Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 13, 1995 TAG: 9503140080
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I know how it must have happened. Those hoopheads were sitting around that conference room Sunday, chewing on some seeds, watching conference championship games.
Then, someone ordered a Manhattan. Probably lame-duck Metro Conference commissioner Ralph McFillen. Terry Holland said he'd have one, too. Then Bob Frederick, then Jake Crouthamel. Pretty soon, seven of the nine had ordered a Manhattan.
Everyone knows seven votes will get you into the big dance.
Why not just take Kansas State, if they wanted someone from Manhattan? The Wildcats were 12-15, but they played a brutal schedule. In last week's Ratings Percentage Index, Manhattan's schedule ranked in the bottom 65 (of 302) in the nation. The Jaspers are 25-4, but they played the worst schedule among the top 100 teams in the RPI.
In leaving Georgia Tech - refusing an NIT berth - out of the NCAA field for the second consecutive year, committee chairman Frederick said the Yellow Jackets were only 8-12 against top 100 teams in the RPI. Well, at least they played some of them, as did George Washington, Georgia, Iowa and Virginia Tech, among others.
A couple of years ago, the NCAA committee decided to give equal consideration to regular-season conference champions. That was commendable. But this year, the committee went too far. Perhaps it was because the top seeds in 14 conference tournaments with automatic bids were upset.
Tulsa, Santa Clara, Miami (Ohio) and Xavier were regular-season champs in leagues that don't often get at-large bids. They got them. There's no argument with Tulsa. Santa Clara played a decent schedule. Miami and Xavier are perhaps a stretch. Manhattan is a reach, like the long one of Wake Forest's Tim Duncan.
Maybe Virginia Tech can redo this conference deal. The Hokies are leaving the Metro. They're joining the Atlantic 10. It's a combination of the two they obviously needed. Manhattan plays in the Metro Atlantic. The MAAC never had received an at-large bid until Sunday.
Manhattan is one of the host schools for the NIT - which is where the Jaspers should be playing this week. The committee says its charge this year was to pick the best 35 at-large teams. If Manhattan played either Tech - Virginia or Georgia - 10 times, how many would the Big Apple bunch win?
As for the Hokies (20-10), yes, their NCAA bubble burst when they lost to Southern Mississippi in the first round of the Metro tournament. They lost five of their final eight and finished tied for fourth in the Metro. And to a program that hasn't played a postseason game since 1986, an NIT home date Friday against Clemson might seem like a nice consolation.
However, Bill Foster's team has a dubious distinction. It is the highest-ranked team in the RPI not going to the NCAA, at No.36. Tech is the only team among the top 40 not in the NCAA field. The Hokies were No.27 last week, fell and still stayed above other NCAA outsiders.
The Hokies' strength of schedule also was in the top 45. Xavier, Miami (Ohio), Santa Clara and Manhattan were behind Tech in both of those categories. Maybe Tech has no one to blame but itself for not playing its way into the field, but the evidence says otherwise. Foster said recently he was trying to build a good schedule for next season. Why? Did playing a respectable schedule get Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech where it wanted to go?
For the first time since 1983, when the field was at 52, the ACC received fewer than five bids. The 1-2-3-4 seed order for Wake Forest, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia is the league's best aggregate seeding since 1985, when UNC and Georgia Tech were No.2 seeds and Duke and N.C. State were No.3s.
UVa wasn't done any favors by the selectors, either. Arizona could await the Cavaliers after that, then Midwest top seed Kansas in Kansas City, Mo., is probable. Of course, the last time (1992) Kansas went to Dayton, Ohio, as a No.1 Midwest seed headed for Kemper Arena, the Jayhawks were bounced in the second round by Texas-El Paso.
Frederick said the committee took 63 secret ballots to pick the field. It considered more than 80 teams, including the 60 with 20 or more victories. It leafed through more than 100 pounds of paperwork.
To put it another way, it must have been like leafing through the Manhattan phone book.
by CNB