2016 NCAA Selection Committee Rant

It happens every year.  Yes, Every.  Damn. Year.

The NCAA Selection committee sits behind their sealed doors politicking and debating the comparative quality of the various teams.  Purportedly, they weigh all of the information that they have at their disposal.

RPI
BPI
W-L
Recent Games
SoS
Conference

What they swear they don't take into account is money.  That doesn't weigh into things at all right?  Yeah right.

Every year you see glaring inconsistencies, and horrendous snubs, which are then justified by tournament performance or conference affiliation.  Every year you see teams that are horribly mis-seeded, which just happen to give rivalry games in the early rounds which draw even more attention to the tournament.

Don't get me wrong.  They have a strong brand which has thrived under these tactics, but if you are one of the millions of fans who root for a team who is not one of the blue bloods, you have to be fed up by now.

How can a team win  28 games, multiple con-conference against 'Power-5' teams, their conference, and play in the NIT?  Monmouth, you were done dirty.

How can a team who was in the top 25 8 days before the tournament selection show be an 11?  For simplicity's sake 25 divided by 4 is less than 6.  Even if you drop a team 10 spots for an upset, they would still only drop to am 8.  If you then take that team and stick them in a play-in game with no rest before the round of 64......do you really expect them to be on a level playing field?  Yeah Wichita State, you got hosed.  But then again.  They are getting used to it.

So, how do we fix this?  As I am sure you figured, I have some thoughts.

1. No team with a non-winning conference record should be in the tournament for the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.  

I would go so far as to say that perhaps you should be in the top half of your conference to make the tournament.

2. Regular Season Conference Champions should be given preference on inclusion.  I know everyone loves the excitement of the buzzer beaters, and the auto-bid gives the conference tournament value.  Realistically, there is no way that is going away, but I St. Mary's owned Gonzaga, who just whooped Utah.  There are a number of teams that they should have been in over.

If you include the teams who know  how to win games, you will have better games.

3. If we are going to have Play-in games, there needs to be a rest day to allow them to recover, akin to what we have been the rounds of 32 and 16.  Doing it how they are doing it now, puts those teams at a distinct disadvantage.  It can be overcome, but the whole myth about this tournament is that it puts everyone on an even playing field and lets them decide it fairly.  Well, let's put everyone on an even level and let them decide if fairly.

Phew, thanks, I needed that.