Maryland Conservatarian

Some random comments on the Tournament:


Columbus Ohio is the place to be on Friday as 13th-seeded Holy Cross takes on 4th seeded Southern Illinois. Holy Cross would then face the winner of the earlier Virginia Tech-Illinois matchup two days later on Sunday. (Yes, so would SIU if they inexplicably beat the Cross). This is pretty much all I’ll be thinking about the next few days. Holy Cross To Face Southern Illinois In NCAA First Round :: Crusaders earn No. 13 seed in NCAA West Region.

What They Claim: “"Every year when we look at selecting teams, we start with a clean slate," [Committee Chairman]Walters said. "Once conference play is over, every team becomes an independent to us. Our job is to compare and contrast every team regardless of conference affiliation.” What Have You Done Lately?

What They Do: Duke as a #6 seed. A team from U State with the exact same resume as this year’s Duke team doesn’t even sniff a #6 seed and would be lucky to have a #9. Mark It – Duke loses first round to VCU.

Or look at Air Force – take their season, assign it to Duke and they’re comfortably in.

Missouri State – out. Arkansas – in. Clearly, it’s all about the conference despite what that Nike-shilling, empty (work-out) suit Walters claims about a “clean slate”...and obviously it’s still all about being Duke.

Famous Basketball Grads: Holy Cross – Bob Cousy; Southern Illinois – Walt Frazier.

Least Deserving Team to get In: Georgia Tech…especially as compared to Drexel. 7 teams from the ACC are too much.

If you’re not Duke, your RPI is irrelevant. 4 teams with RPI’s of less than 40 didn’t get in. Any guesses how many were from the so-called power conferences?

No Tears for Syracuse. All that wailing and gnashing of teeth and they are only a #2 seed in the NIT. 6 teams from the Big East are more than enough.

Niagara Got Screwed – finished winning 11 straight including one of the most entertaining games of the year – their conference final against Siena a week ago. Their reward is a Play-In Game just to make the Field of 64. It’s been said before – Automatic Bid winners should be exempt from these games.

Bucknell got screwed – as co-champs of the Patriot League, they should have at least gotten an NIT bid.

Boston College is a lucky 7th seed although I'm sure Al Skinner is somewhere whining about that. A few more weeks in the season and they are not even a consideration (unless, of course, you're putting together a police lineup). They lose first round to Bob Knight’s Texas Tech.

I can leave at noon on Friday and still get to Columbus comfortably before Friday’s 9:40 tip-off.

Go Cross!!!