(03-15-2021 01:59 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(03-15-2021 10:29 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(03-14-2021 11:52 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  5 non-P6 at-large bids

All 2 bid leagues

AAC: Wichita
A10: VCU
MVC: Drake
MWC: Utah St
WCC: BYU

Someone mentioned politics, and I agree with them, would not surprise me if politics played a role in all of these conferences getting two bids.

That's an interesting take considering 5 non-P6 bids is historically below the average. Mid-major bids dipped to a historic low in the 2014-2018 period which happened to be the same 5 years 5 of the 10 selection committee members came from P6's and could effectively lockout mid-majors with their votes. All evidence of the # of mid-major bids throughout history - in conjunction with the number of P6 representatives on the selection committee - could only conclude that 5-year historic low to be a by-product of politics from the selection committee's P6-heavy makeup.

It has to do with the consolidation of basketball conferences post realignment.

Big East in particular was a culprit with Creighton (MVC), Xavier (A10), Butler (Horizon/A10) all going there.

(03-08-2021 09:02 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I can show with evidence that the Selection Committee is biased towards mid majors.

https://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2021/...-2006-2019

Biased against mid-majors or biased FOR mid-majors?

The problem with using everyone's projections shown in Bracket Matrix to assess if a committee got picks "Right" is that all the prognosticators are trying to guess what the committee WILL DO and not what the committee SHOULD do.

They are looking at the history of selections and stats like "No P5 team with X wins has ever been left out; while dozens of non-P5 teams with a great records have been left out." So they build that into their predictions.

In 2016, the committee left out #29 St. Bonaventure (with 3 Top 50 wins) in favor of #58 Tulsa (who had 3 losses outside the top 140).

So this year, everyone devalued St. Bonaventure and VCU. And overvalued Memphis, saying they had a chance, even though if you look at Memphis' resume, it's very weak. But they waited to say St. Bona was safe until like Saturday. Jerry Palm was saying the A-10 was a one-bid league before the bubble carnage on Thursday/Friday.


But pointing to the prognosticators getting picks wrong doesn't mean the committee did a bad job. The George Mason example is perfect. George Mason's resume was pretty thin. Virtually no prognosticators guessed correctly on. You can say "George Mason didn't prove they belonged in the dance during the regular season" and that's a valid assessment.

But if you're saying George Mason wasn't GOOD ENOUGH to deserve a bid, you're clearly wrong. They wouldn't have beaten UNC, Michigan State and GONE TO THE FINAL FOUR if they weren't good.