Drum roll please… Selection Sunday for March Madness is nearly upon us; some teams will get in and others will not. Some will get higher seeds and others will get debunked. Who will be this year’s Cinderella? Who will be this year’s early exit? On a day when some bubbles burst and others blossom, there is sure to be plenty of cheers and plenty of jeers once it is all said and done this Sunday.
Stood Up
Let’s begin with some notable snubs from recent years. A snub is a snub, so in no particular order, first up on the snub list is the 2006-07 Missouri State Bears. The Missouri Valley Conference Bears compiled an overall record of 22-11, but were snubbed from the tournament in lieu of some of their inter-conference rivals. The Cincinnati Bearcats also found themselves noticeably absent from the dance in 2005-06. After compiling a record of 8-8 in the Big East and an overall record of 19-12 the Bearcats thought they would be a shoo-in. But instead of a date for the Big Dance, they were left with an invite to the NIT. In 2004-05, the Utah State Aggies, after winning 17 Big West Conference games and winning 25 games on the season, found themselves on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday.
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With every bubble team that makes it in, there is another team griping in the background. RPI, a measure that was once thought to solely determine your tournament fate, is now only one of the factors used to determine who is in and who is out. Style of play, conference tournament showings and a host of other factors are now being used to narrow down the field of 65. More mid-major conferences are joining the dance in lieu of historically power conference teams, to the chagrin of many, but to the delight of others. Who can forget the magical Cinderella run George Mason made a few years ago? The times are changing in college basketball whether Billy Packer likes it or not.
Glass Slipper or Tissue Anyone?
To whet your betting appetite for the madness, here are our top five biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history.
1. 1985 - The eighth-seeded Villanova Wildcats shoot 78 percent, missing only one shot in the second half en route to ousting Patrick Ewing’s defending champion Georgetown Hoyas 66-64.
2. 1996 - Princeton runs a beautiful backdoor play and upsets defending champion UCLA 43-41.
3. 1983 - The NC State Wolfpack shocks the world and Hakeem Olajuwon and the Phi Slamma Jamma, winning by a field goal on a last-second Lorenzo Charles dunk.
4. 1993 - The Steve Nash-led Santa Clara Broncos, at 20-point underdogs, hammer the spread by beating the No. 2 seeded and fifth-ranked Arizona Wildcats 64-61 in the first round.
5. 1994 - Boston College becomes king of Chapel Hill by defeating Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse’s No. 1 ranked and defending champion North Carolina Tar Heels in a second-round upset.
The 71st National Invitation Tournament (NIT) will also be kicking off, with the first round beginning on Tuesday, March 18. The NIT has been in existence for the past seven decades, showcasing all of the best teams that got snubbed from the Big Dance. The NIT is still a very entertaining spectacle, showcasing a field of 32 teams with the champions to be determined Thursday, April 3 at Madison Square Garden.
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Which bubble teams will go to the Big Dance and who will be snubbed? Who are the top seeds? Who is going the distance? Who will be upset? Who will wear the glass slipper this year? Get your brackets out; Selection Sunday is upon us, so let the madness begin!
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