February 2009 Archives
I was able to get some thoughts from a few of the committee members after the bracket was finalized..
Dave Revsine - Big Ten Network
"I was surprised by how orderly it is," said Revsine. "I came in with this preconception that it would be this smoke filled room without the smoke and that people would be lobbying a lot. Everything is very logical and follows a certain process. It took the mystery out of it. It reinforces your belief in the process."
Greg Anthony - CBS Sports
"What stood out for me is that in going through the process you don't have a clue about how many teams are getting in from a perspective conference," Anthony said. "That was a big thing, because I thought coming in that conferences that were thought to be the stronger conferences would get more teams in. But what we did was just set out to identify the best teams. The process was very genuine and done with a lot of thoroughness."
I was also able to get some thoughts from David Worlock, who helped stage this event.
David Worlock - Associate Director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship
"I hope we dispelled some myths or preconceived notions that people had," said Worlock. "I hope people walked out of here with a different understanding of the entire process, not just the selecting, but as well as the seeding. Our goal of this is to expose what the committee does every year and make it more transparent and not be secretive about anything they are doing."
Glendale
- 1. Oklahoma (KC)
- 2. Memphis (KC)
- 3. Wake Forest (Miami)
- 4. UCLA (Portland)
- 5. Florida State (Portland)
- 6. Utah (Miami)
- 7. Texas (KC)
- 8. West Virginia (KC)
- 9. Florida (KC)
- 10. Cincinnati (KC)
- 11. Arizona (Miami)
- 12. Wisconsin (Portland)
- 13. Nevada (Portland)
- 14. Portland State (Miami)
- 15. Morgan State (KC)
- 16. Pacific (KC)
Memphis
- 1. UNC (Greensboro)
- 2. Michigan State (Dayton)
- 3. Villanova (Minneapolis)
- 4. Kansas (Boise)
- 5. Arizona State (Boise)
- 6. Dayton (Minneapolis)
- 7. Cal (Dayton)
- 8. Syracuse (Greensboro)
- 9. UNLV (Greensboro)
- 10. Boston College (Dayton)
- 11. Oklahoma State (Minneapolis)
- 12. Stephen F. Austin (Boise)
- 13. College of Charleston (Boise)
- 14. Boston U (Minneapolis)
- 15. Morehead State (Dayton)
- 16. Alabama State (Greensboro)
Indianapolis
- 1. Pitt (Dayton)
- 2. Clemson (Greensboro)
- 3. Louisville (Minneapolis)
- 4. Xavier (Portland)
- 5. Illinois (Portland)
- 6. Ohio State (Minneapolis)
- 7. Washington (Greensboro)
- 8. Tennessee (Dayton)
- 9. Miami (Dayton)
- 10. Kentucky (Greensboro)
- 11. Western Kentucky (Minneapolis)
- 12. Creighton (Portland)
- 13. Fairfield (Portland)
- 14. Robert Morris (Minneapolis)
- 15. Belmont (Greensboro)
- 16. Ball State/IUPUI (Dayton)
Boston
- 1. UConn (Philly)
- 2. Duke (Philly)
- 3. Marquette (Miami)
- 4. Butler (Boise)
- 5. Missouri (Boise)
- 6. Purdue (Miami)
- 7. Gonzaga (Philly)
- 8. Minnesota (Philly)
- 9. BYU (Philly)
- 10 LSU (Philly)
- 11. USC (Miami)
- 12. Virginia Tech (Boise)
- 13. American (Boise)
- 14. Cornell (Miami)
- 15. Old Dominion (Philly)
- 16. UNC Asheville (Philly)
Worlock tells everyone to remember that when they send a one seed to a pod region, they are bringing with them the 16 seed, the 8 and the 9 seed. The committee will place the four "number 1 seed" teams seeded 1 through 4 in each of the four regions, then determine the Final Four semifinals pairings, making best effort to pair the top No. 1 seed's region against the fourth No. 1 seed's region and the second No. 1 seed's region against the third No. 1 seed's region.
The committee will then place the No. 2 seeds in each region in true seed list order. The same with the 3 and 4 seeds. After the four seed lines have been assigned, determine the relative strengths of the regions by adding the "true seed" numbers in each region to determine if any severe numerical imbalance exists.
The final teams have been chosen for the at-large teams and the rankings are complete 1-65. Here are the final rankings before the bracketing process takes place:
- 1. UNC
- 2. Pitt
- 3. UConn
- 4. Oklahoma
- 5. Clemson
- 6. Michigan State
- 7. Duke
- 8. Memphis
- 9.Villanova
- 10. Wake Forest
- 11. Kansas
- 12. Louisville
- 13. Marquette
- 14. UCLA
- 15. Butler
- 16. Xavier
- 17. Missouri
- 18. Illinois
- 19. Florida State
- 20. Purdue
- 21. Arizona State
- 22. Ohio State
- 23. Dayton
- 24. Utah
- 25. Washington
- 26. Texas
- 27. Syracuse
- 28. Cal
- 29. Gonzaga
- 30. Minnesota
- 31. Tennessee
- 32. West Virginia
- 33. UNLV
- 34. BYU
- 35. Cincinnati
- 36. Boston College
- 37. Florida
- 38. Miami
- 39. Arizona
- 40. LSU
- 41. Oklahoma State
- 42. Virginia Tech
- 43. Kentucky
- 44. USC
- 45. Western Kentucky
- 46. Wisconsin
- 47. Creighton
- 48. Stephen F. Austin
- 49. Nevada
- 50. American
- 51. Fairfield
- 52. College of Charleston
- 53. Robert Morris
- 54. Cornell
- 55. Boston U
- 56. Portland State
- 57. Morehead State
- 58. Belmont
- 59. Old Dominion
- 60. Morgan State
- 61. Pacific
- 62. UNC Asheville
- 63. Alabama State
- 64. Ball State
- 65. IUPUI
Teams 17-20 are now ranked. It goes Missouri, Illinois, Florida State and Purdue. This has sparked a debate about whether to move some teams down or up. Some people feel that Kansas and Missouri shouldn't be 6 spots apart in the rankings.
During a quick break I was able to catch up with mock committee member Dan Dakich of 1070 The Fan. Dakich was the head coach at Bowling Green from 1997 to 2007. He was also the interim head coach for Indiana at the end of last season. I asked him about his thoughts so far today.
"I am really impressed with the depth of knowledge that Greg Shaheen and the people running it have," said Dakich. "You have to have that because you don't want anyone to get cheated. It is making me realize that this process is far less human-oriented and far more logic and common-sense based. I was always skeptical of that coming from the coaching side of it. It has been great so far. I feel better about what happened to us when I was at Bowling Green. In 2000 and 2002, we really felt like we should have been in, but when you go through it, there are a lot of teams feel like they should be in."
A few comments have come in complaining about a team not getting selected yet or about an automatic qualifier. Please keep in mind this entire mock selection process is just a hypothesis of what could happen in mid-March, not what would happen as of today. On some sport websites, there are bracket projections, but those are much different from what is happening today. Those are projections on if the tournament selection was today. This mock selection is just what could happen in March. The automatic qualifiers have some random upsets involved and so forth. The committee is throwing wild cards and wrenches into things to prove points and make things interested. Yes, Siena will probably win the MAAC, but since they gave Fairfield the auto bid, it opens Siena up for the at-large conversation. Today's exercise is much more about the procedure that produces the 65 teams, then the actual result of which 65 teams are selected.
More automatic qualifiers and at-large selections have been decided. The automatic qualifiers are:
BYU
Arizona State
Alabama State
Nevada
UNC
Stephen F. Austin
Tennessee
The new at-large teams are:
Utah
Purdue
Texas
Minnesota
West Virginia
Boston College
Kentucky
Virginia Tech
Cincinnati
UNLV
Wisconsin
That means 30 of the 31 automatic qualifiers are filled up and 28 of the 34 at large teams.
There is a bit of a lull as the members research some more at-large teams. So this is a good opportunity to discuss the always controversial Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). Associate Director of Statistics, Gary K. Johnson, sends a letter out to every committee member explaining how the RPI is calculated and how it should be used. His main assessment is that the RPI should be used as an additional evaluation tool. It cannot take into account subjective concepts and therefore should only be a small part of the selection process. Here is the exact letter he sent out to each committee member this year. RPI Letter
The 9-16 rankings are complete. Here is how the committee rated them:
9. Villanova
10. Wake Forest
11. Kansas
12. Louisville
13. Marquette
14. UCLA
15. Butler
16. Xavier
Worlock has also announced 5 more automatic qualifiers. Memphis, Pacific, Morgan State, Ball State and Pitt. This makes the automatic qualifier column 23 and since Pitt and Memphis were in the at-large column, it reduces that number to 29. So there are 35 teams vying for 5 at-large spots
The committee members are starting to ask Shaheen a bunch of questions. One member asks if he is really in the room and doing the same thing during the actual selection process. He is, but he jokes that "I only work 3 days a year. The mock selections and the actual selection."
David Worlock updates the group with a couple more of automatic qualifiers. From the Atlantic-10, Dayton and from the Big 12, Oklahoma State. Dayton was part of the at-large field, so that opens up one more spot. Oklahoma State was not part of the under consideration column, so that is a whole new team added to the discussion. There are now 18 automatic qualifiers and 31 at-large teams.
The next seed line is now decided as well as Clemson, Michigan State, Duke and Memphis are ranked 5-8.
The committee is breaking for lunch now. I was able to get ahold of a digitial version of the Nitty-Gritty Report. Here is the link. Nitty-Gritty Report
Here is the breakdown of the selected teams so far. The 13 automatic qualifiers are:
Butler
Morehead State
College of Charleston
Western Kentucky
Creighton
Gonzaga
Portland State
Old Dominion
Fairfield
Belmont
UNC Asheville
Robert Morris
IUPUI
These were assigned as if this was in March and these schools won their conference tournaments. The 24 at-large teams that have been selected so far are:
Arizona State
Florida State
Michigan State
Pitt
Villanova
Cal
Illinois
Wake Forest
Clemson
Kansas
Missouri
Syracuse
Washington
UConn
Louisville
UNC
Xavier
Dayton
Marquette
Ohio State
UCLA
Duke
Memphis
Oklahoma
There are rumblings about how long this mock committee is taking and jokes are flying about missed flights and missed Valentine's Day dates. Greg Shaheen is trying to encourage the members to submit their next entries.
The members have entered in the initial ballots that they filled out beforehand into the computer system so that they can be calculated and put together. 13 of the automatic qualifiers have been determined. That means 18 others have yet to be determined and will be told to the group as the day goes along. The committee voted unanimously for 24 teams in the at-large column. There are 49 more schools that appeared on at least 2 ballots. The committee needs to whittle down this number to 10 to fill out the 34 at large teams. Greg Shaheen first points out five schools that were only put on two ballots. The five schools are:
Green Bay
Maryland
Miami (Ohio)
Rhode Island
Tulsa
He asks if the members want to eliminate any of these from consideration. The committee votes to eliminate all of them since they were each only put on 2 of the 20 teams. They will now evaluate the final 44 for the final 10 at-large spots.
Jeanne Boyd, the managing director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship, has given the final instructions. At 11:35 AM ET, the mock committee officially begins the selection process.
Greg Shaheen, the senior vice president of basketball and business strategies, has taken over the presentation. Shaheen tells us that committee members get complete confidentiality during the selection process. This is so that they can give their fairest assessment possible and not be worried about offending anyone. Committee members cannot see what other members voted for either, only the total group vote. One important fact is that a committee member cannot vote on a team from his/her own conference. For example, a member of the SEC's computer will automatically block any SEC team so that he/she cannot vote for that school. This is to ensure there will be no bias toward a particular conference.
The actual committee members will gather March 11-15 at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis. An entire floor is blocked off for the committee. Each member will bring with them an initial ballot. On this ballot they are instructed to fill out an at-large column of teams and a "under consideration" column. The at-large column is for teams that are in the tournament regardless. The "under consideration" column is for teams that a member feels has not clinched a spot yet in their mind, but deserves discussion on whether it should be included. There is also an automatic qualifier column for schools that have already won their conference tournament, or in the case of the Ivy League, won the regular season crown.
On March 15, the committee members will rank each team from 1-65. This is done before any bracketing takes place. The actual bracketing does not take place until 4 PM ET on selection day. Many people may have the misconception that bracketing is done much earlier. The committee wants to make sure that it has all 65 teams in place before they start putting each team into regions.
On the projector, Worlock is showing the "nitty-gritty" sheets. The school RPI ranking is included but the conference RPI is not. Worlock emphasizes that each team is evaluated on an individual basis and not by what conference it is in. I hope to post a pdf example of the nitty-gritty as well as some other materials later in the day. The best part of the technology the NCAA uses is what they can display on each projector screen. Committee members can watch multiple games at once as well as have team-by-team comparison charts displayed next to them all at once.
There a few changes to the selection committee roster that we were given earlier. The Big Ten Network has sent a couple representatives, Dave Revsine and Paul Cordell. The updated and official list is below.
Greg Anthony, CBS Sports
Rob Carolla, Big 12
Dan Dakich, 1070 The Fan
Dave Furst, WRTV
Stephen Haug, Atlantic 10 Conference
Dave Hirsch, Pac-10
Jeremiah Johnson, Fox 59
Melissa Kristofak, Sun Belt Conference
Kim Melcher, Mountain West Conference
Brian Morrison, Atlantic Coast Conference
Patrick Netherton, Sporting News Radio
John Paquette, Big East
Craig Pinkerton, Southeastern Conference
LaTonya Sadler, Big Ten
Steve Scheer, CBS Sports
Mike Villamor, Big West Conference
Eddie White, 1070 The Fan
Chris Widlic, WISH-TV
Dave Revsine, Big Ten Network
Paul Cordell, Big Ten Network
David Worlock, the associate director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship, kicks off the Friday session with introductions. He assures everyone they will be fed, which seems to be the #1 concern of the day. The committee will also get a few breaks to check their email and make any phone calls that needs to be done. Tom Jernstedt, the executive vice president, also make some remarks. He describes the first committee selection process, which was done via teleconference and goes over the duties of the tournament committee. Each member is on a five-year tenure. They meet six times a year and the entire month of March to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Worlock overviews the agenda for the day and compares that with the agenda of the actual tournament committee. Everyone is given a binder that includes rules and principles as well as all kinds of data and facts to help make the selections. Some of the information includes the dates of the conference tournaments, the 2009 NCAA Tournament dates and locations as well as a 2009 team sheet description. It also includes all of the 2008 information for reference, the 2008 at-large selections, the automatic qualifiers and so forth.
Everyone introduces themselves around the room. As I mentioned before, it is a mix of media members and conference sports information directors.
We are here in Indianapolis the night before the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Mock Selection Seminar. We will try and get input and reactions from a few of the attendees before, during and after the session tomorrow. The purpose of this mock selection seminar is to educate the media and the public on the process that takes place for the committee when it gathers in March to choose the 65 team tournament field. Tomorrow, the seminar attendees will go through the same process as the actual committee members will in March. They will choose the 65 teams and place them in the bracket. During the process, they will deal with the same tough decisions and scenarios. I will be in the room and describing everything that takes place. The day will be coordinated by five NCAA men's basketball staff members. They are listed below.
Jeanne Boyd, managing director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship
Tom Jernstedt, executive vice president
Greg Shaheen, senior vice president of basketball and business strategies
David Worlock, associate director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship
L.J. Wright, director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship
The participants in the mock selection are a mix of media members and sports information/media relations directors from conferences around the nation. Here is the list of participants.
Greg Anthony, CBS Sports
Rob Carolla, Big 12
Dan Dakich, 1070 The Fan
Dave Furst, WRTV
Stephen Haug, Atlantic 10 Conference
Dave Hirsch, Pac-10
Melissa Kristofak, Sun Belt Conference
Mike Marot, Associated Press
Kim Melcher, Mountain West Conference
Brian Morrison, Atlantic Coast Conference
John Paquette, Big East
Craig Pinkerton, Southeastern Conference
Will Roleson, Horizon League
LaTonya Sadler, Big Ten
Steve Scheer, CBS Sports
Mike Villamor, Big West Conference
Eddie White, 1070 The Fan
Chris Widlic, WISH-TV
It should also be noted that there are two mock selection sessions this year. We will be blogging the second session and the list above is for that. The first session took place earlier today with the same rules and format as the second session. The second session begins Friday at 10:00 AM PT. Until then, good night.
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