Buzz-saw tears into the ‘bias’ of NCA A
March Madness lands on your bracket Thursday at lunchtime. Giddy-up.
As for picks, sure, my guess is as meaningless as yours. In fact, I have three Southeastern Conference teams in the Final Four — Kentucky, Tennessee and Auburn — and fully expect Gon-GAG-za and Kan’t-sas to deliver their traditional spring stinkers.
But as the Madness arrives and the Mocs get ready to scare the sneakers off Illinois, the biggest first-round blowout has already happened.
Buzz Williams 96, NCAA selection committee negative-42.
Williams, the Texas A&M coach, stole the show Tuesday night after his Aggies beat Alcorn State in the first round of the NIT and he redirected the narrative on the annually contentious selection of NCAA tournament teams.
Williams read a prepared statement that was almost eight minutes long and was filled with emotion, passion and vinegar. He asked a slew of questions about the selection committee, which determined that A&M did not do enough to get a bid to the NCAA tournament. He said on the front end of the statement that he would not answer questions and made printed copies of his research into the committee.
He noted that four other SEC teams — the three I have in the Final Four as well as Arkansas — won at least 12 games against SEC foes if you count the regular season and the tournament, and those other four were No. 4 seeds or better.
Williams simply filled every torpedo tube and fired every round, including saying his team’s snub caused him to “lose all respect and faith in the system and all those in it.”
And he was far from done, later saying that “personal bias” was the reason the Aggies were left out and that the “process is flawed, and there is way more to the process than what the public is made aware of. Until there is complete transparency and accountability, the system will remain broken.” Amen, Buzz.
And that’s the thing. Transparency all but eliminates this.
If Johnny D. Committee
Member thinks the Aggies’ eight-game losing streak in January and February was the reason, fine. Say it on camera and let it be heard.
That argument has merit, especially because South Carolina and Missouri — two teams that had such disappointing seasons they fired likable coaches — were among those eight that toppled Texas A&M in a forgettable and extended post-New Year’s hangover.
But the rebuttal question for Johnny D. Committee Member of course would be just as warranted, because the headto-head argument showed the Aggies beat Notre Dame this season. And yes, Notre Dame was included in the NCAA tournament.
It’s even more puzzling in this day and age — when everyone’s first go-to when things break bad against them is to scream bias — that the NCAA lurks even deeper in the shadows of the cocoon of secrecy.
Heck, dare I say this is stupid even for the NCAA, which is saying something.
There simply is too much at stake across all metrics.
And for those who think the NCAA is shrouded in that secrecy to protect the power conferences and the power programs within those conferences, well, normally I’d agree with that.
But in terms of money, alumni and fan following, there are not many more powerful than Texas A&M, which may not have the blue basketball blood of Kentucky, North Carolina or Kansas, but it has more good old-fashioned greenbacks than just about any athletic program in the country.
And worse yet, the NCAA has no answer for Williams’ claims of personal bias from someone or ones on the committee against him or his program.
Because only the people in that room were there for the conversation, and until that cap of secrecy is lifted, then Williams is right: The system is assuredly flawed.