March has officially arrived with the NCAA Tournament, and it did not come without controversy. The men’s bracket kicked off last night with two of the ‘First Four’ games which are held for teams that did not win their conference, but were just good enough to get a chance to play in a do-or-die game that could solidify them in the field of 64. At least that’s how it is supposed to go on paper. The first game of the evening came with Alabama St. winning it essentially at the buzzer to send home St. Francis (PA) with a Hail Mary inbound pass that found its way to Amarr Knox who laid it in for the win. Alabama St. vs. St. Francis, that has a “First Four Feel” to it. Two relatively unknown teams battling it out for a chance to get to the big dance is perfect for the First Four. Game number two, however, was the outcome of a wildly controversial decision made by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, who gave the bid to a North Carolina team that simply did not have as impressive of a track record as schools like West Virginia and Indiana. The Tar Heels record against tournament teams is only the tip of the ice berg in terms of what has people up in arms.
For some context, teams are judged off of their performance throughout the season against Quadrant 1 opponents. To earn a Quad-1 win you must win home games vs. RPI teams ranked in the top 30; neutral games vs. 1-50; away games vs. 1-75. In layman’s terms, beating a Quad-1 opponent is a “big win”. When we get to the end of the season, the committee will look at teams records against Quad-1 opponents, and that is usually what is used to either let teams in or kick teams out. This is where the controversy bubbles up. Below I have hidden the identities of the three teams that were all jockeying for one of those prized First Four spots to kick off the tournament, you tell me who you think should have gotten in:
Team A: 6-10 against Quadrant 1 opponents (10-10 in conf. play)
Team B: 4-13 against Quadrant 1 opponents (10-10 in conf. play)
Team C: 1-12 against Quadrant 1 opponents (13-7 in conf. play)
They use Quadrant 1 opponents as a measuring stick because that is mostly who makes up the tournament itself. So, naturally you would think Team A or maybe Team B would make the cut. Strangely, Team C got the nod. But it goes deeper.
As you have probably deduced from the exercise above, Team C is North Carolina. Team A (West Virginia) and Team B (Indiana) had far better performances against “Tournament teams” than North Carolina did. So how did they get in? Well, to put the puzzle together a little better we have to look at the committee. The Tournament Selection Committee is made up of AD’s and conference commissioners from all over the country. However, they are led by Chairperson Bubba Cunningham, who just so happens to be the AD at the University of North Carolina. Crazy, right?
The man who has the proverbial final say in who makes it and who goes home put the school, whom he is the athletic director for, in one of the final spots. When, on paper, they did not meet the criteria, it is beyond fishy. But wait, there’s more!
This is Cunningham’s final year as the Chairperson of the committee, so the ongoing belief is he was not scared of the backlash and wanted to get his team in the tournament before he sailed off into the sunset. And people are not happy.
Rarely on the eve of the tournament is a headline overshadowing the tournament itself, but the committees decision to put North Carolina in over Indiana and WVU has the basketball world incensed. People are shouting now that the committee should be disbanded, it should be all done by computer and the human element needs to be removed to avoid something like this happening. That won’t happen, but the outrage is real and schools are wanting a peek behind the curtains to get an explanation as to why the Tar Heels got the opportunity to play after only one win against a Quad-1 opponent. UNC may have supplied that explanation last night.
The Tar Heels came out last night and dominated San Diego St. by a score of 95-68. North Carolina responded to the criticism by going out and putting away SDSU out of the gate, taking a 47-23 lead into the half and never looking back. It seems the Tar Heels understood Cunningham fell on his sword for them to get them in, and now they had to repay the favor by playing like a tournament team, which is exactly what they did last night. Can UNC make a deep run in this year’s tournament? It has happened before.
14 years ago, VCU sat in the exact same spot North Carolina was last night. Many believed VCU was not a tournament team yet they were selected into the First Four, and they responded by going from the First Four to the Final Four. It is not crazy to think that this North Carolina team couldn’t do the same thing, especially after their performance last night. Is Bubba Cunningham the smartest person in the room? Or did he just throw his credibility out the window by using his last year as Chairperson to get his team into the tournament? Too early to tell, but right now, many believe it is the latter. The West Virginia Governor has called for a full-blown investigation into what he calls the “National Corrupt Athletic Association”. He will say he’s serious, but it is probably pandering. But the fact that he can stand at the podium and call out the committee like that shows how wild this whole situation was.
North Carolina will play against 6-seed Ole Miss on Friday at 3:05 PM CT, and we will get our first true taste of if this UNC squad deserves to be at the dance. Buckle up, folks. March has only just begun.
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