Flyers Get Screwed

I've been writing this blog in my head for the past three days, now that the NCAA tournament brackets have been revealed, I present to anyone who will listen concrete evidence that the Flyers got completely screwed by the "Selection Committee".

According to RealtimeRPI.com (Thanks Walker), the following at-large teams have a lower RPI ranking then the Flyers, #34.

#35 Arkansas

#36 St. Mary's

#37 South Alabama

#39 Texas A&M

#40 Arizona

#41 St. Joseph's

#43 Mississippi State

#44 Baylor

#47 Purdue

#49 Villanova

#53 Kansas State

#58 Oregon

#59 Kentucky

That's 13 teams with a lower a RPI!!!!  Every team with a higher RPI than UD made the tournament except Illinois State, #32.

Obviously UD had plenty of opportunities to lock up a spot.  If they could have beat Xavier once out of the three chances or win a couple more games in conference, they would have certainly made the tournament.  But every team that is "on the bubble" is there because of missed opportunities during the season.  Let's look at the credentials of some of these teams that made the tournament instead of UD.

South Alabama.  

No team has done less and been more rewarded than this mediocre team from the Sun Belt Conference.  RPI #37, Strength of Schedule (S0s) #127.  The best wins this team has is against Mississipi State (RPI #43) and two wins against Western Kentucky (RPI #38).  Out of 31 conferences, the Sun Belt was ranked 15.  For the record, the Atlantic 10 was ranked 7th.  Playing in a poor conference, South Alabama didn't even make it to the conference championship game losing to Middle Tennessee State in the conference semi-finals.  Yet they not only get an at large bid, they got a 10 seed and will play it's first round game in Birmingham against Butler.  How does this happen????  South Alabama is a higher seed than St. Joe's and A10 tournament champion Temple???  They shouldn't even be in the damn tournament to begin with.

St. Mary's

This team has been over-ranked all year.  Despite their best efforts to prove to the country that they don't belong, the "Selection Committee" puts them in the tournament giving the West Coast Conference (Ranked 14) three teams in the dance.  How does the WCC get 3 teams to the tournament?  And how is St. Mary's also seeded higher than St. Joe's and Temple?  St. Mary's RPI is 36 and SOS is 138.  Their best wins were against Gonzaga (at home) Drake (at Home) and Oregon (at Home).  They had no impressive road victories, and  just like South Alabama, they didn't even make the finals of their weak conference tournament.  

St. Joseph's

The only accomplishment St. Joe's had this year was beating Xavier twice and beating UMASS twice.  St. Joe's and UD's resumes are very similar.   They went 9-7 in the A-10, UD went 8-8.  St Joe's had two wins over top 15 programs (Xavier twice).  UD had two nice wins over top 15 programs (Pitt and Louisville).  So how does one separate two comparable teams?  I know, how about head to head play?  UD beat St. Joe's in the last game of the regular season, yet despite having a lower RPI (41) and a lower SOS (51) the selection committee decides to give St. Joe's the nod over the Flyers.  Bear in mind that Temple beat St. Joe's twice this year while UD defeated Temple in their only match up.  Of course St. Joe's also beat UMASS twice while UMASS defeated Dayton in their only match up.  Both UD and St. Joe's had bad losses to weak A10 teams Duquense and LaSalle.  I think it's pretty clear that UD and St. Joe's were fairly even.  It seems like the tie-breaker was performance against Xavier rather than head to head.  The selection committee has a difficult task, especially when you have to compare teams from different conferences and different schedules.  I would think that the committee would welcome the chance to use a head to head scenario as a tie breaker.  

I could write similar paragraphs for each of these teams that received at-large bids over UD.  Without actually doing research, I can say that the Big 12 probably doesn't deserve to get Baylor, Kansas State, and Texas A&M in the tournament. UD had more impressive wins against Big East foes than Villanova did.  Kentucky went 18-12 and lost by 16 points to Gardner Webb and all their wins were at home.

The A-10 got the shaft.