Joe Lunardi finally missed one in his final bracket, and wouldn't you know it, it was Creighton that he was wrong about. There's a couple of schools of thought about what happened to Creighton today, both of which contain puke-inducing unpleasantries.
One: the Jays were the proverbial "Last Team In", and were bumped for Mississippi State when the otherwise NIT-bound school won the SEC Tournament and thus, the automatic bid.
Two: the Jays were much further down the pecking order than any of the pundits believed, and had been out of the discussion pretty much all week.
I tend to believe it was the second scenario, hard as that is to digest. Mississippi State winning removed Penn State or Auburn from the field, not Creighton or St. Mary's. There were only four mid-major at large bids, and the 11/12 seeds that used to go to those schools are now going to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, etc. Those teams never used to get double-digit seeds. In the post-George Mason world, they do. Fewer and fewer mid-majors in the field leads to fewer chances one or two of them advance to the second weekend, or, God forbid, the third weekend. Every year the number of those teams getting in gets smaller, and that's what is upsetting to me.
Taking a step back, Creighton didn't have a fabulous resume. But the mid-majors that did have a good resume got screwed too, and that doesn't bode well for years when Creighton DOES have a great resume. The 2001 team that got an at-large doesn't get that chance in this environment; the 2003 team doesn't get a top-six seed in this environment. Wichita State doesn't get a favorable draw leading to a Sweet 16 run in this environment. It just doesn't happen, and that's really, really upsetting to me. I'm not upset over Creighton so much as I am about mid-majors in general.
Does this impact recruiting? Does it affect attendance? Valid questions with difficult answers.
This entire scenario is insulting, its demeaning and perhaps worst of all, its a wet dream for Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps. And as you know, anything that makes those two clowns happy is automatically "List of Things That Piss Me Off List".
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In my Selection Sunday Primer, I noted teams to be wary of seeing on the board. That list was gleaned from lots of sources, and was not as far out of left field as it wound up seeming.
"If one of the group consisting of Penn State, Auburn, Florida and Arizona shows up, its an ominous sign. If two of that group show up, its curtains."
When Arizona showed up in the very first region that was revealed, it was like getting punched in the stomach by 1985 Dolph Lundgren. Arizona was probably the worst team of that group, so them getting a bid was like getting a crisp meat burrito shoved up my butt. Thanks to some random Husker troll on the Bluejay Cafe for that insulting analogy, incidentally. I swore I'd steal it and use it eventually, and here I am mere days later, doing just that. Thanks.
Surprisingly, none of the other three in that group got in. But lots of other bad things did happen. Minnesota and Wisconsin got in with double-digit seeds, meaning they were closer to the bubble than we'd been led to believe. San Diego State and St. Mary's didn't get in, but Maryland did.
And around 5:40, it was official: Creighton, their 26 wins and conference co-championship were stood up for the dance.
I have but one question to ask of my fellow Jays fans. A couple of months ago, there was a heated debate about the relative merits of regular season championships versus conference tournament championships. A surprising number of people wished for regular season titles, because "the MVC regular season champ hasn't missed the tourney in 15 years, and winning the regular season is a better barometer of solid play over 2+ months instead of three days."
Well, everyone who made that argument, congratulations, you got your wish! And for the first time in 15 years, the regular season champ didn't get in -- and it was Creighton. Ouch.
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In November, pretty much everyone would have agreed that going 26-7, 14-4 in the league and tying for the championship would have earned a bid. Creighton did those things, and yet they're on the outside looking in. Here's why, in my estimation:
What we didn't count on is a mediocre non-conference schedule turning solidly horrible. They won on the road at St. Joseph's in a year when the Hawks had their worst team in a decade. That *should* have been a good win, but wasn't. They won the Las Vegas Invitational, but beat two sub-200 RPI teams in Omaha to get there and then beat Fresno State (bleh) and DePaul (0-18 in the Big East) once they got there. Who would figure the generally decent Fresno State would be awful, and that DePaul would go two months without winning a single game?
Taking away the relative demerits of the schedule, the Jays still gave the committee ample reasons to keep them out.
The Jays got blown out at Wichita State (bad loss), and lost home games to Drake (bad loss) and Northern Iowa (bad only because it was at home). They got their asses summarily handed to them twice by Illinois State. They lost road games to non-tournament teams in Nebraska and Arkansas Little-Rock. Their schedule did them no favors, but they didn't exactly make lemons out of lemonade either.
Don't be too distraught over Creighton. Don't cry for me, Argentina.
Cry for the Mid-Major in general, because every year, we get closer and closer to having a D1A and D1AA split as there is in football. After a high water mark of 12 mid-major at large bids in 2004, there were a record low 4 this year. FOUR! I'm not going to make the argument that Creighton deserved to be in the tournament over Minnesota, Maryland or Wisconsin; all four of those teams had flaws, and while it stinks Creighton is one outside looking in, its not horrible.
What I am upset about is San Diego State, St. Mary's, and a plethora of other good, quality mid-major teams -- Creighton included -- being excluded. Its like the movie Idiocracy is coming true. Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps, both of which are dumber than my left nut, have successfully educated the ESPN-Kool Aid drinking public into believing that teams with losing records in their conference are better than teams who win a Top 10 league.
I challenge anyone to present an argument to me where Arizona, a team that was sub-.500 in the Pac 10, is better or more deserving than the mid-majors on the bubble. Lets be clear about something: I'd be OK with San Diego State or St. Mary's getting in over Creighton. I'm not OK with Arizona getting the nod, and I'm not soon going to forget about it. I hold grudges like Khomeni.
Sleep well, Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps. Your dream is coming true. As for me, I'll go on a Forrest Gump-length run, grow a long beard, get on some magazine covers, give away genius t-shirt ideas, inspire hundreds of lost souls and get in really, really good shape.
You bet.
