The committee gets an A

By Piet Van Leer Sports Central Columnist

I love to complain. Particularly about the NCAA. But unfortunately for me, and people like me, the NCAA Selection Committee has made it very difficult to whine about anything.

Sure, Utah State probably deserved a bid. But even Utah State knew that if they didn't win their conference tournament, an at-large bid would virtually impossible.

So I can't complain about Utah State when Richmond gets in. The Spiders won on the road in Kansas and Colorado. I'd love to complain about Dayton. After all, they didn't win their conference tournament ... at home. As my colleague pointed out, though, they did beat Richmond three times this season.

And the Atlantic 10 got four teams! That's unusual, yet intriguing. I'd much rather see Richmond and Dayton rewarded than a bottom big conference team be considered just because they play in a big conference.

Missouri, Colorado, Florida State, Virginia, Notre Dame, and LSU all have cases to be made, but it's not criminal that they won't be participating this season. This is the best job the Committee has done in years with respect to their selections.

The seedings? Wisconsin and North Carolina, they might be a little low. The people who saw the Big 10 final must be wondering how Illinois is ranked higher than the Badgers, but in the end, who cares about seedings?

Did St. Joseph's deserve a one seed? Oklahoma State, were they shafted? Questions like this will abound, but for the most part, they should be muted. At least your team has the chance to go on the court and show they deserve to be where they are.

To this day, the consensus is that USC was the better college football team than LSU. Who knows if it's true? We'll never know for sure, which makes that game so incredibly frustrating. If you're frustrated with your seed, there's a remedy. Win!

And lastly, nobody knows anything. For all the knowledge Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps, Billy Packer etc. spew, the bottom line is, you have as much of a chance predicting the Final Four as they do. And that's what makes this tournament so unbelievably exciting.

One and done. Anyone can have a bad shooting night. Duke could lose to Alabama State. I don't think they will, but they could. In a win-and-advance tournament, the bigger the favorite, the greater the pressure, and the tighter the pre-ordained lock of the week gets when the jumpers aren't falling.

On top of everything, this is a time when the Georgia Tech's play the Northern Iowa's. The Yellow Jackets have been playing ACC teams all year, and I'm guessing are quite unfamiliar with how deadly of a shooter Ben Jacobson is. Should they win? Of course, but nothing is a sure thing in this tournament. (Okay, maybe the one seed in the first-round, but that day will come!)

Like boxing, styles make great matchups. I can assure you the last thing a Big East bruiser like Boston College wanted to see were the pure shooters of Utah. And the same can be said about virtually every game. Duke might play Arizona in the second-round, but only if Arizona beats an unheralded Pirate squad from Seton Hall.

And for all the analysis you might hear, there's always one player that nobody knew about that makes the decisive shot ... remember Bryce Drew?

All that being said, I will scrutinize the bracket to death and act as if I had a clue if ETSU actually does beat Cincy, or if UTEP winds up in the Sweet 16. And my Final Four, for no particular reason, is Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, and Stanford.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.