What teams were left out of the NCAA Tournament that shouldnt have been?

[BettorsChat]

?

[zeib10]

The Red Raiders and the Vols.
More importantly, what was the committee smokin' when they figured out the seeds.
Oregon wins Pac-10 tourney and gets an 8 seed, when Ind stank in the Big Ten and gets a 7 seed?
Louisville a 4 seed ?

[wayne1218]

Boston College, give me a break they win the regular season division championship and beat NC St on their floor by 12 points,and UCONN by 24 on their homecourt, there is no way Auburn should be in if B.C. isn't.:confused: :confused: :confused:

[BettorsChat]

BOSTON (AP) -- Two Big East schools are coming to Boston for the NCAA tournament. Boston College won't be in the 64-team field at all.

BC, the regular-season champion of the Big East's East Division, did not receive an invitation from the selection committee on Sunday as the conference was unexpectedly limited to four teams. The only Massachusetts team to make the men's field was Holy Cross, which was given a 14th seed and a trip to Indianapolis to play Marquette.

"We've been there before," said Crusaders coach Ralph Willard, whose team has won the Patriot League in three of the last four years and lost in the first round both of the other times. "We have a hunger there, and a drive to get over the hump."

The state put four teams in the women's field: Boston College, Holy Cross, Harvard and Boston University.

The first-round games at the FleetCenter feature Pittsburgh, the Big East champion and a No. 2 seed, against No. 15 Wagner, and third-seeded Syracuse will play No. 14 Manhattan. The other games here match Ivy League winner Penn, an 11th seed, against No. 6 seed Oklahoma State, and No. 7 seed Indiana against No. 10 Alabama.

"I kept seeing teams on the board that I thought we were ahead of," BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo said after watching the men's field announced on television. "I kept seeing them come up and up and up. At that point, I didn't have a great feeling."

BC suffered a setback when forward Uka Agbai broke a bone in his neck in November. By the time the Eagles adjusted, they were 1-4 in the conference with an embarrassing loss to Northeastern.

The Eagles managed to win nine of their last 11 games to finish the regular season atop the division. But they lost by 37 to Connecticut in the finale, and then scored just 48 points in a conference tournament semifinal loss to Pittsburgh -- performances that probably hurt them in the selection committee discussions.

"Northeastern was pretty bad," said senior guard Troy Bell, the conference player of the year. "But I thought we did enough to get there."

As the brackets were being announced on television, the BC players grew more nervous.

"Everyone felt a little bit uncomfortable," coach Al Skinner said. "But we didn't think, until they announced the last game, that we wouldn't be up there."

All four of the state's women's teams will play at their opponent's home court. BC, a No. 5 seed, will play at No. 12 Old Dominion, and No. 13 Holy Cross will play at No. 4 seed Penn State.

"We knew that would be a possibility, but we were willing to play anybody, anywhere," Boston College coach Cathy Inglese said when asked whether it was fair to play a road game as a higher seed. "We're comfortable with where we are."

Harvard will play at Kansas State as a 14th seed against a third, and Boston University was given a date with defending champion Connecticut as a 16th seed against a No. 1.

"We know some of the girls at BU," Boston College's Becky Gottstein said, "and we wish them the best of luck."

[BettorsChat]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama avoided adding another embarrassing chapter to its freefall from No. 1 while Auburn's surprising season continues. Troy State, meanwhile, heads to Music City for its first NCAA tournament game.

The Tide and Tigers were among the last at-large teams selected Sunday. Both received No. 10 seeds -- Auburn in the East regional, Alabama in the Midwest.

"The last 72 hours have been stressful on everybody," Crimson Tide coach Mark Gottfried said. "Our players right now feel like they've got a new beginning, so we're going to go play."

Alabama flirted with becoming the first team since North Carolina State in 1975 to earn a No. 1 ranking during the season then fail to make the NCAA tournament.

The Tide players and coaches nervously watched the selection announcement in their locker room, shielded from fans and media.

"It was very emotional for us," Tide guard Mo Williams said. "Everybody was nervous, especially me. When that name came up it was emotional. You saw tears, you saw smiles. It was just thanking God for a second chance."

The Tide will face No. 7 seed Indiana -- coached by former Tide player Mike Davis -- in Boston on Friday. If Alabama advances, it will play the winner of No. 2 Pittsburgh and No. 15 Wagner.

The surprising Tigers will play No. 7 St. Joseph's of the Atlantic 10 on Friday in Tampa, Fla., with the winner facing either No. 2 Wake Forest or No. 15 East Tennessee State.

"Everybody was very excited" when the brackets were announced, senior Marquis Daniels said. "We were very happy because we knew we were on the bubble and we felt like we had a great season."

The Tide, meanwhile, had a miserable finish. Alabama won only eight of its last 19 games and was bounced from the first round of the SEC tournament with an 82-69 loss to Vanderbilt, which had lost nine straight.

Alabama finished the regular season with a 7-9 SEC record, but also had victories over top-seeded Oklahoma and Xavier, an NCAA third seed, early in the season.

The Tide lost to Kent State in the second round of the NCAA tournament last year after winning the SEC championship.

Auburn was picked to finish last in the SEC West, but instead was in title contention until losing to Mississippi State in the regular-season finale.

The Tigers won their first four league games, matching their total from last season, but an invitation was believed to hinge on their SEC quarterfinal game against Tennessee. That theory seemed to play out, as the victorious Tigers got a bid and the Volunteers did not.

"I thought we controlled everything we could control, and our team did one heck of a job this year," said Auburn coach Cliff Ellis.

"You've got to give them credit, from senior leadership to that young group of sophomores that played their hearts out."

The only Alabama team with an automatic bid to the tournament, Troy State, will head to Nashville, Tenn., as the No. 14 seed in the South regional. The Trojans will take on No. 3 Xavier, regular-season champions of the Atlantic 10 Conference, and senior forward David West.

"Obviously, they have more talent than we do. We aren't going to try and fool ourselves into thinking they don't," Trojans coach Don Maestri said. "They have a couple of NBA-caliber guys, but we'll work hard and prepare for them."

Birmingham will be host to teams from the South and East regionals. Texas, the top seed in the South, will play Friday against the winner of the play-in game between North Carolina-Asheville and Texas Southern. The Tigers won the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament in Birmingham on Saturday, but they'll have to defeat Asheville for the right to return.

If Texas wins, the Longhorns would face No. 8 LSU or No. 9 Purdue in a game on Sunday.

Also in Birmingham, the East's No. 4 seed, Louisville, will play No. 13 Austin Peay and No. 5 Mississippi State will play No. 12 Butler on Friday. The winners will play Sunday for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen.

The only Alabama women's team to make the field, Alabama State, faces a tough road. The No. 16 Hornets will play at Tennessee, a No. 1 seed for the 14th time in 16 years.

[BettorsChat]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Six Big East schools, including Villanova and its suspension-limited roster, headed the 40-team field for the NIT on Sunday.

Five other conferences -- the Atlantic 10, Atlantic Coast, Conference USA, Big Ten and Mountain West -- all had three teams chosen for the tournament which gets under way Monday night and concludes with the championship game at Madison Square Garden on April 3.

Villanova (15-15), which had 12 players suspended on March 9 for alleged unauthorized use of a campus phone access code, will be limited to seven players as it was in its final regular season game against Pittsburgh and its Big East tournament opening-round game against Georgetown.

The other Big East teams selected were: Boston College (18-11), Georgetown (15-14), Providence (16-13), Seton Hall (17-12) and St. John's (16-13).

Temple (15-15), Georgia Tech (14-14) and Virginia (15-15) were the other teams in the field with the minimum .500 record.

Charleston (24-8) had the most wins of the teams in the field and was one of eight school in with 20 or more victories.

In addition to Temple, Rhode Island (19-10) and Richmond (15-13) were from the Atlantic 10, while Georgia Tech and Virginia were joined by fellow ACC school North Carolina (17-15).

DePaul (16-12), Saint Louis (16-13) and UAB (19-12), which reached the conference tournament championship game, were chosen from Conference USA, while the Mountain West will have San Diego State (15-12), UNLV (20-10) and Wyoming (21-10).

Minnesota (16-12), Ohio State (17-14), which reached the conference championship game, and Iowa (15-13) were invited from the Big Ten.

The other 20-win teams were Boston University (20-10), Illinois Chicago (21-8), Kent State (21-9), Valparaiso (20-10) and Louisiana-Lafayette (20-8).

The other teams invited were: Eastern Washington (18-12), Cal Santa Barbara (18-13), Iowa State (16-13), Texas Tech (18-12), Drexel (19-11), Brown (17-11), Fairfield (19-11), Siena (19-11), Western Michigan (19-10), Tennessee (17-11), Hawaii (19-11), Nevada (18-13) and Wichita State (18-11).

[autiger101]

The selection committee wasted two picks on Auburn and Alabama. Both are mediocre teams without heart (Auburn loses 2 on the road late in the season to LSU by 31!! and MSU by 22). No way they should be there. But, I'll take it.

Alabama can't handle a Vandy team in the tournament when they are playing for their tournament lives?

The reason AU's NCAA journey will be short-lived is this (other than the fact that they aren't good, that is):

Copied from above article,

The Tigers won their first four league games, matching their total from last season, but an invitation was believed to hinge on their SEC quarterfinal game against Tennessee. That theory seemed to play out, as the victorious Tigers got a bid and the Volunteers did not.

"I thought we controlled everything we could control, and our team did one heck of a job this year," said Auburn coach Cliff Ellis.

"You've got to give them credit, from senior leadership to that young group of sophomores that played their hearts out."

Played their hearts out? Are you kidding me? They all but folded down the stretch with the only silver lining being a win in the SEC tourney against TN. And the reason is the coach. He has no emotion and his team plays that way as well.

Hate to bash my own Tigers but I call it the way it is.

[BettorsChat]

I don't think Michigan St. should be in there. I do think Alabama has a talented team, but they have problems playing on the road. Seton hall should have made the cut.

[CRL9]

I am so sick in tried of people saying Auburn shouldn't be in. The tigers finished with a RPI of 36 which was higher than Alabama (38), Seton Hall(42), Texas Tech(48),BC(49) and UT(60) and there strength of schedule was 26 which was higher than Bama(31),Texas Tech(34),BC(33), UT(69). I think if anybody should be bitching it should be Seton Hall which ended up with a (11) as ther strength of shedule. By the way, out of the field of 64, 50 teams played a weaker schedule than Auburn. Seton Hall should have been in besides Bama. Give me a break you can't even win half of you Conf. games and still get in. I say what to go Auburn, you where picked to finish last in the SEC west and now your in the Big Dance. Give Them Hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wayne1218]

I think the team that wins the regular season division title should be in period and that is over the whole season not a 3 or 4 game run in the conference tournament, that's who should get the automatic bid and sched. strength and rpi....who cares it's based on the conference you happen to play in and Auburn didn't win the regular or post season title and B.C. did enough said!

[Baseball_Nut]

it does not matter in the end

Arizona will be left standing when its all said and done

[CRL9]

Well winning the Big East reg. season must not have as much weight as finishing second in Western divison of the SEC. The SEC is a better conf. than the big east. The Big East gets in 4 while the SEC gets in 6. Who cares about the rpi and strentgh of sched., the people that didn't put BC in the dance. I can see where you make a good point about winning the reg. season, but the people who make the selections must not think it is that important.

[wayne1218]

Please if you are basing it on the people selecting let's talk about texas being no. 1 overall or KU and Zona and Illinois in one bracket or Zona and Kentucky being on the same side or maybe Syracuse playing home games or maybe BYU having to fuck up every bracket cause they need to be re seeded c'mon that is the one argument you should avoid cause every coach out there was on the radio today bitching about EVERYTHING! Memphis a 7 seed after winning 11 straight then losing a semi final at the buzzer on louisville's home floor, Calipari said today let's just pick them out of a hat cause then we couldn't bitch about biased people making decisions! You need a better argument than using the Athletic director's of certain schools in charge cause they were lost in this one my friend and they looked like a fucking deer in headlights on t.v. last night and oh ya how again is Illinois a 4 seed?? No consistency anywhere!Auburn finished the year with a sparkling 3-8 record that usually matters too.

[CRL9]

Then what do you do? I agree with you that the system is messed up but what is the answer. The ad's are the people that have the power to put in the at large bid that they want in. On CBS the reason that Alabama got in was because the head of the selections said they did what we asked of them. So that tells me that if you don't do what the selection Commit. ask you to do like play a tough non confrence sched. and have a high RPI or win your conf. tourny, then you are not in. Who cares if they are fucking crazy when if comes to picking teams, they make the rules on who gets in and who is not in. Period. I thing they fuck up all the time when it comes to the field of 64, but in the end they make the choices, while the coach's, players and fans do not. This can be debated forever. Some teams that should be in get the shaft, and teams that shouldn't be in get lucky. By the way, Auburn was 5-6 in there last 11.

[wayne1218]

or 5-9 last 14 and beat 2 tournament teams all year in LSU by 2 at home and Bama by 9 at home and who didn't beat them all year at home and 5 out of Auburn's last 6 losses were bad by double digits and this was their non-conference schedule, when you find something good there let me know and tied with LSU for second in their division is not impressive at 8-8 and Auburn was 0-4 against AP top 25 teams and 0-6 against ESPN/USA TODAY top 25 teams and B.C. finished the year going 10-3...again look below at the Tigers non conference schedule and show me how tough their out of conference schedule was again?????


11/22 Wofford W 81-63
11/26 Georgia St W 100-71
12/1 at Western Kentucky L 89-70
12/2 SE Louisiana W 77-47
12/4 South Carolina St W 85-65
12/8 Rutgers W 82-70
12/14 Murray State W 72-53
12/17 Western Michigan L 72-54
12/20 at PR Mayaguez W 93-64
12/21 Denver W 63-58
12/22 Troy State W 94-66
12/30 Southern Miss W 92-46
01/2 North Texas W 90-65