KitchinDeac
Well-known member
Unrelated topic. Why would Dayton ever feature anything but eight contenders for 15/16 seeds? For example, here's Lunardi's bracket (just because unfortunately it's the first name I thought of).
Isn't saying that USC/Xavier would be 12 seeds and that Wake/Ill. St. would be 11 seeds admitting that you believe they are stronger teams than, for example, 16 seeds South Dakota St. and Texas Southern? Why not send those two to Dayton and adjust the other teams accordingly?
I have difficulty reconciling "well, Wake is barely qualified to make the tourney, let's make them win a play-in game" with "Wake would be better than 20 teams (4x 12-16 seeds) in the field of 64." I know this happens every year; is it part of the selection rules? Is it just to bolster the odds of a Cinderella story? Am I just totally missing something?
ETA: I understand a lot of those lower seeds aren't considered stronger, but just got in through winning their tournament. But that doesn't change my question as to why weaker teams get to avoid the play-in round. You're not exempt if you win your tournament, are you? For example, Lunardi has Mount St. Mary's in a play-in game in that bracket, and they won the NEC.
TV money, ultimlately. NCAA wants the Tuesday games to create interest....they don't just want to put the 4 worst teams there.