Harvard got reamed. With 68 teams in it now, a team with a record of 23-6 and an RPI of 37 belongs, especially with the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC all having down years. The selection committee is on automatic pilot.

I also have no idea how Pitt got a #1 seed with their late season slump. Maybe it's tribute to a conference that is sending 11 teams.


Regarding Pitt, yes, they went 15-3 in what's considered the best conference. They lost to St John's by 1 point, to Louisville by 3 pts in OT, and then by 2 pts to UConn in the Big East tourney. I don't have a problem with Pittsburgh getting a 1 seed.

But the UAB and VCU selections are really surprising. UAB had 1 win against the RPI top 50 - and that was against VCU. Colorado-VTech got seriously screwed. Virginia Tech beat a #1 seed (Duke) and went to the ACC semis....Colorado beat K-State twice and also beat Texas. Jay Bilas had a perfect line tonight on ESPN..."You know who's the most surprised about UAB and VCU getting in??? UAB and VCU!!!"

Regarding Harvard....that's an easy one - you have to look at both RPI and Strength of Schedule. Bottom line, Harvard's strength of schedule was 141. Rarely will a team get an at-large bid with that kind of disparity between RPI and SOS. The only teams in the tourney this year with an SOS over 100 are automatic qualifiers.

VCU's RPI was worse than Harvard's, but VCU's SOS was better....though largely because they played George Mason. Harvard's problem is that they play in what's generally viewed a weak conference. I can't even recall the last time the Ivy League had an at-large pick.

As much as I wanted St Mary's in (they beat St John's and Gonzaga this year, and they played both BYU and San Diego State), their loss at the end of the year to 6-24 San Diego and then to Utah State probably killed them. That's another case where playing in a conference with a bunch of crappy teams will kill your SOS, and will leave you zero margin for error. So in a way, St Mary's and Harvard are in a similar boat.

Seems like the popular pick for the title game is Ohio State and KU.