I think there are 33 conferences that get automatic bids for their conference tournaments. That can allow for some teams to play out of their minds in their tournament and get in. Perhaps only those with a certain amount of wins should be allowed to play conference tournaments. In football, a team has to have 6 wins from division 1 schools to play in a bowl game.
So, SOS can play into it but when you have 7 of 10 or 12 schools from the same conference gets in, that’s rediculous.
The way to get rid of any nonsense is to take the conference regular season winner or second place and their tournament winner. That’s it. 66 teams. One play in game.
you want to take the second place team from all of those little crud conferences?
That would really water down the competition.
I think there are too many from the power conferences that make it but that is because I am against favoritism and bias, something that will probably never change.
The ncaa tournament is all about the possibility of david slaying goliath and the no names making a run to the title. That is what makes it the greatest sporting spectacle in the world and even though there is always going to be that favoritism and bias, it’s still the best.
It isn’t pessimistic, it’s realistic. As for the criteria, we all know there is a lot of subjectivity that gets thrown into the mix.
On the show I was watching, BYU was almost the last team to be called.
I have noticed, however, that a lot of the espn and other guys are showing the Cougars a lot of love for making it to the second round by winning the play in game and beating Xavier. Some even think they can make it past Baylor.
We will see…
It’s 68 teams I believe that get in. If you can’t get in the that, you don’t deserve to win it all.
The best part of this tournament is this, every team outside of the Ivy League has a shot to win their conference tournament and get a shot to win it all. The only people left out, are those who didn’t win their conference championship and if you can’t win that, do you really deserve a shot to win it all.
The at large teams are subjective and year after year we see strength of schedule matters more than wins and losses, so if you are a mid major, you better win your conference championship or at least play some quality opponents.
The single most fair way to crown a champion in all of college sports.
I’m surprised to see the Mountain West get three teams in. Probably because Wyoming was automatic and they didn’t want to leave San Diego State or Boise State out. This is a great time of year for basketball fans. I have a hard time finding a dark horse this year-I wonder who it will be- at least to reach the sweet 16. It doesn’t seem they place emphasis much on the tournaments except for the automatic bids otherwise Arizona would be a number one and Duke a number 2. Gonzaga you could argue strength of schedule, but not Arizona
They should of had 4 in, CSU had a top 30 RPI and based on that alone whould have made it over many of the other at large teams. The MWC built a legacy with tournament success, and is not considered a mid major conference by many.
I agree. No reaso for Texas or UCLA and Indiana to be in this except for name recognition. And, they should be playing Tuesday, not BYU
Play in games should be for mid majors only, I’m surprises they put an SEC team in it.
Mtn West should have had 4 teams in. CSU should be in…Texas deserved to be in but not UCLA.
BYU can beat Miss as well as Xavier.
Yeah this could be really interesting. Ole Miss SHOULD be a win. And if it is then it will be a nice game to get back in the groove for the better team, Xavier. This too is a winnable game for BYU. Wish it was in Portland instead of Jacksonville but whatever. BYU almost never gets put into a “local” bracket. This is probably true for most schools though and I only notice for BYU. I really hope they win at Ole Miss. I think that will tell a lot about this team. Hopeful that Winder and Halford will be good to go.
I heard Halford is ready to go, Winder, I know nothing about. I also think the Baylor game looks winnable just on Baylor’s Jeckel-Hyde demeanor. They have looked unstoppable to very easy to beat in Big 12 play.
I am very excited to see what they can do.
Lunardi has BYU advancing http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12492709
also look at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12492879
Per Dave Rose, Winder might play but will have surgery after the season. Winder was not playing well during that Santa Clara game but should he play against Ole Miss? Skyler more likely going to play.
Not surprising about Winder-I feel bad for him-he was having such a great year. The key for BYU may be the play of Fischer. If he shoots well it makes things easier for Haws and KC. The same goes for Halford. If they don’t shoot well it’s going to be rough. I’m not sure what to think about Fischer, he has such a great stroke, but is inconsistant. Hoping everyone is right about Ole Miss, but somehow I feel it will be a close game.
I would love to see Winder play but he was still injured before the wcc tourney, then it got worse during SC. With the added D’s he plays really help his team. Hope he does play but more likely he will be slow bc of that bummer knee.
Texas had a losing record in their conference. RPI weak. They should not be on with that record and neither UCLA
They took Kentucky to double overtime. They will be tough.
wrong again…
they took UK to overtime, not double OT. Also, that was a long time ago, almost 2 1/2 months. Ole Miss. has lost 4 of their last 5.
Defense will be the key, if BYU shows up and plays tough D they will win.