NCAA Tournament 2012 Snubs: Shameful Exlusions That Reveal Flawed System

Sometimes arguing about NCAA Tournament snubs is absolutely ridiculous. We're essentially debating about how my C- student is better than your D+ student. 

The teams that were snubbed weren't likely to pull off a Cinderella run and win the tournament. At best, they would make a cute run and end up losing to a powerhouse team that showed that they deserved to actually be in the tournament.

That being said, upsets are always fun to watch and there are some inconsistencies in the selection process that put in teams with less of a chance to pull off a stunning win against a favorite.

Four teams from major conferences have a legitimate gripe against the selection committee. Seton Hall from the Big East, Miami from the ACC, Washington from the Pac-12 and Tennessee from the SEC were all left out of the Big Dance. 

Seton Hall finished 8-10 in the Big East, but that conference is easily the best one in the country. Connecticut also finished 8-10 and qualified without winning the tournament. In fact, Connecticut won the whole tournament last season after finishing in the middle of the pack in the Big East.

Anything can happen with these Big East teams who play against the toughest competition every year. For this reason, Seton Hall deserves a shot over an unknown mid-major team that couldn't even win its conference in the regular season.

Tennessee is another team that will unhappily be playing in the NIT. They won eight of their last nine regular-season games and finished 10-6 in conference play. Alabama, who finished 9-7, defeated Tennessee and earned a berth. However, if they're going to include Bama in the tournament, it only makes sense to have Tennessee in, too. 

This doesn't mean Alabama doesn't deserve a spot in the tournament. It means Tennessee deserves an NCAA Tournament berth over any one of those mediocre mid-majors.

The Miami Hurricanes and the Washington Huskies round out the snubs. Miami had a 9-7 ACC record along with Virginia and N.C. State, but did not qualify. The others did.

Finally, Washington presents the most disgusting case. They won the Pac-12 in the regular season, but because of a quick Pac-12 Tournament exit, they find themselves on the outside looking in. What's most stunning is that Cal, who finished second in the Pac-12, got into a play-in game. 

That just doesn't make sense. 

There are an exorbitant amount of teams from the mid-major conferences and too much value is placed on the conference tournaments. 

For instance, Western Kentucky, who finished 15-18 on the season, shouldn't have the right to participate in the NCAA Tournament. They're not going to win a game. People don't want to see Western Kentucky. They're worse than mediocre.

Because of automatic bids, the pool of 68 becomes filled with teams that finished second or third in their conference, but got hot during their conference tournaments. When this happens, teams that won their mid-major conference (or in this year's case, the Pac-12) don't make the tournament. Worthy teams in strong conferences also lose out. 

In other words, the regular-season becomes diminished for mid-major teams and deserving teams are excluded in order to make things "fair."

This year, Drexel, Valparaiso, Savannah State, Middle Tennessee State, Nevada, Oral Roberts, TX Arlington and Bucknell all won their conferences in the regular season, but did not qualify because they lost in their respective conference tournaments.

Just how is that fair?

By having regular-season conference champions in the tournament, the field becomes less diluted and there is a higher chance of an upset.

Through the process of eliminating conference tournaments for mid-majors, we'll get fewer scenarios where deserving teams, that can actually play a factor, miss out on the tournament.

The reason why we've never seen a No. 16 pull off an upset is because of garbage mid-majors winning conference tournaments. 

And although none of these teams really have a shot to win it all, it doesn't hurt to improve the quality of the tournament for the fans and television ratings.

Follow Andre Khatchaturian on Twitter.