COLUMN: The real March Madness – Insanity of selection committee
March Madness now has a new meaning.
It refers to the insanity of the the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, which has now upended the college football’s Bowl Championship Series as my most hated sports organization. The snubbing of Utah State shows that the committee still hasn’t given USU or its conference the respect it deserves.
First, let’s talk about just a few of the 34 at-large bids in the tournament. Western Athletic Commissioner Karl Benson is also on the selection committee and one of the most questionable selections was UTEP. It had a 23-7 record, and the Miners beat an NCAA tournament team only once. They also lost five games by more than 12 points, including three 20-point losses.
Alabama finished the season with an unimpressive 17-12 record. Since the Crimson Tide is from the highly acclaimed SEC, it got to play 12 teams that are tourney-bound. Their record against those teams? 2-10. Their total record against the teams that beat them was 1-12.
So, it seems one of the deciding factors in bubble teams is not whether they beat good teams, but whether they even got to play good teams. And what major team is going to come to Logan to take on USU?
There are other examples of teams that got in on the merits of their conferences and not their performances, but let’s talk about USU.
First, the overall record: 25 wins and three losses was good enough for the fourth-best record in the country, behind Stanford, St. Joseph’s and Gonzaga, 1 and 2 seeds in the Big Dance. And the Aggies were only 16 points from a perfect record.
The conference record: 17 and 1. The one loss was to the co-champion of the conference, Pacific.
The record against tourney teams: Utah State is 2-1 against teams in this year’s NCAA tournament. In fact, Utah State lost only one game to a team that didn’t make the tournament, and that team, Cal State Northridge, was basically one bucket away from an automatic berth.
The Ratings Percentage Index: The Aggies have an RPI of 43. Forty of the 42 teams ahead of USU all made the NCAA tourney. UTEP has a 46 RPI, and Air Force, an 11 seed this year, has a 70.
Top 12 stats: This season, the Aggies were No. 7 lowest points allowed per game, No. 2 for the fewest personal fouls per game, second in field goal percentage, tenth in three-point percentage, 11th in free throw percentage, and 12th in rebounding and scoring margin. These stats include all Division I NCAA teams.
The ranking: The Aggies have been ranked for the past six weeks, reaching as high as 19 in the Associated Press. As of last Monday, they were 22. Utah State’s men’s basketball team is the only nationally ranked team ever to get overlooked in the tournament selection. ESPN reported that the Aggies have the highest winning percentage of any team not to be invited to the NCAA tournament since it expanded to include 64 teams. By the way, that doesn’t count former conference rival UNLV, whose 1992 team only had two losses but was ruled ineligible for postseason play.
USU’s history in the tournament: The Aggies have gone to the NCAA tournament three of the last four years. As Stew Morrill pointed out, the Aggies haven’t embarrassed themselves either. In those trips, USU beat fifth-seeded Ohio State, lost to defending national champ Connecticut by 8 points, and missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game against Kansas, who eventually played in the championship game last year.
So, what gives? Is the Big West only a one-bid conference?
Evidently, but it certainly doesn’t deserve to be.
Even worse than in previous years, the overwhelming majority of at-large bids went to the major conferences.
Stew Morrill said, “It’s a sad day for mid-majors everywhere.”
He’s right. Last year, when Gonzaga was given a sixth seed with one of the country’s best records, and Butler was denied with a 25-5 record, the NCAA tournament selection committee seems to be in cahoots with the BCS, who said that even if BYU’s football team went undefeated after they were 10-0, they wouldn’t be included in any of the major bowls.
Back to basketball, Utah State can’t do anything now but look forward to the National Invitation Tournament.
Hawaii, which beat 13th seeded UTEP by 22 points earlier this season, will be playing at the Spectrum Wednesday. It’s one of the most unfriendly courts in the nation, thanks to the loyal and loud Aggie faithful.
I’ll be there, cheering on the Aggies in the first of five consecutive wins in the NIT.
Mark LaRocco is a senior majoring in print/broadcast journalism. Comments may be sent to him at marklaroc@cc.usu.edu.