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While getting on a roll, coming together as a team, getting hot, peaking at the right time, or whatever else one wants to call it is definitely of utmost importance during tourney time, I do believe that the conference affiliations matter.
Besides recruiting there are other reasons that this matters.
Style of play, tempo, physical post or guard play, use of the 3pt shot, etc. all have been major differences in the conferences in the past. The Big Sky and the ACC had the three point shot prior to the NCAA putting it in, the Big East gave 6 fouls for a couple of years, the PAC-10 is noted for high scoring finesse games, etc. (The last is one reason that I think UCLA did so well in the PAC-10 this year with Ben Howland bringing a physical, defensive style to a league that wasn't accustomed to it.) The last difference is the referees. Although today more refs are working for multiple conferences, how a game was called used to be quite different from one conference to another.
I enjoy watching the contrast as these different elements clash when the teams meet in the tournament.
However, I do agree with the direction that the selection committee has taken of looking at teams and not leagues when handing out bids.
Sometimes though certain conferences just seem to prepare their teams better for the NCAA games.
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