The one thing I hate is being BS’ed. I have a sixth sense for garbage. I can see it coming a mile away; I can pick it up in any conversation. Dan Guerrero, the Chairman of the Selection Committee, was BS’ing me yesterday. I’m not stupid – I know why Virginia Tech did not make the tournament, and it had nothing to do with the arbitrary statistic that supposedly separated them from the other crappy teams who received bids (non-conference RPI). Virginia Tech did not make it because their name is Virginia Tech. The NCAA will make far more money with Florida in the NCAA Tournament than they would have with Virginia Tech. So Guerrero doesn’t have to lie to us, he should say “We wanted Florida in the tournament over Virginia Tech to make more money, so we cherry-picked an arbitrary stat and used it as a reason for their exclusion.” This statistical method is firmly entrenched in the selection process, and it changes every year. Highlighting an arbitrary stat as a reason for exclusion – and ignoring arbitrary stats that support the other team’s case – is a smokescreen for laziness and greed. The committee does whatever it wants and is every bit as biased and unfair as the universally despised BCS selection process in college football. You know damn well that any ACC blueblood would be easily into the tournament with Virginia Tech’s resume. To say otherwise, you are just BS’ing me.
In the old days, the ACC was a great basketball conference where any team with a winning league record would get into the NCAA Tournament. That all changed in 2008 when Virginia Tech went 10-8 and was left out of the NCAA field. This year’s 10-7 squad was left out of the NCAA Tournament, pushing the envelope farther and farther. This is at the point of straining credibility. How far can they go? How many ACC games do they have to win? There is no right answer. Virginia Tech does not belong to the insider, elite club of college basketball and never will. I’m done with constantly hoping Virginia Tech will meet some goal made up by a bunch of morons in television studios. Whenever somebody sets an arbitrary goal for Virginia Tech, and they exceed it, they still get the shaft. God forbid some punk former Metro and Atlantic 10 team actually win games in college basketball's best conference, right?
It would be disingenuous of me to only complain about Virginia Tech. Many other teams got boned over by the committee, and none of them can claim to be in basketball's priveleged class. What does Temple get for a top-10 RPI? A five seed. What does a top-30 RPI get Old Dominion? An eleven seed. Northern Iowa went 28-4 and got a 9 seed. Maybe if they had gone 32-0, they could have earned a 7 seed. BS seeds only add to the pile of garbage the NCAA hands us every year. For all of the outsiders, the message is clear: you aren't welcome here.
Although at first I was opposed to expanding the NCAA tournament, I am now firmly in favor of it. Not because Virginia Tech will get in almost every year (which they will), but because I want the NCAA to ruin their best product and have the entire structure of the sport collapse under its own greed. Kyle Whelliston’s excellent article about the Sports Bubble is undeniably coming true. The more I have followed college basketball, the more I've discovered that the sport isn't fair. The big 65-team party to end the year has the appearance of being fair and inclusive, but it is not. It's not a vehicle for sports justice, it's a cash grab. This isn’t about competition, or a national championship, this is about money. The NCAA wants to make more of it, and you would be a fool to believe they will pass on having a chance to make more money. I am now begging the NCAA to force this unpopular change on the sports world, and to have a watered-down, virtually meaningless regular season conclude with a watered-down, virtually meaningless Mega-Tournament. Such a gross monstrosity of exploitation will backfire, big time. That is why people that love college basketball are pleading to keep the tournament unchanged. I take a different view – the people that run the sham called big-time college basketball do not deserve the success they are currently enjoying. Let them ruin the sport – they are certainly stupid enough to do it.
