CU in the... NIT?

Image via Wikipedia I need to start this article by pointing out that I am not a fan of CU in any way. I have never routed for CU unless they happen to be playing against a team from Texas, I hate all that is Texas. So, when I say that the University of Colorado was royally disrespected and disgraced by not being selected to the NCAA Tournament that starts this week, you can rest assured that it comes from an individual that is partial and unbiased. Before I tell you why CU should be in the tournament I’ll tell you why 2 teams should not be.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham made the NCAA tournament as an at-large big. This means that they didn’t win their conference championship tournament to receive the automatic qualifying bid. UAB was 22-8 overall while going 12-4 in their conference. They won the Conference USA regular season title but lost in the conference tournament. These numbers by themselves look fairly impressive but they are wildly deceiving. Conference USA is terrible. There is not one ranked team in the conference and the UAB out of conference schedule is a joke except for 2 games, Duke and Georgia, and UAB lost both games. When you only play 2 quality programs a year you shouldn’t loose more than 4 games and still expect to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid.

Virginia Commonwealth University has a record of 23-11 with a conference record of 12-6 and finish the season ranked 4th in the Colonial conference and also made the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid. Once again the numbers aren’t bad but how many teams can you name in the Colonial conference outside of Old Dominion. Before now I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that Old Dominion was in that conference. Their out of conference schedule was almost as weak as their conference schedule. They have zero wins against ranked opponents because they didn’t play any. Of their 4 good wins, 1 came against Wake Forrest who won 4 games all season (their worst season to date I believe). 2 came against conference foes George Mason and Old Dominion. George Mason had beaten VCU earlier in the season by 20 points and Old Dominion beat VCU in the Colonial Conference Finals. UCLA is the only really good win on VCU’s schedule and it came in a preseason tournament. So in review, VCU doesn’t win their conference regular season or post-season championship, played zero ranked opponents, and their best win came before the season even started.

The University of Colorado went 21 and 13 for the season and 8-8 in the conference while finishing the regular season ranked 6th in the conference. CU made it to the semi- finals of their conference championship and didn’t make the NCAA Tournament. Looking at these numbers they aren’t as impressive as UAB or VCU, but if we look deeper we will see that they are vastly more impressive. Let’s start with the conference. CU plays in the Big 12 Conference, a conference that everyone has heard of and can name teams in. Not only can we name teams but we have several ranked teams within the conference; Kansas, Texas, Missouri, and Kansas State. CU played Kansas 3 times this season and lost all 3 games but outside of the game at Kansas, CU played them close. Kansas was ranked in the top 10 for all 3 games. The Buffs played Texas (#5 at the time) and won. They split the season series with Missouri who was ranked 6th in the country when the Buffs beat them and 15th during the loss. CU’s most impressive achievement this season was beating Kansas State all 3 times they met. The wildcats were ranked for 2 of the three meetings. Once again, the CU Buffalos didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.

UAB and VCU played in very week conferences, didn’t win their conference championships, played very week out of conference schedules, and played a total of 2 ranked opponents combined with zero wins to show for it and make the NCAA Tournament. CU plays in one of the power conferences in college basketball, makes the semi-finals of their conference tournament where they loose to eventual the champions, #2 Kansas in a close game, won 5 of their 9 games against ranked opponents and didn’t make the NCAA Tournament. I’m all for giving small schools and conferences an opportunity to play on the big stage, but only when they earn it. VCU and UAB are probably very good programs in their own right, but compared to CU they didn’t earn their spot in the tournament. They had one quality win between the 2 of them and somehow make the big show. It is a disgrace to the selection process and a slap in the face of the University of Colorado basketball program.

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• NCAA tournament: Committee chair Gene Smith defends selection of UAB, VCU (sports.espn.go.com)
• Calling all Buffs Fans: boycott the NCAA Tournament First Round (prosportscolorado.com)
• NCAA Tournament: What Surprises Did The Committee Give Us On Selection Sunday? (bleacherreport.com)
• NCAA Basketball: Should Someone Like Joe Lunardi Pick the Brackets From Now on? (bleacherreport.com)
• NCAA Selection Committee Picked the Wrong Teams from Alabama and Virginia (bleacherreport.com)
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