Tag Archives: NCAA tournament selection committee

A good thing

Posted on April 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

The sports writers are loving the underdog story that is the Butler Bulldogs.

And why not?  Basketball fans love a good Cinderella team.

But supporting Butler tonight in their quest to win the NCAA Championship is more than cheering for the little guys against Duke’s established, winning, monied program.

It’s choosing good over evil.

It’s rewarding hard work over entitlement.

It’s sending a message to the NCAA Selection Committee:  we choose the team that fought every step of the way to get to that final game…not the team that was oh so carefully ranked and placed in the brackets to ensure their final spot.

Most people agree that Syracuse deserved the #1 spot that Duke occupied in the South, where the #2, 3, and 4 seeds were decidedly weaker.  If their positions had been switched, who knows the outcome? But, as always, Duke got the weaker bracket, the easier road.

This is not the Road to Entitlement.

This is the Road to the Final Four.

Go Bulldogs.

Go Butler!

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Respect

Posted on March 27, 2010 | 2 Comments

Now that the field of 64 teams in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is down to the Elite Eight, I thought it might be fun to see how the different conferences have fared over the past two weeks.

The tourney committee had definite feelings about the comparative strength of the conferences, and gave slots to the teams according.  Let’s review how many:

Big East:  8
Big 12:  7
ACC:  6
Big Ten:  5
SEC:  4
Mt West:  4
Horizon:  1

(A lot of other conferences got one slot, too.)  And now, let’s review how many remain:

Big East:  1
Big 12:  2
ACC:  1
Big Ten:  1
SEC:  2
Mt West:  1
Horizon:  1

So, what’s my point?

Historically, the Big Eight, Big Ten, and ACC get the most at-large berths to the NCAA tourney.  Since its inception, the Big 12 has been added to that list.

This year, only the Big 12 has lived up to their billing, with two of their seven teams in the Elite Eight.   The Big East and ACC were big disappointments — and not for the first time.  When will the committee learn?

But with both Kentucky and Tennessee still in the hunt, the SEC boasts a 50 percent showing, since tourney officials only saw fit to send four teams to the big dance.

Kentucky plays West Virginia tonight for the East Regional Championship and a berth in the Final Four.  Tomorrow, Tennessee plays Michigan State for the Midwest Regional Championship.

I hope the tourney selection committee will be watching.

Guys?  That’s the SEC in action.

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