Selection Committee Did Butler No Favors

Search FanHouse

Resources

FanHouse RSS Feeds

Email our editors with your tips, corrections, complaints, inquiries, suggestions, etc.

Posted Mar 16th 2008 8:31PM by Michael David Smith
Filed under: March Madness, Butler Basketball

If any team can make a legitimate case that it got hosed by the Selection Committee, it's the Butler Bulldogs.

For starters, how is Butler a No. 7 seed? Butler's RPI is 17. Not only is that significantly better than the other No. 7 seeds (Miami's RPI is 33, West Virginia's is 27 and Gonzaga's is 31), but it's better than any of the No. 6 seeds, too.

And then there's Butler's draw: The Bulldogs are placed in the East region, where they'll play the first-round game against No. 10 seed South Alabama, in Birmingham, Alabama. It's safe to say South Alabama will have a lot more of their fans in attendance than Butler will.

And then, if the Bulldogs beat South Alabama, they have to play, in all likelihood, Tennessee. The Volunteers are the best team among the four No. 2 seeds. Bottom line: Butler may legitimately be one of the top 16 teams in the country, but it has an incredibly difficult road to get to the Sweet 16.

Comments [4]
Permalink
Email This
Linking Blogs
Share This
- Add this post to...
- Netscape
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- YardBarker
- Ballhype
- Fark

Read Related Blogs and Articles

Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)

1. I think Butler got a bad deal. The bottom line is that the loss to Drake a few weeks ago cost them a 3 or 4 seed.

Posted at 9:27PM on Mar 16th 2008 by Joe

2. "...Tennessee. The Volunteers are the best team among the four No. 2 seeds"

How can you definitively say Tennessee is the best. Texas plays in the the better conference. Texas beat Kansas, UCLA and said Tennessee team.

Posted at 11:06PM on Mar 16th 2008 by gggeo

3. What else is new. The selection comittee loves to stick it to the mid majors. All these crappy BCS conference teams like Oklahoma, Baylor, Kentucky, Kansas State, and they decide to pit South Alabama and Butler against each other. Did the same thing last year with ODU and Butler.

Posted at 1:57AM on Mar 17th 2008 by brackets

4. The loss to Drake was a "back breaker". Unfortunately, Butler isn't able to schedule home and home dates with the "Majors" in state - Indiana and Purdue (I guess Notre Dame might be included) which plays against them. The seed is an embarrassment, especially for the Horizon League. No respect, once again from the NCAA "gods" or should I say money brokers! The final slap is the location of the game - you have GOT to be kidding me! A home game for the 10 seed. This selection committee must need a lesson in geography!

Posted at 6:58AM on Mar 17th 2008 by g20

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.