Is the Selection Committee a Joke?

[bugatti]

I understand how they harp upon rewarding a difficult schedule. But to me, they should not reward if you lose, just do not penalize as harshly. The big talk last year or the season before was Long Beach State University. They played this brutal non-conference schedule but were rewarded for it by not being seeded all that low. That's fine, but they lost every single game they played against high major competition. Similar to Kansas this season. I give them props for playing a challenging schedule, but what purpose does it serve if you lose the bulk of your challenging games?

[Getslow]

Kinda. Kentucky RPI = 18.

 

Fair enough. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.

 

But overconfidence in the RPI has resulted in a terrible underseeding of teams like Louisville and a terrible overseeding of... well... the entire Atlantic 10.

[bugatti]

Again, it is a helpless subjective job because they set all of these rules. We all get in to the tournament and it is fun, but if you are an outsider and tried to explain the concept and rules, people would laugh at you. "Ok, we will rank the teams 1-68 like you should start when pairing any tournament. However, if you are in the same conference we want to avoid playing one another until at least the final 8 remains, no reason why. Seed 1 we will rank; but after that, the seeds are not ranked. In fact, the #5 ranked team (aka, the top ranked 2 seed), can also be considered the lowest rated 3 seed if it helps another team be closer to home. We can move a team up or down a line and have a fluctuation of 12 spots in our rankings to make this thing work. Then we will take all these teams, place them in odd arenas at odd times of the week and let them play one another. It is an inverted pyramid of excitement, but it makes sense because we say it does. Let's kick-start this thing with teams ranked somewhere between 45-52 playing one another."

[UKMustangFan]

Have they released their 1-68 rankings yet?

[George Amberson]

Yes.

[Hellbird]

It's been a joke for years.

[bugatti]

Have they released their 1-68 rankings yet?

 

Yes. Someone posted in the other thread I believe.

[MJAlltheWay24]

Is it a joke though?

 

I was frustrated yesterday for my team but for others as well. However, I'm sure this will be a record setting year in viewership throughout the opening rounds (at least it seems like each year it is). And it only takes a few crazy upsets and a random Cinderella for them to justify anything. They are in the most win-win position in sports because no matter what they do, we aren't going to stop watching.

[Hellbird]

Some interesting info on the Seedings and the NCAA Tourney.

 

Only 1 time in it's history had all 4 #1 seeds made the final 4

Only 6 times did 2 #1 seeds make the finals

 

In 2011 the highest seed to make it to the final 4 was a #3 seed

 

Depaul was a #1 seed in 1980, 1981, 1983 and lost in the first round all 3 years.

 

Only 1 time in the tournament has a #1 seed beaten the 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1 seed, the way the tournament is supposed to play out.

 

John Wooden and Adolph Rupp are the only coaches to win 4 Titles in 11 years or less.

 

So yes the committee is pretty much a joke when it comes to picking the seedings outside the #1 overall team going into the tournament. (23 times the overall #1 team going into the tournament has won it)

[LOOGY]

As an "Ametuer" athletic association, you dictate seedings and match ups for $$$ rather than what teams actually deserve, you have a problem.

[00Rocket28]

$ometime$ the$e thing$ ju$t don't make $ense. $o I would $ay that, ye$ thi$ whole thing i$ a $ham

[Voice of Reason]

 

Depaul was a #1 seed in 1980, 1981, 1983 and lost in the first round all 3 years.

 

 

I assume this was before they went to 64 teams, because a #16 has never beaten a #1.

 

I think the worst seeding of the tourney is UK. I can find no logical way to get them down to a #8.

[jericho]

Im shocked they didnt pair UK up vs Memphis

[Bluegrasscard]

The head to head selection/non-selection of NC State/SMU had me rankled.

 

As usual - follow the money.

 

NCAA Men?s Basketball Tournament: This Year?s Unit Payouts - Winthrop Intelligence

 

The money for payments comes from a fund the NCAA maintains for basketball that compensates conferences for achievement in the tournament. Units last for six years and conferences are compensated depending on the number of units amassed in the six tournaments previous. Unit values are derived from the total NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament purse, which is a product of annual NCAA total revenues, less expenses and distributions.

...

Money typically flows through conferences and once distributed to a specific school, the money is fungible and can be used by the institution to cover any costs they choose. ¹

 

 

A Single NCAA Tournament Victory Is Worth $1.5 Million - Forbes

 

Using recent increases and future projections as a guide, we can estimate that the total six-year value of playing a tournament game in 2013 is more than $1.5 million. And that’s just the value of a single game played by one team.

 

 

Now it is hard to defend the snub of SMU. SMU ended the season with 3 losses with a bad loss to Houston (RPI 143). NC State had an upset of Syracuse in the tournament - good for them. But other 'full body of work' measure put SMU clearly ahead of NC State. BPI ranking of 33 compared to 66, a 3 point game against #1 seed Virgina vs. a 31 point blow-out against NCS; 3-4 record vs. RPI top 25 for SMU vs. a 1-7 record for NCS.

 

So it surprising the committee with 2 members (20%) and the committee head from the ACC found a way to slide NC State in? Probably not.

[kypride]

I wish they would just use ESPN's BPI to determine who is in and what the seeds are. Then the only job would be to have a couple of people choose which region each team belongs in by pure geography. Take this years 2's for example Kansas, Villanova, Michigan, Wisconsin. No true team from the west and no true team from the south. So What? Kansas is furthest west so they should be in the west. Villanova in the east. Wisconsin Midwest and Michigan South.