Nebraska basketball: Conference play appears irrelevant on Selection Sunday
The Nebraska basketball team not making the NCAA tournament is just one of the things you should be made about on Selection Sunday.
The Nebraska basketball team didn’t get its name called on Selection Sunday. While that’s a bummer, it’s really not a surprise.
What was a surprise on Sunday was just how bad the commission did at picking the rest of the field. Also, that abomination of a selection show on TBS. People need to be fired for that. Fired today.
While the Cornhuskers are likely headed to the NIT, there are a swath of teams that should be going right along with them that made the Big Dance instead. What appears to be the deciding factor was non-conference wins.
Can’t wait to see a team with a losing record in their conference get in the tourney....would be like a 8-4 team getting in the football playoff #smh #Nebrasketball @HuskerHoops
— danny woodhead (@danny__woodhead) March 11, 2018
That’s all well and good, but are we to believe now that the only purpose of the conferences is to determine automatic bids? Is the regular season conference play all about seeding for the conference tournament?
The Big Ten has four teams in the 2018 NCAA Tournament (Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue), the fewest for the league in a decade (four in 2008 in Indiana, MSU, Purdue, Wisconsin).
— Jeff Rabjohns (@JeffRabjohns) March 11, 2018
Among the teams that got in that had losing records in their own conference was Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona State. Just a friendly reminder that the Cornhuskers were 13-5 (13-6 counting the B1G tournament).
After losing to Arizona in the Pac-12 title game last night, USC Coach Andy Enfield and players spoke about making the tournament as a foregone conclusion.
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) March 11, 2018
Perhaps even more appalling is that Baylor was very close to making it in. 18-14 Baylor. That had a losing conference record.
"I wish we could have gotten more teams in. I feel bad for Penn State and Nebraska."
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 11, 2018
- @umichbball coach @JohnBeilein pic.twitter.com/C83Fmgadjx
Yes, there should be an incentive for scheduling tougher non-conference games. But teams should have to win their other games as well.
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Texas didn’t do that. Neither did Oklahoma. Arizona State lost in the first round of the Pac 12 tourney. To ninth-place Colorado.
Why doesn’t that loss count? Why doesn’t Oklahoma’s loss to Oklahoma State count as much as any win they had. Same with Texas, same with UCLA, same with Syracuse.
The selection committee usually gets a few things wrong. They’re bound to, when you consider how many teams they have to consider.
The problem is that it appears this year, it was more about putting in media darlings than looking at an entire body of work. Boston College beat Duke earlier this year. Did their win get discounted only because it was in conference?
St. Johns had a couple of big upsets. Why aren’t they in the dance?
Because of this field, Nebraska basketball fans have legitimate complaints, even while most understand getting in was a long shot. The Huskers played their worst basketball at the absolute worst time. It just stings a bit more that the selection committee chose this season to throw out tried and true standards they’ve been using for decades.