Nebraska basketball's NCAA Tournament seeds look less coincidental already

If you thought it was a coincidence that both Nebraska basketball teams got matched up with Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, then I’ve got a lake in Ashland to sell you. 

It was pretty clear from the getgo that the Huskers and Aggies were playing two Trev Alberts Bowl games precisely because people on the NCAA Tournament selection committees wanted it that way. This wasn’t a quirk of the seeding and the cities. It was intentional.

No, the selection committee has not confirmed this, but that doesn’t make it less true. Some signs make it clear what the committee had up its sleeves. The biggest sign of all is the makeup of that committee.

Zack Carpenter found a list of the people on the selection committees. What stands out the most is how many members are athletic directors. They almost certainly know what’s going on.

Carpenter found that 9 of the 12 members of the committee on the men’s side are ADs. 11 members of the women’s committee are athletic directors. It would seem they both know what would draw people to the games.

They might also know the level of drama that can be gleaned from a former AD going up against his former school, especially when that athletic director left less than a week ago.

Nebraska basketball the butt of NCAA Tournament selection committee joke

It’s more than just the fact that the committee has lots of ADs. It’s also the names on the list. There’s Jamie Pollard, who was once a candidate for the Nebraska Cornhuskers Athletic Director’s position. He might be again.

Then there’s Greg Byrne. You might know his father, Bill. The first Nebraska AD who left Lincoln for College Station.

Finally, there’s Barry Collier. A former Nebraska basketball coach who returned to Butler to be their AD. 

No. These matchups aren’t coincidences. Not at all.