Your chance to be on NCAA selection committee
by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports
When the NCAA tournament selection committee makes decisions on at-large berths and seeds, it at times covers the names of the schools on team reports to focus solely on the bodies of work. It helps committee members make decisions based on who teams played, where they played and how they did, and guarantees that no one is influenced by a school’s name. Let’s compare the resumes of two teams with outstanding credentials. Both will be in the field, both will earn high seeds. Which team deserves a higher seed?
TEAM A
Record: 20-4
RPI: 3
Road/Neutral court record: 8-3
Strength of schedule: 4
Vs. top 50 teams: 6-2
Vs. top 100: 11-4
Vs. sub-300: 0-0
Best RPI wins: 15, 22
Worst RPI losses: 56, 69
Analysis: This team’s body of work is very impressive. They have succeeded on the road and against a high number of quality opponents. The only thing separating this team’s resume from that of the very elite are the two losses against what appears to be borderline NCAA tournament teams.
TEAM B
Record: 21-3
RPI: 11
Road/Neutral court record: 7-2
Strength of schedule: 22
Vs. top 50 teams: 6-3
Vs. top 100: 8-3
Vs. sub-300: 1-0
Best RPI wins: 5, 9
Worst RPI losses: 31, 27
Analysis: Just look at the sheer number of games against top-50 teams. That suggests that this team plays in one of the nation’s best conferences, if not the best. It has two wins over upper echelon teams with RPIs of 5 and 9. And its worst losses are against teams that likely will earn high NCAA tournament seeds. There are not too many, if any, resumes better than this.
Which team has a stronger resume? Team A has a slightly better RPI and strength of schedule. But Team B has slightly better victories and better losses. Though it’s close, Team B would likely be seeded a slot or two higher than Team A. Who are the teams?
Team A is New Mexico
Team B is Indiana
At the moment, Indiana is well positioned to earn a No. 1 seed. But thanks to the overall competitiveness of the top portion of the Mountain West Conference, New Mexico is not too far behind. Steve Alford’s team could be … [For more on The Blind Eye Test: Your chance to be on NCAA selection committee, click here.]
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