Every year one of the biggest questions as the tournament rolls around is how the top mid-majors would fare against the big-conference schools. This year the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has kept us from finding out.Only six mid-majors made the tournament as at-large selections. Two of the mid-major bubble teams that got left out, Missouri State and Drexel, had strong cases, and you can't blame their fans for thinking they got jobbed.
And even beyond the paucity of mid-majors in the Big Dance, the way the bracket is pieced together keeps us from seeing mid-majors take on big schools. In the first round, Nevada plays Creighton, Southern Illinois plays Holy Cross and Butler plays Old Dominion. I'd rather see those teams play big-conference schools, so we could answer that eternal question about how the mid-majors stack up. (I especially wanted to see Nevada's Nick Fazekas play against a talented big-school front court.)
Overall, if you're a fan of the mid-majors, you can't be real happy with the Selection Committee right now.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
what can i say old dominion beat drexel 2 times in the regular season quit whining
You're right, of course, Mr. Smith, about many mid-majors getting robbed of a chance to show their stuff in the Dance this year. I enjoy the annual upsets and if the selection committee truly was operating on overall RPI and strength of schedule, more would and should have been given dance tickets= the committee rarely leaves out a team with a main RPI of 36th? They did in Missouri State, which claims a win over Wisconsin. Drexel's RPI was 43rd, surely good enough for inclusion in the field of 65. Nope. Very puzzling.
--HH
The schools that were left out of the Tournament have no one to blame but themselves. All they needed to do was win their Conference Tournament. Every team is in the Tournament form the start of their Conference Tournament, and for the Mid-Majors, it is win or go home. Every athlete learns early on to decide their future and outcome on the floor or the field. I don't feel sorry for any of the teams that are crying crocodile tears. Sure, Texas Tech, and Illinois should not be in the tournament, while Kanas State and Drexel are out. It is what it is. If you leave your future to chance, you may not have a chance.
With 7 teams from the ACC, why not skip the selection committee altogether and just have mid-major schools start a huge play-in schedule starting January 1? The third place team in a mid-major conference is more exciting to watch than the 6th or 7th place team from a BCS conference. I agree with the point about bracketing mid-major team against each other in Round 1
If I caluclate correctly, by the simple expedient of adding one more round, -EVERY- division one school could be included in the dance. Then we'd have a true national champ. May the best team win. But, then again, that would destroy the politics and the 'good ole boy' network that seems to prevail now. (7 teams from one - any - conference........sheesh.)
You are off in your calc. One more round will double the teams to 128. There are several hundred Div. 1 basketball teams.
The above line "The schools that were left out of the Tournament have no one to blame but themselves. All they needed to do was win their Conference Tournament" only applies to smaller conferences. If you're in the ACC or Big East, coming in 6th in your conference and losing in the 1st rd of your tournament still gets you a higher seed. Do these conferences have better teams top to bottom? Of course, but you have to play teams in your conference first. "Schedule games against better team"? Not at home, the big boys won't play at your house. Appalachian State has 4 "quality" wins over teams that are in the dance, with 1 loss, and only 5 losses overall. In the eyes of the NCAA, that's not good enough. Goliath is scared to death of David, and the NCAA knows it. App State, Drexel, and other mid-major teams that do well make the NIT, while average teams celebrate NCAA mediocrity because of conference affiliation.
Drexel defeated Creighton at Creighton; Creighton is in and Drexel is not. Drexel defeated Syracuse, a ranked team. If a mid-major plays a major and wins, how doesn't that make a good case for an invitation?
I guess I can reluctantly understand why Bucknell did not make the field of 65 in the NCAA tourney, but why are they not in the NIT ?
Syracuse was never a ranked team this year,Although they had enough real good wins (Georgetown)they lost to crap mid major school like Drexel which hurt them that and not playing to win the big east tourney tring to save for the big dance
I am sick and tired of the selection committee's proclivity to give certain schools an invite regardless of whether they deserve one or not. I am appalled that after watching the MAC's lone representative punk higher seeded teams year after year they continue to only extended one invite to that conference. How in the world they could exclude Akron with a 27-6 record? Akron is clearly more deserving than many of the marginal teams with just barely over 20 wins. They really blew it this year. Just watch the 4th best team in the MAC will make it to the Sweet 16 because what the committe refuses to realize is that the MAC is now a legitimate Basketball league.