Attack of the Shammittee

I have so much to say about the 2006 NCAA Tournament bracket that I doubt that this post will have its usual award-winning structure and pace (well, it ought to win an award). It is pretty much going to consist of a series of facts, figures and complaints. Mostly complaints.

First the good news...my accreditation for last week's Bracketology 101 class has not been revoked. The American Academy of Ameteur Time-Wasters (also known as the Institute of Bracketology) recognizes that it isn't my fault that the committee apparently decided to throw the long-standing rules out the window. In fact, I would argue that I made a number of points during our Bracketology 101 sessions that were proven correct (i.e.: The importance of the human element; the fact that the oft-heard mantra "conferences do not receive bids, teams do" is incorrect).

Further, I am happy to report that Tom and I are not the only bracketologists that performed (how do I put this delicately?)...absolutely abhorrently. Now, I do not mean to suggest that we only selected 32 teams correctly or that we had Dick Vitale University a #13 seed and Belmont a #4, but when you have had the success that we have enjoyed in the past, 62/65 teams selected correctly and only 50 teams seeded within one seed of actual is awfully poor. That said, I have yet to find a bracketologist that did not get caught in the bloodbath.

So why did this happen? Well, let's put it this way...when I rewatched the selection show last night, I was hoping-against-hope that the version on my TiVo hard drive was different than the version that I saw live at 5:00. I figured that it had to be. Further, I had to conduct a quick Internet search to find out when The University of Cincinnati changed its spelling to A-I-R-F-O-R-C-E.

I can't wait to see how Illinois handles the Bearcats' Eric Hicks in the post...

Among the problems:

* Air Force is not a tournament team. Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com (whose butt we kicked I might add) said it best..."they look like Northwestern only with shorter and slower players." A few friends and I are going to throw $5 each into a hat and guess how many points AF scores against Bruce Weber's defense. I'm going with 41 (and that probably includes a last-second meaningless three-pointer).

* Utah State is not bad, but they should not have gotten in over Missouri State or Creighton. Was it the Aggies' 25 or 28-point win over RPI #301 Idaho that got them the nod? Look, Utah State will likely compete with Washington and, who knows, may even pull off the upset, but their profile suggests that they should not have been even given the chance.

* Cincinnati's exclusion is a major snub. Not much else needs to be said.

* Tennessee a # 2 seed? The same Tennessee that lost 4 of their last 6 games, including two at home? Did Allan Houston have his eligibility restored?

* Syracuse is not a # 5 seed. We knew that this was coming, but it does not make it right. The committee has essentially sent a message that four days are much more important than three months. How does a team go from being out of the field at 11:00 am on Thursday to a #5 seed in four days?

* Neither is Pittsburgh. Syracuse's seed is even more troubling when you consider that they are on the same seed line as Pitt. The Panthers proved to be an outstanding team all season and went the finals of the Big East Tournament. They were a far-superior team to the OrangeMEN from November 15 to March 11, a worse team from 7:00 to 9:00 on Saturday, March 11, and have the same seed. Yeah, that makes sense.

* Illinois is better than a #4 seed. I'm certainly not going to cry the Illini a river, however, as they ended up getting matched up against the St. Lucious School for the Blind. What? They are playing Air Force? Same thing.

* Congratulations Boston College on making the ACC Finals. Too bad you lost to Duke in a hard-fought game that went down to the wire. Your reward for such a stellar run? You get to be a #4 seed...in Salt Lake City...on Thursday. Oh yeah, and you will be playing the early game that day. Have fun. (I really do not have a problem with BC's seed, but asking them to play the earliest possible game, across the country, is a tad unfair with the Eagles coming off of three intense games). It may seem like a little gripe to you, but you can bet that BC coach Al Skinner is not pleased.

* George Washington is 26-2 dangit! I know that the Atlantic 10 is a medicore conference, but it is not the SWAC. GW went undefeated in conference play, had nothing to play for in the conference tournament and lost to a desperate Temple team (who predicted that again?), and deserved higher than a #8. According to the Shammittee (no, that is not Shamu's little nephew), GW is less-qualified than California. Brutal.

*George Mason is in, but Hofstra is not. Huh. I did not think that either should be in, but it is difficult to justify one and not the other. After all, the Pride defeated the Colonials twice in the last ten days of the season and their profiles are otherwise practically identical (although Mason's does include a 20-point home loss to Creighton. At least Creighton got in. What? They didn't?). I wonder how this happened. Anyone recall who Thomas O'Connor is and what he as busy doing over the weekend? I'm not saying. I'm just saying.

It also turns out that George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga worked with chairman Littlepage when both were assistant coaches with Virginia in the 80's. But this, of course, had no effect on anything.

Look, I could go on and on (Montana a #12?).

The bottom line is that the Shammittee is charged with choosing the 34 best at-large candidates for inclusion in the field based on the team's entire body of work. They failed. Plain and simple.

So what lessons do we take out of this year's selections? That the booze was flowing all weekend in the Shammittee's hotel suite? That Air Force threatened retaliation if left out? That it doesn't matter how you finish the season (read: Tennessee), unless it does (read: Syracuse)? Personally, I think the lessons are quite clear...

* Conferences DO receive bids. In looking at the conference distribution it almost looks like the Shammittee had a preconceived notion of how many teams they were going to take from each conference. I strongly believe that the Shammittee was intent on taking two from the Colonial, two from the Mountain West, two from the WAC, not more than eight from the Big East, and no more than four from the Valley. In fact, ESPN's Andy Katz's "sources" tell him that "one of the main reasons Air Force got in the field was that the Falcons were the No. 2 team in the Mountain West, ranked as the No. 8 conference" (more on ESPN's sources below).

* The human element has never been more obvious. I've already mentioned O'Connor, but let's not forget that the WAC Commissioner and an athletic director from a Mountain West team (Utah) were also on the Shammittee. Think this did not play a role? Do you also think that Keith Richards' is a helathy, vibrant 23 year-old man? As I said last week, as long as their are inherent conflicts of interest, the process cannot be 100% clean.

* What qualifies as a "good" win really does depend on the name on the front of your jersey. In defending the ridiculous Air Force selection, Shammittee chair Craig Littlepage highlighted the Falcons "good win" over #160 RPI Georgia Tech. Beating Georgia Tech this year would NOT be a good win for Duke, Indiana, Georgetown or UCLA (read: teams from power-six conferences), it should not be a good win for Air Force either. Oh yeah, Littlepage also mentioned the fact that Air Force beat Northern Arizona. Northern Arizona? THE Northern Arizona? The Lumberjacks? Wait, you mean to tell me that Air Force beat the regular season BIG SKY champions? Oh, well then if that is true, I need to change my whole post. Air Force obviously got screwed. They should have been a #5 seed or higher...

* ESPN really does control the universe. Andy Katz's has some amazing sources. He is an excellent journalist who always seems to break the story and usually has information that nobody else has. I don't mind this. What does bother me is that ESPN's resident-Nostradamus Joe Lunardi posted a bracket on Sunday morning and did not have George Mason as one of his "last four out." Suddenly, about one hour before the pairings were officially announced, he removed Missouri State and put in George Mason. How did a team go from being not one of the last four out to in the field? Must have been all those wins that Mason collected between noon and 4:00 on Sunday (snicker). Either that or Mr. Lunardi knows something that you and I don't know... (that's okay, I'm sure that he does not know all the words to "Disney Sing Along Songs Parts I and II" and I do. So there.)

Come to think of it, I guess my Bracketology 101 class did hit on some valid and noteworthy points.

Look, Tom and I (and every other Bracketologist out there) did terribly. There is no two-ways about it. But let's not lose sight of the subjectivity of the process and the undeniable truth that the Shammittee didn't do its job.

What do you think of the bracket selection? Post a comment below.

Coming this week: my anaylsis of the bracket (with a focus on selected teams: IU, Illinois, Duke, Team-who-must-not-be-named, Todd Erdman University, Notre Dame...whoops!) and a lot more fun (unless I'm simply too depressed over the Redskins' signing of Antwaan Randle El to post... yeah, right). Let the Madness begin!