This committee obviously didn't pay a lot of attention to the "S Curve" in forming this tournament field. There are other factors that they can take into account, including conference affiliation, and proximity to locations. That had to be emphasized more than the actual quality of each team. Heck, I heard Jay Bilas say on television there are a book full of regulations for the selection process, that can be interpreted any number of ways. Bilas said he didn't even bother committing them to memory, as there was no telling what the Selection committee would take from them. Time to simplify this process, and I am here to help.
A couple things I think should change about the selection process. First off, the most important rule for the selection process.
#1: True S-Curve for the top 16 teams in the bracket (With conference affiliation taken into consideration.) This top 16 takes precedence over of the other rules, and form the foundation for the tournament bracket. Use common sense to decide who the top 16 are. It isn't that hard. Hint, West Virginia should have been #5 at worst, thus playing against Syracuse or Duke instead of Kentucky. There will still be some controversy here, as it is opinionated and an imperfect science. Just have all the committee members rank their top 25 teams and use that as an S Curve.
#2: Location doesn't matter. Unless you are one of the top four teams in the country, you aren't going to have any control over what region you are headed. The S-Curve will decide for you. You can still place teams for the first two rounds based on proximity, but the Regional Finals and Semifinals will not take into account how close your school is to the Regional site.
#3: Only 8 teams can get in per conference. Allowing the Big East to swell in size has complicated the selection process. This year, 8 teams got in. The Committee will not allow you to meet a conference foe until the Sweet Sixteen at earliest, and prefers to keep you apart until the Elite 8 if at all possible. I wonder if the Big East would have some shrinkage if this rule were enabled?
#4: Go ahead and make it illegal for there to be over 12 teams in each conference. The Big East would probably add 4 more teams if we enabled #3, so go ahead and mandate only 12 teams. Having over 12 teams forces unbalanced conference schedules, and an uneven competitive balance.
#5: No play-in game. Take away an at large birth. Leaving Utah State out of this bracket isn't going to ruin the NCAA tournament. The play in game is unfair to those that are placed there. One of those teams is going to miss out on the big lights of the NCAA tournament, even if they are probably missing out on a butt kicking. #8 will also come into play here.
#6: Conference Tournament's must end one day before Selection Sunday. On the seventh day God rested, and the committee likewise needs to have time to digest what has just happened in order to form the best possible bracket. (I can also accept pushing the show back to Monday, but Selection Sunday just sounds right.)
#7: Conference Regular Season should mean something. Now that conference's are limited to 12 teams, schedules should be relatively balanced, and a team's record should be a good indicator of their standing within that conference. Also, let's go ahead and give the RPI some teeth. I am tired of the committee not having a set criteria for how they pick the field. Let's set something in stone. The top ten RPI conference's regular season winners get an automatic bid. Ties go to the team with the higher RPI. (There were 11 league's with two bids this year by the way.) Tournament Champs still get auto bids.
#8: Time to get rid of some teams from Division 1. Being in the Division 1 should mean something. I am not totally sure how contraction should go about, but it needs to happen. Time to get rid of some of the rift raft. Realignment for some of the more competitive teams in each of the lower conference's and relegation for those that don't stack up. This would free up a few more at large bids for more deserving teams, and lead to much more legitimate and dangerous #15 and #16 seeds.
What do you think? Talk about it in the comments section!
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