RE: You be the selection committee
The committee did what it was supposed to.
35 schools from the 6 major conferences ("power 6" on the CBS graphic) got in. The 10, 11, and 12 (Oregon) seeds are all pretty mediocre.
Of the 40 who didn't get in, 15 were selected for the NIT, 21 had losing records so were not eligible, and 2 (UCLA and Arizona) barely were above .500 and were on self-imposed post season bans to focus on clearing up their coaching staffs in the wake of the shoe scandal, another had exactly a .500 record, but unlike Texas wasn't picked. Which basically left Oregon State as the one snubbed school.
If you go by NET only NC State and Clemson were the top two pushed down to the NIT. But it was clear the committee picked a number of teams from the same conference with a better conference record even with a worse NET than others in their conference (e.g., Syracuse, Minnesota, St. John's).
If you look under the covers however at NC State's record, you see 9 weak lower mid-major non-conference opponents who didn't make the tourney, whom they of course smashed (Maine, Maryland-Eastern Shore, UNC Asheville, Mt. St. Mary's, St. Peter's, Mercer, Western Carolina, USC Upstate, Loyola MD). NET probably liked their win at Penn State, but they lost a lot of games and NET liked them for losing close.
So what you see is a 10-0 vs. non-ACC schools who didn't make the Tournament or even the NIT. Padding, pure and simple. They have one quality OOC win at home over Auburn. They also beat Syracuse at home. But they lost to 8 tourney teams and 2 NIT, plus a bad loss to Wake.
An ugly record. Getting a 2 seed in the NIT is more a nod to NET than record.
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