Once again the NCAA selection committee left the USF Bulls stranded like a scorned bride at the altar when they were deemed not worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid on Sunday.
Never mind that the USF Bulls won their regular season conference championship with the best season in program history at 24-7. Never mind that the Bulls won 22 of their last 24 games.
The reward for the USF Bulls’ great season is a snub by the NCAA selection committee, and a trip to the NIT, which will start Tuesday night in Orlando against rival UCF.
The only thing that matters now to the NCAA is how you play in the conference tournament. Win your conference tournament, and you will earn a bid to the big dance.
It doesn’t matter how poor your record is, your NET rankings, Quad 1, 2, 3 wins, or whatever nonsense they use to determine if you are worthy of an NCAA bid.
You Must Win Your Conference Tournament If You Want To Guarantee Your Spot In The NCAA Tournament
The holy grail of getting into the NCAA is winning your conference tournament. Win, and you’re in. Lose, and you end up watching the NCAA tournament with the rest of us or trying to get fired up to play in the NIT or CBI post-season tournament.
I greatly admire Coach Rick Pitino and his St. Johns team, Porter Moser and his Oklahoma team, and Jeff Capel and his Pitt Panthers team, who told the NIT to kick rocks after they were deemed unworthy to participate in the NCAA Tournament.
The Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Indiana State, who had a great season at 30-4, will have to settle for the NIT after losing in their conference tournament.
Metrics are not the Most Important Criteria For An NCAA Tournament Bid
If metrics are so important, then you cannot exclude St. Johns. They finished number 32 in the NET rankings, 24th in the Basketball Power Index rankings, and won six in a row to end the season before losing to UConn in the conference semi-finals.
Yet the NCAA feels the need to put six teams from the Mountain West Conference in the big dance, along with teams like Texas A&M (20-13), TCU (21-12), and Clemson (21-11). Both TCU and Clemson had early exits in their conference tourneys.
The NCAA would rather put mediocre teams from the BIG10 (Michigan State), the SEC (Mississippi State), and ACC (Clemson) into the tournament that don’t deserve an NCAA tournament bid rather than reward a team from a lower-ranked conference that had a great season like USF.
Rick Pitino spoke for millions of college basketball fans yesterday. “First off, I think we should all probably never mention that word [NET] again because I think it’s fraudulent,” Pitino said, speaking to SNY. “I think the NET is something that shouldn’t even be mentioned anymore.”
Coach Kim English of Providence was hoping for a bid for his Friars, who finished 21-13. Providence finished 58th in the NET rankings and had wins over Marquette and two wins against Creighton. Yet that wasn’t enough to sway the committee and give Providence a bid.
Speaking with reporters on Sunday, English said he is not a fan of analytics. “I think the analytics are bulls—. I think you could schedule bad teams in your non-league and beat the snot out of them, beat them by 50 or 60. Coaching for so long has been a gentleman’s agreement. You have a large lead at the end of the game, for health reasons you take guys out. To get some other guys the opportunity to play, you take guys out. But right now might be a change in college basketball. Scheduling to beat teams by 40 and 50 might be a thing to do.”
Here Is What USF Can Do In the Future To Ensure A Tournament Bid
So what does USF need to do in the future to ensure they are not slighted again by the NCAA selection committee?
They MUST schedule better out of conference. Not every game needs to be a NCAA caliber team, but a steady diet of Maine, Central Michigan, Alabama State, South Carolina State, and AR-Pine Bluff won’t cut it.
Win by a lot.
The bigger the margin of victory, the more points you score with the selection committee. Maybe the Bulls should try to win their games by the highest point differential that they can.
Get into a more significant conference. The AAC is a competitive conference, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t carry the clout of an SEC, BIG10, or even the BIG12.
The last time the Bulls played in the NIT was in 2010 when they lost 58-57 to North Carolina State.
The Bulls are 4-8 lifetime in the NIT, with all four wins coming at home.
USF will look to change that and get their first road NIT win in program history on Tuesday night in Orlando against rival UCF.