Dear 2012 Selection Committee,
I greatly appreciate all the hard work you just went through in order to select the field of 68 for the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. I know that you spent hours studying numerous resumes, probably to the point where they all began to run together. I believe your intentions were honorable and your work ethic commendable, but I would like to make some observations on the results of your labor.
1) Your top 4 seeds were very good. In fact, I haven't come across a single bracketologist that disagreed with any of those selections by more than 1 seed. Personally, I think you put a little too much emphasis on Florida's State's ACC Tournament Title, but overall I rate your job in this area as an "A".
2) Let me jump to the other end of the spectrum for a moment. Long Beach State was an interesting case this year, with a record of 21-1 against teams outside the top 100 but only 2-7 against the top 100. I'm pleased to see that you looked into those "quality losses" and saw that they were almost all close games, including losing by 4 at San Diego State, 8 at Kansas, 6 at North Carolina, and 2 at Creighton. It would have been easy to take a team who lost almost every time they faced a quality opponent and dump them in the 13 or 14 seed range, but I am glad that you saw that this is truly a quality team and deserving of a 12 seed. For looking beyond just wins and losses, I give you an "A+"
3) Before you start thinking I have nothing but compliments, let me address your choice of NC State as an 11 seed and 6 spots ahead of BYU on the S-Curve. Sending BYU to a play-in game and then to a match up with a #3 seed while NC State gets a bye into the 2nd round where they will face a 6 seed is just plain silly. Look at the following comparison:
NC State had 2 more chances than BYU to pick up top 50 wins but still tied BYU with just 1
BYU's best win (Gonzaga) was better than NC State's best win (Texas)
BYU was 4-0 against teams 51-100... NC State was 5-2
Each team had 2 bad losses. BYU's were to RPI #118 & #143. NC State's were to RPI #151 & #197
NC State might have played a better non-conference schedule, but they didn't do much with it. Clearly, BYU had the better resume, and for forcing them into a much less desirable position, I give you a "C-"
4) Some decisions are difficult, while others are easy. Norfolk State should have been an easy decision. The fact that you placed them anywhere but the play-in game as a #16 seed makes no sense. How in the world did you find 6 teams in this year's field that they should be ahead of? Let's compare them specifically to Long Island, a #16 seed that you ranked behind Norfolk State on your S-Curve.
Long Island had a much better RPI (80 vs 128)
Long Island had a better record vs the top 100 (3-2 vs 2-3)
Long Island had a better record vs teams 101-200 (5-4 vs 2-2)
Long Island had fewer losses outside the top 200 (2 vs 3)
Long Island won a better conference (24th best vs 30th best)
What exactly did Norfolk State do to warrant being ahead of Long Island? Sure, they beat Long Island head to head, but it was a home game for Norfolk State. One game should not override every other comparison point. Most fans don't care that much about the 15 and 16 seeds, but your job is to seed everyone fairly, not just the "big boys". For this "oversight", I give you a "D+"
5) Last but not least, let me ask you about Iona. This has been your most scutinized decision in the last 3 days, and rightfully so. I believe Iona was a bad choice. They had 0 wins against atlarge worthy tournament teams. In the loss column, they had 2 losses to teams outside the top 200 and 2 more to teams ranked #115 & #149. 4 bad losses (2 of which were terrible) shouldn't be overcome by a bunch of mediocre wins. I give you credit for thinking outside the box, but Iona simply beat the teams that atlarge worthy teams should beat. Due to the bad losses, I don't think they should have been selected, and for this I give you a "C".
For anyone who read my letter to the committee last year, you will notice that this year's letter is much shorter. Overall, I feel that this was a very good year with few places for significant criticism. Setting up a bracket is a tough job... much tougher than it first seems. For doing a quality job I commend you.
For all bracketologists, as well as college basketball fans everywhere,
March_24_7
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