Middle Tennessee, Saint Mary's Coaches Rip NCAA Tournament over Bracket Snubs

Middle Tennessee head coach Kermit Davis and Saint Mary's head coach Randy Bennett weren't pleased their teams were left out of the 2018 NCAA tournament, and they placed some of the blame on the new quadrant system in place this year.

"The committee sent a message to me that it's going to get tougher for everybody at our level to get an at-large with this new system," Davis said, per Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. "You've got to be perfect. We only have a few chances, and they are usually either on the road or on a neutral court, where the Power Five schools have six to eight opportunities at home in front of their crowd."

Bennett echoed similar thoughts when asked if the quadrant system limits mid-major programs' chances of making the field of 68.

"One hundred percent," he said, per Goodman. "Explain to me how the quadrant system is scored? There's the problem. I don't know why they do anything. I will tell you that they won't tell you how they keep score."

Andy Katz of NCAA.com explained the new quadrant system in February, noting the selection committee did away with the top 50, 100, 200 and 201-and-above tiers for classifying opponents to determine strength of schedule.

Instead, Quadrant 1 wins, for instance, encompass home victories over teams 1-30, neutral victories over teams 1-50 and away victories over teams 1-75. Here is the complete breakdown, per Katz:

• Quadrant 1: Home 1-30; Neutral 1-50; Away 1-75
• Quadrant 2: Home 31-75; Neutral 51-100; Away 76-135
• Quadrant 3: Home 76-160; Neutral 101-200; Away 136-240
• Quadrant 4: Home 161-plus; Neutral 201-plus; Away 241-plus

Saint Mary's went 28-5 this season and 16-2 in West Coast Conference play, a record that included a win at Gonzaga.

Middle Tennessee went 24-7 and 16-2 in Conference USA play but lost a number of heartbreakers out of conference. It dropped a game to Auburn by six points, USC by five points and Miami by three points. Had a few possessions in those contests gone the other way, the Blue Raiders likely would have been safely in the field.

Despite the impressive records, strength of schedule was a deal-breaker with the quadrants proving to be so influential. According to Ken Pomeroy's strength of schedule rankings, Saint Mary's played the 172nd most difficult slate in the country, while Middle Tennessee faced the 97th most difficult.

Instead, they are each in the NIT.

Saint Mary's earned a No. 1 seed in the NIT bracket and will face Southeastern Louisiana, while Middle Tennessee is a No. 3 seed and will face Vermont.