The Chairman Speaks, Lies

I hate to weigh into this annual silly debate, but I did want to make one point.

I listened to the Selection Committee Chairman on Mike and Mike this morning.  He was talking about why Virginia Tech is not in, but Wake Forest is.  He focused on Tech's OOC schedule, which he says was among the 10 weakest in the country.

Here's the thing.  I thought you used SOS when you were trying to compare records of two teams from different conferences, when there is no basis for direct comparison...you know, sort of the best you can do.  But, in this case, Virginia Tech had a better conference record than Wake Forest and BEAT Wake Forest when they played.  I don't care, at that point, who they played outside of the conference.  Virginia Tech has clearly had the better season.

The Chairman was then asked why there can't be a computer program that selects at-large teams.  He said that you couldn't remove the human element because you need to watch teams play to determine what kind of tempo they play and how they play defense, etc, things which "can't be reflected in numbers."

Yes, this is the man in charge of making these decisions.

First, obviously, those things CAN be reflected in numbers.  And if they couldn't, what qualifies him to evaluate them?  And, most importantly, has the NCAA decided that one kind of tempo should get a team into the tournament and another not?  Are we selecting specific styles of play.  What about the old Loyola Marymount team that didn't play any defense at all?  Would they be in and out?

It doesn't make any sense, and that's because he was grasping for an answer.  The real reason they won't let it be driven by an objective standard is that they want to be there to protect their major conference buddies and make sure that those last at-large slots don't go to a team like Kent State, who deserved a shot had they made the MAC finals. If they let it be objective, than they lose the chance to tilt the pinball machine and they won't do that.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter too much, because I doubt either Va Tech or Wake are likely to be in the Final Four.  The idea, however, that the committee is carefully eyeballing defensive intensity to pick Tournament teams is an absolute joke.