Lots of things have been written here and elsewhere in the aftermath of Sunday's disappointment, and the inevitable backlash has begun. You wouldn't believe the emails I've been getting -- I could become a pretty successful freelance joke writer just by recycling the material I've received the last two days. I feel the need to explain something:
I can't speak for everyone, and wouldn't presume to do so, but I don't think Creighton feels a sense of entitlement or that the NCAA Tournament bid was "stolen" from them. I don't think this is a conspiracy, nor do I believe that the NCAA is some over-arching cartel that is out to get the mid-major team. Its disappointing that the criteria favored by the committee is increasingly advantageous to "major" teams. But there's no conspiracy here.
On Saturday after Creighton got hammered by Illinois State, I remember telling someone "Well, there goes the NCAA tourney bid." It was quite a discussion that night, with me, the eternal optimist, strangely playing the role of Negative Noonan. There were chinks in Creighton's armor I figured the committee, armed with a blowout in their last game, wouldn't ignore: a BAD home to Drake, non-conference losses to non-Tournament teams, and no marquee win. In other words, they were a bubble team. Win that game, they're not a bubble team. They lost it, though, and badly.
Did Arizona have chinks in their armor? Absolutely, and I outlined many of them here over the weekend. Same deal with every team on the bubble. That's why they were on the bubble in the first place. If they had sterling resumes, they'd be locks and someone else would be on the bubble.
What we can't lose sight of is that there isn't a whole helluva lot of difference between Creighton, Arizona, St. Mary's and San Diego State. All had plusses, all had minuses. One team was getting in, and the other three were going to be left out and therefore be angry. If Creighton had gotten the bid, Arizona would have cried foul. Or if St. Mary's got gotten in, Arizona would have been mad. Somebody's going to be left out and believe they got jobbed. That's why we're fans. We're passionate, and we're always going to side with our team. Whoever got left out was going to be mad.
Its a lose-lose situation for the committee. Put Creighton or St. Mary's in, and Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas will scream bloody murder. Put Arizona in, and Dick Vitale and Doug Gottleib will scream.
That's true whether you've got 64 or 128 teams in -- someone is always the last team in, and the last team left out is always going to be upset. Creighton happened to be that team this year. I'm not terribly upset about it two days later, because their resume wasn't markedly different from Arizona, at least not enough to whine about it.
*****
There's no conspiracy schedule-wise, either. Doofus-pants Jay Bilas can spit as he yells on TV all he wants and claim "Creighton can play anyone they want, if they go on the road!", but that's not necessarily true -- nor is it necessarily, well, necessary. This season's schedule, cited by many as the deciding factor in keeping them out, looked much better on paper in August. Think about it:
St. Joseph's on the road? That's usually going to be a stellar game, a highlight of the schedule. The Hawks turned out to be decidedly average and no one mentioned the Jays win two weeks later.
New Mexico at home? The Lobos won 21 games but were picked to be not just an NCAA Tournament team, but a dangerous one. They're in the NIT. Again, the win was barely a postscript on their resume.
Oral Roberts at home? They had their worst season in years, something that couldn't be anticipated. I seem to recall people being really excited when the Jays got paired up with them for the BracketBuster last year -- because the return game would be great. Didn't work that way. Another postscript on the resume.
The Las Vegas Classic? This tourney was originally supposed to have a "Mystery" Pac-10 team as the headliner, but wound up with an 0-18 Big East team in DePaul and a below-mediocre St. Louis team as co-headliners.
That's just bad luck. The biggest names are never coming to Omaha, so the ideal schedule is probably 2-3 good/great games against solid mid-majors, an exempt tournament with solid BCS type teams, and some filler games against Top 150 teams. Throw in the annual Nebraska game, and that's a pretty good slate. And that's what Creighton likely believed they had this year: 3 games against good/great mid-majors, an exempt tourney with 2 BCS teams, and some filler games.
If it had worked out that way, the Jays would likely be in the tournament, or at least have had a stronger argument. Unfortunately, the only game that worked out well was Dayton, who contended for the A-10 title, was ranked most of February and was the best team on the schedule at season's end. Everything else went poorly.
That's not a conspiracy, that's bad luck. This is the first year I can remember where the Jays schedule was an issue come March. They play as good a schedule as they can get without selling their souls, and every year except this one it has worked out just fine.
The thing about luck is, eventually it runs out. This year it did. And so the Jays are NIT bound as a #1 seed. Bowling Green is first up, and then the winner of Kentucky-UNLV comes to Omaha. If they beat one of those two traditional beasts, Notre Dame, Nebraska or New Mexico is headed here.
So think about this. They're in the NIT, but tomorrow we get to see them in person one more time. And if they win, we get to see one of the three most storied programs in college basketball IN OMAHA -- we get to see Booker Woodfox versus Jodie Meeks! That's good stuff. Or we get to see Lon Kruger, Dana Altman's mentor and UNLV head coach, come to Omaha. That's a great storyline too. Should they win that one, Notre Dame (!) comes in, Steve Alford returns with his Lobos (Boo!), or Doc Sadler's Huskers come in for a rematch.
That's a consolation prize, but it ain't too bad.
You bet.
