I am sure when it is not midnight I will dig into the data of the selection process. But I have to call out the embarrassing way that West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey ranted today about West Virginia being left out of the tournament.
Having a governor of the state ranting about college athletics, in front of a podium with a banner saying National Corrupt Athletic Association, and saying the selection reeks of corruption, it was a miscarriage of justice, and asked his attorney general to investigate what shady things happened to pick UNC over West Virginia.
I get it – the head of the committee is also the North Carolina Athletic Director. I also get being upset about the fact that the Mountaineers being the first team left out. But the governor should have better things to do than moan about how a team that went 10-10 in their conference deserves to be in a basketball tournament. And quite honestly, what happens to the tournament if the West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and Idaho attorney generals all sue because their bubble team didn’t get in.
Maybe if they don’t like the possibility of backroom deals happening (because obviously that would never happen in government affairs), we can simply let the KenPom model pick the teams. Oh wait, that won’t work for the governor because the model says that North Carolina is better than West Virginia and so was 16 other at large teams. Instead of being the first team out, they would have been the 6th team out.
But what I thought was telling was from my handicapping work. The current Vegas line was North Carolina to beat San Diego State by 5 points. So, while that certainly doesn’t break any ties between the Tar Heels and the Mountaineers, it suggests that the best predictive sports models in the world thought UNC was better than San Diego St, so if anyone stole West Virginia’s spot in the tournament, it is the Aztecs from the Mountain West. Or maybe the Vegas models know about the corruption and realize tomorrow’s game is already been fixed.
Oh and as for the business side of things, since the commissioner talked about how college sports has become a business (which of course it is). West Virginia turned down invitations to both the NIT and the inaugural Crown tournament – the one that FOX made an exclusive deal with the Big 12, Big East and Big 10 which would generate money for the conferences. I don’t know that you get to complain about corruption and money and then not honor the deal your conference made with Fox Sports to play in their tournament.
I get being upset. But if we are going to get into lawsuits over who goes to the tournament, then you have to look both ways. Are we going to allow the Big 12 to sue West Virginia for not following through with what the conference agreed with Fox. All because we are upset that a team that was never going to win the national championship didn’t get to play one or two games in it.
And as for earning a spot in the championship, UC-Irvine went 28-6 this season and is not in the tournament. Central Connecticut went 25-7 and won their conference by 2 games, and they were left out. How about Utah Valley who went 25-8 or Chattanooga who went 24-9 who also both won their conference by 2 games. Colorado went 10-10 in their conference while Utah Valley went 15-1 in theirs. You can claim what you want that the Big 12 is better (which it clearly is) but what stops the Utah governor for suing – a team from that state basically didn’t lose in their conference and was left out.
At the end of the day, 31 teams earn their way into the tournament (which West Virginia failed to do). Then, 37 teams get invited based on a committee – they can choose whoever they want for whatever reason they want. It is fine not to like it, but it is still how the process works. If you don’t like it, don’t lose 13 games and finish in a tie for 7th in your conference.