March may have started a couple weeks ago on the calender but it doesn’t really start until this Tuesday when the first round games of the 2011 NCAA Tournament tip off.
This season, the NCAA Selection Committee picked 68 total teams to the field and a whopping 11 teams from the Big East Conference which is clearly the deepest conference in the nation.
Leading the way in the Big East Conference is Pittsburgh who secured themselves a number one seed in the Southeast bracket even though they did win a single game in their conference tournament.
“It has Hall of Fame coaches, great programs with storied traditions and heritage,” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said, a few minutes before his team became the 11th and final squad from the Big East to have its name announced on the selection show. “It has athletic programs that understand the value of investing the dollars that are needed to run a topflight program.”
For all 68 teams the final destination is Houston, Texas set for April 2nd. As of today, according to the Las Vegas Hilton, Ohio State was made an early 7-2 favorite to cut down the nets at Reliant Stadium after the title game on April 4.
This year’s tournament also see’s the return of Arizona, UCLA and North Carolina a trio of teams that were regulars in the big dance but missed out in 2010. With the absence of those three teams many thought the 2010 field as one of the weakest.
This year’s field is still drawing some criticism from pundits as it consists of five at large teams with 14 losses (Marquette, USC, Penn State, Michigan State, Tennessee), which according to the Associated Press is only one fewer than in the combined history of the entire tournament since it was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
With that said, here are this year biggest snubs…
1. Colorado (21-13, 8-8, RPI: 66): Colorado seemingly did everything right during the regular season. They had a winning record overall and some quality wins over Kansas State, Missouri and Texas, something Clemson and UAB didn’t really possess. However Colorado’s downfall may have been playing too many games against teams with RPI’s over 300.
2. Virginia Tech (21-11, 9-7, RPI: 64): Whenever you post a win over Duke, you would think that would be an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
However, the selection committee thought otherwise.
What may have been the Hookies downfall is the fact that they couldn’t post a quality non-conference win.
3. Alabama (21-11, 12-4, RPI: 79): A winning record overall, in conference and with a pair of victories over another bubble team in Georgia, you would think Alabama’s dancing come mid March.
Guess again…
Alabama’s poor RPI is more than likely what kept them out of the big tournament. Early season non-conference losses St. Peter’s, Providence and Iowa didn’t help matters much either.
4.Saint Mary’s (23-7, 11-3, RPI: 44): A late season slide which included a pair of losses to Gonzaga, a home loss to Utah State and an embarrassing loss to San Diego is what kept Saint Mary’s from the March Tournament.
