If people will forgive me, I'd like to get solicit some opinions on which teams should get invited to the NCAA tournament.

The pundits are predicting some big numbers from some conferences and I don't think that justice is being done elsewhere.

I'm seeing: Big East - 9 (of 16), Big Ten - 7 (of 11), SEC - 6, MVC - 5, and ACC - 4.

I watched two teams lose their conference finals and have to hope that both will get a bid. I'm writing about Hofstra and Utah State.
Hofstra buried themselves early and then made a heck of a comeback, but fell short.
Utah State just lost in OT to Nevada, but had a shot at the buzzer of regulation to win.

So are you for the power conferences or the little guys?
I would have a real problem with the Big Ten (11) getting more than 50% of the conference in the tourney.

The teams in the middle of the ACC pack (with the exception of Maryland) can only blame themselves for poor scheduling. FSU won't get in with their cupcake schedule and first round loss in the ACC Tourney. I think Marylnad will make it, giving the ACC 5.

I can't imagine the Big East getting 9 in but I guess it's very possible.

Went to the ACC Tourney today. Heels lost but man! It was a hoot!

Right now ESPN's bracketology has FSU in and Maryland out.
I guess getting crushed by BC had a strong influence. Of course, UNC fans have some sympathy for them. :D

The Big Ten tourney early rounds were on ESPN plus which I don't get, and I wasn't aware that the semis were on CBS today, so I didn't see any of those games. I still find it hard to believe that half of that conference is tourney worthy.

[Edited by Nevadaref on Mar 12th, 2006 at 12:24 AM]

Indiana gave Ohio State all they could handle; in fact, they had two close-in looks before the buzzer that could've won it for them. And Mich. St. beat Illinois before running out of gas against Iowa. Add to that the fact the Big 10 has the best RPI as a conference, it seems like it might be true.

Some people have dreams of running a marathon sometime in their life, others might want to climb a mountain, or parachute from a plane. Me, I want to be in the room with the selection committee while they are making these decisions. What better job can there be than being paid to watch all these games? Mind you, I don't want to actually BE on the committee and have the pressure of deciding which teams have to stay home and which schools don't get a piece of that tournament pie. But it's fascinating to me how they combine hard statistics with opinions to get to the final 64/65.