Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003212016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It is necessary to be careful here, because, in requesting massive surgery, teams like Virginia would not get picked.
Surely, the Cavs belonged. They were 9-6 against the NCAA field. They beat Georgia Tech and North Carolina twice. And they played well, finishing a blocked shot from making the ACC a spectacular 10-for-10 in the opening two rounds.
But UVa also was 6-8 in its own league, 19-11 overall. The Cavs were seeded seventh in the Southeast, and it is fair to say they were among the top 28 teams in the nation.
Yet, by placing as much emphasis as it does on power ratings - i.e., who you play and where you play them as well as how you did and when you did it - the committee has stacked things in favor of the leading conferences.
The danger here is that lesser teams in those leagues, Indiana, for example, are rated significantly higher than the way they performed on the court all year.
It is my feeling that the Big Ten actually was overrated. It didn't have any single team that good, and no superstar performers. That doesn't mean it didn't deserve a record seven teams in the field, although I think you can make a good case that Indiana needed a couple more quality wins.
Some of those smaller leagues are stronger than their reputations. The Association of Mid-Continent Universities is one. Northern Iowa was 6-6 in the AMCU and won its way into the field by capturing the league tournament on its own floor. However, the Panthers were a representative team that deserved to beat Missouri and gave Minnesota a struggle.
Had Northern Iowa not won the AMCU, that league would have had just one entry - Southwest Missouri. Clearly, it deserved two.
I have no sympathy for the Big West, which lost out on a potential fourth team because it played its league tournament finale while the pairings were being announced. It is true the committee made an example of the Big West by saying it would be either Cal-Santa Barbara or Long Beach State, but not both, but all leagues have been warned to finish their championship games by 5 p.m. CST, a half-hour before the NCAA field is announced in Kansas City, Mo.
The Big Eight got wiped out early, losing the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 seeds, and demonstrating that perhaps Kansas State (17-14) didn't deserve to be there.
The furor over the choice of Notre Dame (16-12) will not die for a while, but if the Irish didn't play themselves into the field, they certainly were talented enough to be there.
The biggest problem I have is not with the choice of teams, but with the seedings. Sixth and seventh teams from any league shouldn't be ranked in the upper half of the bracket, as Indiana and Ohio State were.
I suspect that making the champs of the lesser leagues seeds 13-16 is unfair to a select few, and a way should be found to bypass the power ratings in those cases.
What makes this week's action so interesting are the new faces, not to mention the poignant story of Hank Gathers' Loyola Marymount Lions.
There would be interest in Loyola Marymount because of Gathers' tragic death, but it is a blockbuster story because of the style of play. Scoring 149 points on proud Michigan, the defending champs, is mind-boggling.
Xavier is a legitimate national contender for the first time, as is Connecticut, helped by Israel's Nadev "The Dove" Henefeld. Texas is a surprise; so is Ball State.
Come April 2 in Denver, however, the finalists are likely to be from the ACC, Big East or Big Ten, plus that perennial - and last of the black hats - Nevada-Las Vegas.
Until Xavier upset Georgetown, this was setting up as a late-season version of the ACC/Big East Challenge. First, Duke beat St. John's, then Syracuse squeaked past UVa.
Clemson and UConn play Thursday, so the Huskies might be in the regional final against Duke. And Georgia Tech could play for the Southeast title against Syracuse.
Even in what had been considered a relatively down year, the ACC has done better than anybody. That should be no surprise. Since 1980, when the field first was expanded to 48 teams, the ACC is 101-49. Next is the Big East at 90-49. The Big Ten is third at 78-50.
This is the second straight year, and fourth all told, that the ACC has had four entries in the Sweet 16. All the other leagues collectively have done it three times.
by CNB