Gene Smith, Chairman NCAA Selection Committee
With the NCAA Tournament field announced on Sunday, there were a few teams that were kicked to the curb and a few that received a ticket to the dance that clearly did not deserve one. The floodgates opened as angry basketball analysts and fans around the country criticized some of the at-large teams selected by the NCAA Selection Committee. Teams such as UAB, Clemson, VCU, and USC were given a bid to the tourney over teams like Virginia Tech, Colorado, Saint Marys, and Harvard.
UAB went 1-4 against teams in the top 50 while Colorado registered a record of 6-7 against teams in the top 50. Colorado beat Kansas State three times as well as Texas and Missouri once. VCU finished poorly down the stretch going 3-5 and has no true quality wins except for a win against George Mason in the Colonial tournament. A case could be made there for a Virginia Tech team that beat Duke and made a trip to the ACC Conference semis. Clemson and USC shouldn’t be in over Harvard or Saint Marys. Especially a Harvard team that has an RPI of 32 with wins over Boston College, Boston U, Colorado, and Princeton. I am not even going to attempt to get started on USC being in the tournament.
The committee set its eyes on selecting the 37 best at-large teams into the tournament. With UAB, Clemson, VCU, and USC being in the tournament rather than VA Tech, Colorado, Saint Marys, and Harvard is quite the contradiction. The committee needs to go back to the drawing boards until they get this one right or provide a good explanation of why UAB, Clemson, VCU, and USC are in the tournament. Sure the tournament field this year isn’t very strong overall but these selections make me wonder if some of the people on the selection committee even watch basketball.
Here is ESPN’s Interview with Selection Committee Chairman Gene Smith who defends their picks:
Alex Rosencutter is an NCAA basketball player and kinesiology major at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. Originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin, this hoops addict and die hard Miami Heat fan, who is obsessed with old school hoops, has a fever for basketball and the only prescription is more basketball.
