Selection Committee fouls up

THE NCAA Tournament Selection Committee had consecutive very bad Sundays. The group of well-meaning men and one woman simply did not understand how to put a balanced bracket together. They spent all their time rewarding teams for November and December performance rather than lining up teams on how they were likely to play in late March and April.

The group is in desperate need of an oddsmaker and somebody who really understands the game, preferably both. I thought there were six teams with enough talent and firepower to beat Wichita State in this tournament. With an unbelievable story on their hands, the committee lined up three of them in Wichita's bracket - Kentucky, Louisville and Michigan. What happened to Michigan State, Iowa State and Florida?

We were all rewarded with a round-of-32 game for the ages yesterday afternoon when Kentucky's brilliant young team played to its talent and beyond, making one big play after another and holding on at the finish to end Wichita's unbeaten season. The game should not have been possible before the Sweet 16, if at all

You are supposed to reward teams for great seasons. Wichita's season should have earned it a semi-free run to the Sweet 16 and a bracket commensurate with its accomplishments. I don't think the committee had any bad intentions. I just don't think they understood the relative talents of the teams it bracketed.

I really thought the only way Wichita would lose was if one of the six teams played a near-perfect game or the Shockers played awful. I knew preseason No. 1 Kentucky had the talent to do it, but I absolutely never thought the Wildcats would do it. They did it. And they did it when Wichita played beautifully.

Wichita shot 55.1 percent against all that length, but Kentucky took smart shots, hit on 54 percent of them and got 39 points from the Harrison twins. So Kentucky plays Louisville in the Sweet 16.

And Wichita does not get to play more this season which is a shame. The Shockers will always be the story of this season no matter who wins the championship. They obviously proved they were as good as their record. I loved watching them all season. Selfishly, I just wish they got to play some more.

Just like La Salle last year, Dayton was the last Atlantic 10 invited and the last one playing. The difference? La Salle got Wichita in the Sweet 16.

Speaking of Dayton, the Flyers have lost just three games in 2 months, all to Saint Joseph's.

The games have been great, the results unpredictable, a few of the finishes legendary. If a game does not go to overtime, you almost feel cheated.

A Sweet 16 game between No. 10 Stanford and No. 11 Dayton in the South. Kansas and Syracuse, gone.

Dayton Daily News after the Flyers beat Ohio State - "THE" University of Dayton.

Michigan.

The Wolverines gave up just 40 to Wofford and then put up 79 on Texas, shooting 14-for-28 from the arc and 17 of 21 from the line while committing just 12 fouls and four turnovers. In two games, the Wolverines have allowed just five made threes. They defend the three, don't foul and make threes, a very good formula for success.

Wisconsin was down 49-37 at the half to Oregon. It won 85-77. The last three times the Badgers gave up 75 in the NCAA, they got buried. Times have changed. Bo Ryan's team can score. The Badgers made 11 threes, had just eight turnovers and won a trip from Milwaukee to Disneyland. In their two NCAA games, Wisconsin has six more threes (21) than TO's (15).

Saint Louis and North Carolina State combined to shoot 32-for-63 (50.8 percent) on Thursday, the second worst mark in tournament history. The Billikens, a team that hit the offensive wall late in the season, followed that up by going 0-for-15 from the arc in its loss to Louisville.

I counted 10 wins by double-digit seeds through 48 games in the main draw.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino is 16-0 in Sweet 16 games.

* After going down to Mercer, Duke has the most losses as a top-three seed to double-digit seeds - five.

* Mike Krzyzewski is one of four coaches to lose to a 14 seed and 15 seed. The others? John Thompson III, Lute Olson and Eddie Fogler. Duke's losses were to Mercer and Lehigh, one in Raleigh, the other in Greensboro.

* Roy Williams is 24-0 in the round-of-64 at Kansas and North Carolina.

* Cincinnati missed 13 dunks, layups or tip attempts in its loss to Harvard. Speaking of Harvard, how good was the Crimson in coming from 16 down with 15 minutes left to take the lead before losing to Michigan State.

* Wichita was the 14th team to win 35 straight games.

* Syracuse was 1-for-19 on shots outside the lane in its loss to Dayton.

Iowa State scored 93 points on just 63 possessions in its win over North Carolina Central, an amazing 1.48 points per possession. The Cyclones shot 35-for-55, 9-for-17 from the arc and 14-for-16 from the line while committing just nine turnovers. And then they put up 85 points in their wild comeback win over North Carolina yesterday without injured offensive catalyst Georges Niang (broken foot).

The only way VCU could lose to Stephen F. Austin was to miss four free throws in the final 32 seconds before fouling a three-point shooter to set up a four-point play. They did exactly that and lost in overtime, one of the toughest beats in tournament history.

San Diego State led the country in defensive efficiency, holding teams to .878 points per possession. North Dakota State was shooting a nation's best 50.9 percent. The Aztecs held the Bison to 31.9 percent shooting and just .790 ppp in their rout. Steve Fisher's team now gets a short ride up I-5 to Anaheim for the West Regional semifinals.

Who knew the Southeastern Conference played basketball?

The SEC only got three teams in the tournament. The SEC still has three teams in the tournament - Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee, a perfect 7-0, including the Vols First Four win over Iowa.

The Big Ten also has three teams through to the Sweet 16. The Pac-12 has two.

Maybe they should have invited SMU. The American Conference teams have been playing very well.

The records for the leagues with more than one at-large team - A-10 (3-5 with two OT losses), AAC (5-2) ACC (6-5), Big Ten (6-3), Big East (2-4) Big 12 (6-5) Pac-12 (7-3) and SEC (7-0).

Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins had scored 41, 30, 22 and 19 in his last four games before yesterday. He finished his college career in KU's ugly loss to Stanford by shooting 1-for-6 and getting four points. The Jayhawks shot just 32.8 percent. It is the school's fourth loss as a top-four seed to a double-digit seed in the last decade.