Ayer With The Easy Layup and Loyola Marymount...

He panicked. It is really that simple. That is the only reasonable explanation for Chris Ayer's actions in the final seconds of last night's West Coast Conference Championship.

A layup. It wasn't a 30-foot desperation heave at the buzzer. It wasn't a pressure-packed off-the dribble 16-foot pullup. It wasn't a 10-foot turnaround with a hand in the face. It was a layup. And he panicked.

Chris Ayer had his one shining moment staring him right in the face. Softly lay the ball into the basket and the Loyola Marymount Lions (they of the 12-17 record) are dancing. Watch the ball go through the hoop and a date with Memphis or Illinois or North Carolina awaits. Instead, young Mr. Ayer launched his one-foot layup three feet too far and hit nothing but glass, forcing the college basketball world to watch the increasingly-annoying Adam Morrison celebrate as if the Zags had actually beaten somebody with talent.

Number one seed? Ha! I agree with ESPN's Jimmy Dykes' assessment during last night's Colonial Championship that Gonzaga is sure to be the first #2 seed knocked out of the tournament. I can only hope that it is the #15 (Northern Arizona anyone?) who does the trick. The sooner we get Gonzaga out of the tournament, the sooner we can focus on teams that are actually good.

In other action last night, UNC Wilmington captured the Colonial automatic bid over the Hostra pride. A bubble team in every sense, Hofstra now has a long wait until Sunday. IO-NA crushed St. Peter's to win the MAAAAAC and Chicago State defeated Ooey-Pooey in the Mid-con semis. Chicago State now plays Oral Roberts tonight in the finals. It is the first time in school history that the Cougars will be playing for a chance to join the NCAA party. Unfortunately, Oral Roberts (a dangerous potential #15 seed by the way) is likely to crush them.

The bottom line is, to win, Chicago State is going to need to think creatively. Perhaps Chicago State could use the assistance of some clever fans. They may want to pick the brains of the California undergrads who came up with one of the most-hilarious pranks I have heard in a while. First a little background. I believe it was the Duke students who are credited for first mocking opposing players for their legal and moral transgressions. In the 80's, they bombarded N.C. State's Lorenzo Charles (yes, THE Lorenzo Charles of 1983 championship tip-in fame) with pizza boxes after he had been arrested for stealing pizza from a delivery man. A few games later they absolutley crossed the line when they greeted Maryland's Herman Veal with a showering of panties after Veal had been charged with a sexual crime (this begs the question...what was Veal doing playing? Why wasn't he suspended? Who was the Terp coach at the time, Lute Olson?). Duke started it and, over the years, a number of other schools have picked up on it.

So, one had to wonder what the students were referring to when, upon going to the free-throw line, USC's Gabe Pruitt was serenaded with chants of "Vic-tor-ia, Vic-tor-ia" followed by a telephone number. Upon hearing the chants, Pruitt, a 79% foul shooter, apparently looked absolutely horrified and proceeded to miss the two free throws. So who is this Victoria and why was a mere mention of her name so disturbing to Pruitt?

It turns out that a group of Cal students had been sending Pruitt instant messages from the ficticious Victoria, introducing her as a "UCLA Co-ed." In fact, Pruitt and a group of teammates were anxiously awaiting a meeting with the all-too-willing "Victoria" and her friends later that evening. (The Cal students even sent fake pictures to which Gabe reportedly responded "Now I want to c u so bad"). Pruitt shot a miserable 3-13 from the field and, suffice to say, he didn't wind up scoring as much in the game as he had would have liked. My guess is that he didn't score as much after the game as he had hoped either.

Almost as disturbed as Pruitt is Bill Self, the coach of the Team Who Must Not Be Named. Self is upset because Texas was awarded with a Big 12 championship trophy after beating Oklahoma on Sunday, while the Team Who Must Not Be Named was given NOTHING for their share of the championship (they finished tied at 13-3). Look Bill, the Big 12 tried. They had no idea how to engrave the trophy.

Now, as many of you know I fancy myself a "bracketologist" and whether through a bizarre real-life understanding of the selection process or through just plain dumb luck, I have been largely successful at predicting the NCAA Field (Tom and I have consistently beaten the so-called "experts" at their own game). This is the time of the year when one hears a lot about the various factors that the Committee uses in selecting the 34 at large teams and my advice is to ignore almost everything that you hear. In fact, today and tomorrow I will tell you everything you have to know to understand the reality of the process, with my own unique little spin (was that overly boastful?). Read the following (and tomorrow) and welcome to Bracketville!!!

The Media Knows Amost Nothing About the Selection Process

This is a perfect place to start. That said, how can one keep this discussion short when there is so much material? Shall, we shart with Boers and Bernstein's intelligent conversation on AM 670 The Score about bubble teams during which Boers announced that the ACC will only get three teams in the tournament? It turns out that the afternoon hosts did not even realize that Boston College is in the ACC. Shall we talk about the media schmoke who insisted that Cincinnati will get into the tournament because the committee will be sympathetic to all of the team's injuries? Look idiot, the Committee uses injuries to discount teams, not the other way around.

Look, this is the time of the year when EVERYONE has an opinion. Dick Vitale has opinion. Digger Phelps has an opinion. Nick Lachey has an opinion. Jessica Alba has an opinion (does anyone agree that I really need to get Jessica Alba into the Random Thoughts on a more consistent basis?). Even the kid who mowed lawns on "Can't Buy Me Love" and scored the hot chick probably has an opinion. Rumor has it that guy has a pretty significant career now.

Unfortunately, most of these people do not know what they are talking about. When one is done counting all the teams that Dick Vitale proclaims as in, the field consists of 178 teams. That guy from "Can't Buy Me Love" is too busy doing that silly dance and thinks that Appalachian State is a viable at-large candidate. And I'm not paying any attention to anyone who does not realize that BC is in the ACC. I beg you...please ignore the media. When Mac, Jurko and Harry announce that Doug Gottlieb is coming up next, run. Run far, far away. Switch the channel to hip-hop. Play a game with your children. Watch the new Harry Potter movie. Close your eyes and think about Jessica Alba. Just don't pay attention to the idiocy.

Having a Good Road Record is Important But Let's Not Overstate It

I'd be lying if I claimed that road record is unimportant, but some act like road record is the end-all, be-all. They argue that Michigan State is not going to play their tournament games at the Breslin Center, so one should focus on how they did at the real Assembly Hall (Indiana), the fake Assembly Hall (Illinois), and the Kohl Center (Wisconsin).

You know what? MSU's tournament games are not going to be played at any of those venues either. Most likely, they will be played at a neutral site in front of 1,500 Spartan fans, 1,500 opposing fans and 15,000 people who are just sitting back and complaining about the nacho cheese being cold. If you want a more telling statistic look at the team's road + neutral record. I know of one "expert" who, three weeks ago, argued against Indiana's candidacy because they had "not won a game against a top-100 RPI team on the road." He argued that they, therefore, have not proven that they can win in a tournament setting. A Purdue grad, he conveniently forgot about IU's 26-point victory over Kentucky on a true-neutral court (the game is played in Indianapolis where the crowd is 10,000 Hoosier fans, 10,000 Wildcat fans, two cows and three farmers named Shane who thought they were going to the Indy 500).

Midmajor State Should Get In Because They Have "Quality Wins" Over Suckville State and Terrible Tech

There is no doubt that to get "in" a team needs "quality wins" and needs to avoid "bad losses." But what exactly is a "quality win" and a "bad loss?" On their face, they are pretty easy to define. A "quality win' is a win over a top-100 RPI team, with extra attention being paid to wins versus the top-50 and the top-25, while a bad loss is a loss to a sub-100 RPI team. Further, I am comfortable that the committee is thorough and intelligent enough to distinguish between a win over overrated Valley team Missouri State (RPI # 21) and ACC stalwart Boston College (yes, they are in the ACC, Terry) (RPI # 33).

But what really irritates me is when the media notes that a team from a mid-major conference has a "quality win" merely because it comes against a team from a BSC conference (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, SEC, Pac 10). A win by Hofstra over St. John's (RPI # 136) is constantly highlighted as a quality win simply because it is an example of a Colonial team beating a Big East team. Yet, if a Big East team like Seton Hall or Syracuse beats St. John's it is expected. God forbid, the Pirates or the Orangemen (I'm leaving the "men" right where it has always been, thank you very much) lose to St. John's and it is a "bad loss." The mid-major teams always whine about lack of respect and being treated unfairly by the "system" yet nobody seems to recognize the unfairness of the "quality win/ bad loss" discussion. Yet another reason to disregard the media...

The discussion may have hit rock bottom during the CBS telecast of the Valley championship game on Sunday. A graphic was displayed listing the "good wins" by the Valley in 2005-2006. Indiana State over Indiana? Definitely a good win. Northern Iowa over LSU and Iowa? Both certainly qualify. Evansville over Purdue? Please...

Well, class is dismissed for now. Tomorrow we will discuss the RPI, whether conferences really do receive bids, the effect of how a team finishes on the selection process, the underrated human element, and the single most important factor that the Committee should consider (I'll bet that's got you all intrigued). For now, I've got to go. I'm expecting an IM from Victoria.