Monday, March 12, 2007
Drexel Was Robbed
It seems like most people's initial gut reaction to their first gaze at the bracket went something like "What? Wait where is Syracuse? They weren't even a bubble team." I think there certainly can be a case made to support allocating one of the final at-large bids to the Orangemen, but I think Drexel was robbed big-time.
Being in the Colonial Athletic Association, a conference that unfortunately sports the 13th best RPI, Drexel knew a tough, non-conference schedule would be required if they failed to win their conference...or at least that is what past NCAA committees have suggested when deciding on those remaining at-large bids. So Drexel went out and formulated a non-conference schedule which included 7 Top-100 RPI teams (Villanova, Creighton, Syracuse, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Toledo, and Saint Joseph's). And keep in mind that Big East teams don't like to go on the road against a dangerous team like Drexel, so Drexel was forced to play at Syracuse and Villanova. For any mid-major team those kind of games are "intimidating" road games to say the least. In fact, of those seven opponents, six were on the road, with Toledo being the exception. To reiterate what I stated earlier, usually the committee appreciates and rewards teams that take on and embrace that kind of scheduling.
So how did Drexel fair against the big bad Big East schools? They won at Villanova and followed that up ten days later with a victory at Syracuse. In fact they also beat Creighton, Vermont, Toledo, and Saint Joe's (and lost to Penn). Overall, Drexel finished their non-conference play with the 8th hardest strength of schedule in the country. And it wasn't like they rolled over and died against these teams, but they beat 6 out of the 7 hardest ones!
But Selection Sunday came and went without Drexel's name called.
Finishing with a 22-8 record and an RPI of 39, Drexel appears to have the makeup of one of the typical final few at-large bids. However it seems that the committee didn't look very fondly on Drexel's fourth place finish within the CAA. Drexel finished with a solid 14-4 conference record, yet somehow ended the year 4th, behind outstanding in-conference seasons by Hofstra, Old Dominion, and VCU. During the season Drexel was 1-4 against these teams, and this seems to be the reason why they were not included in the NCAA tournament.
Even though Drexel did struggle against the elite teams of the CAA, I still believe they should be participating in March Madness. However, it appears the NCAA committee this year had different priorities than the established ones set by preceding committees. This was so, as this year's placed a strong emphasis on conference tournaments, apparently more so than non-conference road scheduling. Perhaps if Drexel had advanced further than the second round (they lost to eventual champs VCU) of their conference tournament, they would be sitting where Arkansas is.
This is the problem with the seemingly perfect NCAA Tournament. If a mid-major doesn't win his respective conference the team is at an extreme disadvantage in trying to obtain one of the coveted final at-large bids. Drexel comprehended this fact and tried to hedge themselves by possessing the 8th hardest non-conference schedule in the country. But apparently that wasn't good enough, and now Drexel will have to spend their off-season playing in the NIT, then going back to the drawing board and figuring out how exactly to get back to playing in the greatest tournament in the land without having to necessarily win their conference tournament.
14 Comments:
Agreed...Drexel should be in.
how'd arkansas get in. that's what gets me. losing record in a joke of a conference. bullshit.
I think Syracuse was the biggest omission, but Drexel was right behind them... how those two were left out for Arkansas or Stanford is absolutely beyond me.
The 'Cuse, Drexel, and Kansas State (in that order) got screwed!!....Arkansas should not have been in!!!
drexel not getting in just shows the hypocrasy in the selection process. they basically did not get in because they couldnt beat old dominion's profile head to head. the problem with this is that it should never be a situation where its one or the other between two teams b/c theyre in the same conference (as was the case here). as much as anything else, drexel didnt get in because the comittee wouldnt take 2 at-large from the caa. the fact that drexel finished fourth in their league is a legitimate negative against them. however, they still had a better profile than arkansas, stanford, etc. the comittee basically put a quota on mid major teams, rather than just take the 65 best. u thought george mason would have taught them a lesson.....
(ps im a hofstra fan who hates drexel- but this is just not right)
As I said on "Complete Sports" - this has shades of the Bowl selection process all over it.
They need to sort this out ASAP.
Road wins against good teams should be the single most important thing to consider after overall record. This point is air-tight, Drexel should be in.
nice post, you've changed my mind about this. i was pretty hung up on them losing twice to ODU, but you've definitely made a solid argument in their favor.
Joke of a conference that put two teams in last year's final four.
Last year almost the same thing happened in the CAA before Selection Sunday everyone thought Hofstra was a lock and George Mason was going to the NIT, but the committee saw something noone else saw in George Mason and picked them over Hofstra even though they had the same basic wins and strength of schedule and Hofstra owned head to head meetings. People cried and cried about how hofstra got ripped. We all know how that turned out though so lets just give the committee a chance...
This is Bruiser's punishment for destroying a 90s College Powerhouse. (UMass, RIP) The Selection Commitee never forgets.
They got hosed!
try winning more games in your crappy conference and then complain about getting in.
drexel finished in 4th place in the caa, didn't even make the finals of the caa tourney and then got drilled in the 1st rd of the nit. they have nobody to blame but themselves. bruiser has never won a post season game in his 11 yr career as a head coach. nuff said.
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