Like so many millions of others across the country, I am ready for March Madness. I'm ready to fill out 20 brackets knowing that I still won't pick all of the winners. My eyes will go dry trying to watch 5 different TV screens at once. I won't be able to sleep the first weekend because for the only time this year, I will care about hoops. As I stare at brackets, I can't help but think of one thing:
I have no idea why the NCAA decided to add some meaningless game other to scrape an extra couple of million into it's coffers. The matchup between Morehead State (19-15) of the Ohio Valley Conference and Alabama State (22-9) of the Southwest Athletic Conference will determine who catches a first round beatdown from overall #1 seed Louisville.
I'll be honest when I say the whole thing is a joke. It's not fair that a pair of conference champions have to play for the right to be killed by the NCAA's top seed. Why doesn't a terribly average team like Arizona or Wisconsin get picked for the play-in game? Why does it seem like no matter how bad a BCS-conference school may be, they are automatically rewarded with higher seeds?
I hate to interject race into the discussion, but the play-in game has ALWAYS included a school from a historically black college with the exception of one year (2001). Many people will justify this by saying that the RPI of the conferences in which HBCU's are affiliated is low and that is factually correct in many instances. But the spirit of the play-in game has been lost. It shouldn't involve teams that took care of business by winning their conference tournaments. It should involve teams like Arizona who really didn't deserve to be in the field in the first place. Coincidentally, Arizona received a higher seed (12) than SEC tournament champion Mississippi State (13), but I digress.
The bottom line is that the field never should have been expanded in the first place. In their zeal to protect the BCS conference schools and maintain 34 at-large bids, the NCAA decided it was better to pit two small schools together, one of which would get embarassed by the big boys. If I was the coach of a team that got selected for the play-in game, I would turn down the invite and go to the NIT or stay home.
I don't even know why they did that. No one watches and no one goes to the game
What is the REAL disgrace is Michigan making it much less as a 10 seed. Who the hell did they beat
There is a lot of truth in this! But you're never gonna hear these folks tell the truth.
Hey Joe, Michigan beat the Golden Boys Duke!!
BRCPdr
BRCPdr
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