General

Casagrande: NCAA committee got it wrong with Auburn

Posted on by admin

This is an opinion column.

The NCAA selection committee tried to warn you.

The director of media coordination on Saturday night had a social media post stating this year’s bracket has “never been this hard for the committee” from his tenure starting in 2006. Consider that the prologue to the madness of Sunday evening.

They knew this was going to be bloody.

Nationally, the attention went to the snubs and the bid thieves. Mid-major darling Indiana State became the highest-ranked team (29th) in NET history to be left out of the field. They weren’t even the first team out, nor was NET No. 54 Virginia the last team in.

The curious case of Auburn’s seeding didn’t get quite as much airtime.

But the SEC tournament champs got no favors from the committee with a No. 4 seed after storming through its draw this weekend in Nashville.

In fact, Auburn got hosed twice Sunday.

The women’s basketball team somehow got sent to the play-in round for a No. 11 seed with a 20-11 record. That comes despite scoring wins over defending champion and No. 3 seed LSU, No. 8 seed Alabama and Texas A&M — a team that got a No. 11 seed that didn’t require a play-in game.

Seems off.

For the Auburn men’s team, this is a group that won six straight games. It whipped No. 6 seeded South Carolina by 30 in the SEC quarterfinals after beating them by 40 earlier this season. Then for the title Sunday, a 19-point manhandling of No. 7 seeded Florida added to the trophy case.

Sure, the Tigers’ path to the net-cutting ladder wasn’t as arduous but it wasn’t their fault the top three seeds lost on Quarterfinal Friday. All Auburn did was win those three games by an average of 19 points.

“The SEC Tournament doesn’t mean a damn thing if you can win three straight games and win the SEC championship and be a four seed,” Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl said in an interview with The Next Round from Sunday evening. “It’s a joke, honestly.”

Well, let’s look at the other No. 4 seeds to see if the Tigers fit. Here’s where they landed in the NET ranking with momentum/lack thereof listed.

  • 5. Auburn won its last six games
  • 9. Alabama lost four of the last six
  • 10. Duke lost two straight
  • 20. Kansas lost four of its last five

Clearly, one isn’t like the others.

Looking at other measures, Auburn is No. 4 overall in the KenPom rankings — ahead of No. 1 seed North Carolina and all four No. 2 seeds. Here’s where Auburn lands in a few other power rankings.

Doesn’t really make much sense but the NCAA selection committee chair offered a hint to why Auburn’s a No. 4 seed when going back over some of their selection criteria.

One stands out.

Non-conference strength of schedule is heavily considered and Auburn didn’t help itself there. Its best non-SEC win came over NET No. 60 Virginia Tech. Here are the four No. 4 seeds and their NET rankings Quad 1 record.

  • Auburn 0-2
  • Duke 2-1
  • Alabama 1-4
  • Kansas 3-1 including a win over top-seed UConn

Auburn’s two losses came to NET No. 14 Baylor and at No. 72 Appalachian State. Top seed UConn went 3-1 in Quad 1 non-conference games.

Here’s how Auburn’s overall Quad 1 record compares to the four No. 3 seeds slotted higher than the Tigers.

  • 3. Illinois 8-6
  • 3. Kentucky 6-7
  • 3. Creighton 8-5
  • 3. Baylor 10-9
  • 4. Auburn 3-7

This is starting to make a little more sense but there’s more to this than analytics. That Auburn roster is built for a run in March. It has the right combination of experience, physicality, depth, etc., that one requires for an opportunity to play into April.

The eyeball test says this is a team capable of making that run to Phoenix for a second Final Four in program history.

Being sent to the jewel of Eastern Washington, the lovely city of Spokane was also a tough draw for an Auburn fanbase. This is a group that mobilized and essentially filled Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for Sunday’s SEC championship game. That will be impossible to replicate given the cost/difficulty of travel from southeast Alabama to the city just miles from the Idaho border.

No, it wasn’t the biggest snub of this eventful Sunday but shouldn’t be ignored in the storm of anger surrounding a bracket they warned you would be controversial.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.