People complain constantly about the BCS selection process, but I think it is a great system when it is compared to the NCAA basketball tournament selection process. Wait, before you start jumping up and down calling me an idiot, let’s think about it for a moment. The NCAA basketball tournament is supposedly composed of the 64 best teams in the country, but it is not. The Tournament is comprised of some good teams which we term powerhouses, middle of the road teams that realistically have no chance at winning the title which have been dubbed mid-majors, and small division I-AA schools or weaker programs which are called hopefuls, upstarts, or Cinderellas. 28 of the 64 teams are picked subjectively by a committee, who has criteria to follow, but can interpret it in their own way. This criteria is not based on a mathematic formula such as the BCS is, it is based on feeling and emotion. Now let’s look a little deeper at the selection process to see how bad it really is.
The NCAA tournament this year left the RPIs 34th ranked team out of its tournament this year. Yes 34th ranked San Diego State who has a (23-9) record WHO has earned the right to play in the NIT was the highest ranked team to be left out of the NCAA tournament. This travesty is magnified when you realize that Alabama State (RPI 186) and Morehead State (RPI 137) are playing in the play in game simply because they won their conference tournaments. The thing that should hurt The Aztecs of San Diego State the most is that you often hear analyst and Selection Committee members talk about a team’s total body of work for the season. With all of the BCS’s faults, this type of travesty would never occur in its system.
How can the NCAA basketball tournament committee, University Presidents, and Athletic Directors continue to utilize an antiquated system which pits these 98 pound weaklings against the powerhouses of college basketball? In all honesty these people who lord over one of the greatest sporting events in the world, knows that these schools have no shot at winning these games. Oh, yes you do have your occasional shot in the dark team winning a game or two, but more often than not it does not happen. When a number 16 seed has never beat a 1 seed, and you continually put these weaker teams up for slaughter on a yearly basis it is time to look in the mirror and look at the process. This tournament is strictly about butts in the seats and dollars in these types of games. The greed of money will eventually ruin this tournament, if the process is not changed.
I am all for smaller schools having a chance to compete, but not in the national championship if they truly are not legitimate contenders for the crown. The reality of the situation is that 85% of the time the powerhouses such as Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Connecticut, etc. gain nothing from playing a Morehead State, except the increased exposure to injury. When these powerhouses blow out the upstarts it is said that they are merely doing what they were suppose to do. If they do not blowout the upstart team, then it is said that they took the team too lightly, and if they lose to them they are branded a pretender.
If the NCAA Basketball Tournament is going to continue to invite these small conferences to the dance with automatic bids to the conference tournament champions, they must expand the field by at least 20 teams. In doings so they should mandate that the entire RPI top 50 gets invited to the tournament. An even better idea is to put the RPI top 200 teams into a tournament and let the winner be decided in a one and done tournament. With this way of doing things you more than likely would net all of the conference champions, and deserving teams in one true national championship tournament. These plans will go a long way in taking much of the subjectivity out of the selection process, and allow for much better play and excitement in the tournament. Hey even the Kentucky Wildcats would have been able to continue their streak of 18 straight tournament appearances this year under my final plan. My question to you is which is more probable Kentucky getting hot and making it to the National Championship game this year or the Morehead State/Alabama State winner winning a game in this year’s tournament? You make the call!
Johnson is editor and contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at johnsonthesportsguy@gmail.com
Posts
Come on, the tourny isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to see these small market teams play. It gives them and their schools exposure on a grander scale. Recall a few years back when Oakland won the right to get slaughtered by UNC? Of course they didn't have a chance BUT, you don't have this argument like in college football about who's best. Just because you play in a weaker conference, you still get to play against the big boys for the right to win it all. the BCS does not have that - ask anyone in Utah.
So how can you say that the BCS is better?
Also, expanding the field would make it a circus. these kids play a ton of games as it is, no need to make it longer.
San Diego State should win their conference if they want to play. Did anybody below them in their conference go? no. How many above them in their conference went? I know Utah and BYU are going, how many more do you want?
And a 16 seed has never upsetted a #1 seed? Obviously. you match up to make your higher ranked teams go farther in order to have the best teams standing at the end. i am glad that the 16 seed has never beat a 1 seed.