March Madness Without Mid-Majors
NCAA Tournament committee forgot what’s fun about March
The NCAA Tournament selection committee took some of the thrill out of March Madness, when it left out key teams from mid-major conferences.
Remember, George Mason’s March Madness NCAA Tournament run in 2006? Apparently the 2007 tournament selection committee has forgotten.
George Mason was a mid-major college team on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and after receiving an invite, GMU made it all the way to the Final Four as an 11 seed.
In 2007, the NCAA Tournament has just six at-large teams from mid-major college basketball conferences. Meanwhile, some questionable invites were extended to major conference also-rans, like Stanford, Arkansas and Illinois.
While these middle-of-the-pack schools from the Pac-10, SEC and Big Ten, respectively, made the tournament field with marginal resumes, at best, uninvited mid-major conference powers, like Drexel, Appalachian State and Akron were told to stay home.
Granted, the NCAA Tournament selection committee has a daunting task, but the first rule for filling spots in the March Madness field must be to invite those unknown schools that bring the Cinderella shoes to the Big Dance.
Every year, a team from a major conference, with a middle to high NCAA Tournament seed, gets upset in the first or second round. Simple mathematics says that there’s less chance of this in 2007, due to the lack of mid-major teams.
Additionally, the NCAA Tournament is played at neutral sites, so it stands to reason that good road teams might do well. Drexel beat Syracuse, Villanova and Creighton (all in this year’s field) on the road.
Appalachian State, meanwhile, had four straight road wins, including two against top 25 teams, en route to finishing 25-7.
For its part, Akron won the Mid American Conference regular-season title and finished 26-7, including three wins against cross-town rival Kent State.
So, it seems, the NCAA Tournament selection committee has forgotten the mid-majors. It has forgotten those that add extra spice to basketball’s greatest event. It has forgotten Drexel, Appalachian State and Akron, among others.
Sadly, just one year later, it has forgotten George Mason.
