Like It Is

Calipari makes more sense than committee

Kentucky head coach John Calipari speaks to members of the media on his back patio after he and his team watched the NCAA Basketball Tournament selection show, Sunday, March 13, 2016, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

It was rather amusing to listen to Kentucky Coach John Calipari rant Sunday afternoon about being a No. 4 seed while co-SEC champion Texas A&M was a No. 3 seed.

Earlier in the day, Calipari and the Wildcats beat the Aggies in overtime to win the SEC Tournament championship.

Basically, the NCAA Tournament selection committee thought more of A&M as an at-large team than it did the Wildcats, who earned an automatic bid with their victory Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. A&M won the regular-season meeting, in overtime, on Feb. 20.

Still, it's not like the 'Cats were dragged into the backroom and beaten with a rubber hose or had the Wildcat Lodge suffer low water pressure.

If anyone was cheated, it was South Carolina (24-8), which was left out altogether. And Vanderbilt, which lost to the Gamecocks in the only meeting between the two, got in as a No. 11 seed.

The last time we saw the Commodores, they were losing in the SEC Tournament to Tennessee, which was without its top player.

It makes one wonder if the NCAA has something against Coach Frank Martin and South Carolina; only time will tell that.

Kentucky's Calipari did make one great point during his wild rant, saying that the committee's top criteria for selection appears to be a moving target.

Sometimes, Calipari pointed out, it's RPI that counts most, sometimes it's road victories and this year, it was victories against top 50 teams.

Apparently road victories had nothing to do with the decision-making: South Carolina was 5-5 on the road and Vandy 3-9; the Gamecocks were 4-1 at neutral sites, Vandy 2-2.

The Wildcats weren't exactly road warriors this season, either, posting a 4-7 show on the road, although they were 5-1 at neutral sites.

The SEC was lucky to get three teams in, including Vanderbilt, which got stuck with an 11 seed and a play-in game today.

The Commodores drew a decent but not a great Wichita State team, so they have a chance to survive and advance.

The SEC has more representation in the National Insignificant Tournament with South Carolina getting a No. 1 seed, Florida a No. 2, Georgia a No. 3 and Alabama a No. 5.

Oh, those games will be on ESPN, which has a big investment in the SEC.

It really wasn't much of a surprise that LSU was the ugly duckling of the postseason parades, despite having one of the country's top players in Ben Simmons.

The Tigers had one of the country's best recruiting classes last year and managed to go 19-14. Fourteen of those victories were in the friendly confines of the Maravich Center.

LSU finished the regular season tied for third in the SEC and was the only team in the top eight finishers that will spend spring break wherever it chooses.

Not sure how UALR would have fared had it not won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, but Monmouth won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, was 27-7 overall and didn't make the field of 68 after getting upset by Iona in the tournament finals.

There might not be as much hope for Cinderellas this season with so many regular-season conference champs not winning their tournament, although the Trojans don't really appear to be a fairy tale team. They are well-coached, tough and play defense like their lives depend on it, which it does.

But the Trojans didn't get a great matchup. Purdue (26-8) has a solid 8-9 man rotation and its roster lists two 7-footers, and other players that are 6-10, 6-9, 6-8, 6-7 and three who are 6-6.

Still, UALR is in the Big Dance. The truth is, the Trojans deserved to be in even if they hadn't won their tournament, but they took care of business and will take on the Boilermakers on Thursday in Denver.

Sports on 03/15/2016