NCAA Bracket 2012: East Coast Bias Clouded Selection Committee's Judgment

The tournament selection committee came out with their selections for the 2012 NCAA tournament on Sunday. The Big East led the way with nine selections, three of which (South Florida, West Virginia and Connecticut) finished the season with 13 losses and two of those three (West Virginia and Connecticut) finished the season with conference records of .500 or worse. 

By contrast, the Pac-12 only had two teams in the tournament, and none seeded higher than 11th. Of these, Colorado is a first-year member of the Pac-12 (which meant the old Pac-10 had only a single rep) and only got in by virtue of winning the tournament. The other, California, was relegated to a First Four play-in game. Regular-season champion Washington was relegated to the NIT, as was 22-9 Oregon.

Drexel and Oral Roberts, despite having solid win-loss records of 27-6, were both left out, as was 26-6 Nevada, who bears the additional indignity of having to face Oral Roberts in the first round of the NIT. 

Of the top 16 seeds in the tournament (Nos. 1-4 in each region), there were zero teams in or west of the Rockies, with Baylor being the farthest west of the 16.

And that brings me to the two biggest beefs I have with the bracket: the "East Coast" bias of the tournament, and the inclusion of at-large teams with 12 or more losses and/or records of around .500.

Connecticut as a No. 9 seed with a 20-13 record seems like nothing more than a lifetime achievement award. How come UConn gets those, but more western programs such as Arizona and UCLA don't?   West Virginia and South Florida probably also should have been sent home or at least relegated to the NIT.

Outside of the Big East, 20-13 Texas (No. 11 seed), 21-12 Xavier (No. 10 seed) come to mind as teams who have too many losses to be in the tournament.

And, as further proof of the East Coast bias, I offer the fact that Washington, Oregon and Oral Roberts were sent packing as well the fact that the last at-large team—No. 14 seed Iona—just happens to be in New Rochelle, N.Y.  By contrast, Oral Roberts and Washington are west of the Mississippi, and Washington is on the West Coast.  

So, I propose the additional conditions that you need a record of better than .500 in conference and no more than 12 losses overall to get in as an at-large selection. Yes, that would effectively cap the Big East at seven or eight bids, but 10-12 percent of the total teams in the tournament seems like a reasonable limit. That limit would also add relevance to the regular season, rather than making it the preseason lead-up to the conference and NCAA tournaments.

I would also automatically pencil in the Pac-12 or Mountain West regular-season champion as no lower than a No. 3 seed playing in one of the Western pods and going to the West regional.

Bottom line, the Big East doesn't need all those teams in the tournament, and the West needs more and higher-seeded teams.