of an illegal gambling operation, gave the school, in the words of the NCAA, a "staggering competitive and ancillary recruiting advantage over other member institutions."

Michigan cleaned house, "vacated" 114 victories, took down four banners, cut back scholarships, repaid postseason money it had received and then went to sit in the corner until 2005, when its postseason ban would end.

But six months ago the door to hoops purgatory was suddenly flung open for good behavior when an NCAA committee reversed the final year of the ban. Since then, Michigan, a young team with an 18-11 regular season record, found itself with the first postseason invitation it could accept in coach Tommy Amaker's three seasons.

The only people happier than those in Wolverines uniforms were the high-fivin' folks at NIT headquarters. Glad to have the Michigan name on its marquee and the Wolverines' rising-from-the-ashes story to tell, the NIT has blessed them with three consecutive home games, the closest thing to a shortcut to Madison Square Garden, site of the semifinal and championship games.

Clearly, however, the Wolverines are looking at this as an aberration, a one-year stop on the road back to the NCAA, the preferred postseason initials in college basketball.

In the meantime, for this season at least, the NIT has found cheers in that bastion of the Big Dance, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.