Nothing but NET for NCAA picks process

While waiting to hear the fate of Ohio State’s Urban Meyer …

The NCAA announced Wednesday a big change in the way it will choose the field of 68 for the men’s basketball tournament.

It has scrapped the old RPI completely and replaced it with what it has named the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), which is a ranking system that relies on game results, strength of schedule (provided by ESPN), game location, scoring margin (this is big as some teams will go back to blowing out other teams), net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.

There are four quadrants for quality of wins:

Quadrant 1: Home against teams ranked 1- 30, neutral court ranked 1-50 and away games 1-75.

Quadrant 2 is home 31-75, neutral 51-100 and away 76-135.

Quadrant 3 is home 76-160, neutral 101-200 and away 135240.

Quadrant 4 is home 161-351, neutral 201-351 and away 241-353.

In other words, scheduling quality opponents remains a big part of making the NCAA Tournament.

For years, the NCAA has

wanted to do away with the RPI, but it had to have something better to replace it with. After consultation with the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, top basketball analytics experts and Google Cloud Professional Services, they are going with NET.

People mumble and grumble from time to time about the NCAA, but when its coaches and officials wanted the selection process made more fair, the NCAA complied.

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As we near the start of the NFL regular season, the big question looms about the players’ freedom of speech and the right to protest by kneeling during the opening that presents the American flag, the national anthem, and active and retired servicemen.

What the NFL doesn’t want — but knows it is a reality — is many football fans having their own protest going.

They have stopped watching the NFL, and the numbers are showing up in the ratings.

Yes, yours truly feels kneeling during the national anthem, and all that goes with it, is not the best way to voice displeasure at some rogue cops. And yes, much of my personal feelings are because of being a veteran of the United States Air Force.

There has to be a better way to protest. Kneeling seems to teach our young people it is OK to disrespect some of the most important symbols of the greatest country in the world.

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Oaklawn Park has raised purses again, and this time in some of its biggest races.

The Rebel Stakes has been raised to $1 million, the same as the Arkansas Derby.

Oaklawn has become one of the strongest tracks in the country for 3-year-olds headed to the Kentucky Derby, and now any owner interested in making some serious money on the way should look no further than Oaklawn Park.

With the Smarty Jones at $150,000 and the Southwest at $500,000, a horse sweeping all four would get $1,590,000 of the guaranteed $2.65 million for four prep races.

Plus, Oaklawn will race until the first Saturday in May, giving trainers better days and better purses.

... Michigan opens the season at Notre Dame, which was reversed in Sunday’s column. This is the game Arkansas was supposed to play at Michigan, but the Wolverines canceled and paid the Razorbacks $2 million.

Since time was short to find a replacement, the UA agreed to a home and home with Colorado State, which will be played in Fort Collins, Colo., this year.

It will be one of 12 key games for the Hogs as they look to bounce back from a 4-8 season.