A-10 in the Tourney

[moytoy12]

At least 3 teams in the dance, but with South Alabama in and Georgia winning, gotta think 3 is all the A-10 gets.

[kshoe]

At least 3 teams in the dance, but with South Alabama in and Georgia winning, gotta think 3 is all the A-10 gets.

Would have been interesting to see who would have gotten the spot GA takes. Shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the top 3 RPI teams not to make the dance came from the A-10 and MVC. The RPI is apparently only applicable if you play in a BCS conference.

Random thoughts:

- I can't believe how bad Butler got screwed. A 7 seed is one thing but they also have to play South Alabama in Birmingham.

- I love Xavier's draw except for having to play GA in the first round. Purdue is not that good as the 6 and Xavier can beat Duke as the 2 seed. Very good draw for X.

- St. Joes will beat OK. I couldn't believe OK was that high.

- Seemed like a lot of the 7/10 and 8/9 games were set up with non BCS playing non BCS teams and BCS teams playing BCS teams. The cynic in me believes the committee is scared to have 1st round match-ups that will embarass the BCS conferences.

- Villanova has no business in the tourney before teams like Dayton, UMass or Illinois St.

[Box and Won]

- Villanova has no business in the tourney before teams like Dayton, UMass or Illinois St.

I was pretty surprised at that one.

[Iggy]

- Seemed like a lot of the 7/10 and 8/9 games were set up with non BCS playing non BCS teams and BCS teams playing BCS teams. The cynic in me believes the committee is scared to have 1st round match-ups that will embarass the BCS conferences.

Great point KShoe. I'm pretty happy with 3 getting in and the MVC only getting 1.

It will be very interesting to see what the NIT and the CBI does. This is a new dynamic. Will the CBI take teams the NIT wanted?

[brianstl]

Digger is bitching about VA Taech not making it and Bilas is crying about ASU. What a shock.

[kshoe]

Digger is bitching about VA Taech not making it and Bilas is crying about ASU. What a shock.

Did you listen to them in the hour before the selection show? Knight and Bilas were talking about how there should be no automatic bids and how unfair it is to the power conferences, yada yada. If they go that route they should just re-name the tourney the BCS Invitational and be done with it.

[moytoy12]

Did you listen to them in the hour before the selection show? Knight and Bilas were talking about how there should be no automatic bids and how unfair it is to the power conferences, yada yada. If they go that route they should just re-name the tourney the BCS Invitational and be done with it.

Oregon getting a 9 seed? That's a tad generous. Maybe the committee loves those cheerleaders as much as the rest of us do.

[brianstl]

Did you listen to them in the hour before the selection show? Knight and Bilas were talking about how there should be no automatic bids and how unfair it is to the power conferences, yada yada. If they go that route they should just re-name the tourney the BCS Invitational and be done with it.

Didn't see that, I have been in and out of the house today while I BBQ. I have noticed that Digger, Bilas, and Vitale have had a confused look on their face when Knight hasn't agreed with them automatically.

I think Knight is the clear star of that group followed by Hubert Davis. I have been shocked by how quickly Knight has adjusted to his role. He is head and shoulders above anyone else at ESPN.

[Majerus Magic]

Didn't see that, I have been in and out of the house today while I BBQ. I have noticed that Digger, Bilas, and Vitale have had a confused look on their face when Knight hasn't agreed with them automatically.

I think Knight is the clear star of that group followed by Hubert Davis. I have been shocked by how quickly Knight has adjusted to his role. He is head and shoulders above anyone else at ESPN.

Knight is awesome.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Oregon getting a 9 seed? That's a tad generous. Maybe the committee loves those cheerleaders as much as the rest of us do.

The shocker to me was Ohio State being left out. I haven't researched it, but I can't remember a team from the Big Ten with an over .500 conference record being left out of the NCAA.

I'm also surprised Virginia Tech was left out, after finishing over .500 (9-7) and in 4th place in the ACC. I think leaving out a team with an over .500 record from the ACC is also unprecedented, but this is the new ACC with more teams.

Arizona State was snubbed because of its RPI of 83. However, Arizona State tied with Oregon at 9-9 in the Pac-10, both ahead of 8-10 Arizona. And most of all, Arizona State beat Arizona twice. The NCAA obviously did not want to take on the Pac-10 power structure of Lute Olson at Arizona (who is coming back next year) and the Nike folks in Eugene, Oregon.

The NCAA didn't want more fallout from the Big East after last year's snub of Syracuse, so it gifted an NCAA bid to Villanova. That Villanova v. Syracuse 1st round Big East Tournament game was a de facto NCAA play-in game.

The real truth is that this selection is ad hoc. The NCAA Committe uses the RPI when it wants to snub an Arizona State, but then disregards it to snub non-BCS teams like Dayton, Illinois State, UMass, and Creighton.

I also don't see how Baylor made the NCAA field.

It is good for SLU interests to see that the A-10 still got 3 NCAA teams, even if it really may have deserved as many as five, whereas Juan Bid made a visit to the rival Missouri Valley Conference. These facts are good ones for upcoming use in SLU recruiting.

[Bearvision]

Congrats on getting three teams into the tourney. As a fan of a fellow mid-major conference, I'll be rooting for you guys to pull some upsets, and go far into the tourney.

It's a shame Illinois St. was snubbed, but I can't make an extreme argument against them getting in over a few other teams. Georgia probably took ISU's spot, but it may have even been Va. Tech's spot.

Anyway, good luck to Temple, St. Joe's, and Xavier this tourney...

[Bay Area Billiken]

For Randy Bennett fans, St. Mary's is being shipped to North Little Rock, Arkansas as a #10 seed for a Friday matchup with #7 seed Miami (FL) of the ACC. If St. Mary's can win there, Texas looms in Round 2. Texas beat St. Mary's this year in Austin, TX.

The NCAA gave the 14th ranked WCC its 3 teams, but shipped all three thousands of miles to the east to likely imminent dismissals. Gonzaga was given a 7 seed, but has to play Davidson in its home state in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday. A win there would bring Georgetown in Round 2.

San Diego was given a 13 seed and faces probable imminent elimination against UConn on Friday in Tampa, Florida

So the WCC got its 3 teams, and about 8,000 miles in collective 1 way travel.

[kwyjibo]

It will be very interesting to see what the NIT and the CBI does. This is a new dynamic. Will the CBI take teams the NIT wanted?

The NIT took UMass, Rhodey, Charlotte, and Dayton (SF Austin "6 Million Dollar Men" vs. Umass; Cleveland State "Rocks" at Dayton; Charlotte at Nebraska (Atlantic City was on the Springsteen "Nebraska" album, no?) and Rhodey at Creighton Blues).

I have no idea what the CBI is going to do but fears about a big buy-out to overshadow the NIT seem to be unwarranted. I think they are going with a very inequitable model (paying for some teams while most teams have to pay them(!)). Some bigger names have been linked to the CBI in the lead-up (Romar's Washington and Alabama) but the Auburn coach let it be known they wanted them to shell out $60K and the CBI would let them keep the gate. I suspect fiscally sound institutions will say no but schools with money or vanity will want in. I suspect they will have a hard time getting a full field but with enough calls they will get it done.

[Schasz]

For Randy Bennett fans, St. Mary's is being shipped to North Little Rock, Arkansas as a #10 seed for a Friday matchup with #7 seed Miami (FL) of the ACC. If St. Mary's can win there, Texas looms in Round 2. Texas beat St. Mary's this year in Austin, TX.

The NCAA gave the 14th ranked WCC its 3 teams, but shipped all three thousands of miles to the east to likely imminent dismissals. Gonzaga was given a 7 seed, but has to play Davidson in its home state in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday. A win there would bring Georgetown in Round 2.

San Diego was given a 13 seed and faces probable imminent elimination against UConn on Friday in Tampa, Florida

So the WCC got its 3 teams, and about 8,000 miles in collective 1 way travel.

We are going to see the UConn vs San Diego game on Friday here in Tampa. We also get blessed seeing Drake make their first NCAA trip in ions. They shipped us the wrong team from TN as my wife wanted to see her Vols play here. Actually felt the Vols getting a No. 2 in the same region with UNC was another hair scratcher by the Selection dudes. Oh well, in the end only one team is going to be good enough to win 6 games in a row.