It goes without saying the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee isn't always the most popular group of individuals this time of year.
Just take St. Bonaventure's 2016 NCAA tournament snub for instance.
In a near fairytale season, the tournament selection committee left a deserving and qualified Bonnies team out of March Madness, only to give the go ahead to team's with strikingly inferior resumes.
If your team doesn't win their conference tournament, the selection committee ultimately holds the power to let a team's season continue.
They say winning is everything, but in the case of the selection committee and they way it goes about selecting the bracket, that just isn't true. Every season, countless team's outside the power five conferences, (SEC, PAC-12, ACC, BIG 10, BIG 12) with great season records, sometimes only losing three or four games, are left out while bigger teams with more losses under their belt are given a spot in the tournament.
With my system re-design, I take the notion that winning is everything, and make it the only thing.
In my new take on the NCAA basketball selection process, I make things relatively easy— take the team with the most wins, make them the one seed, and work through the rest of the seeding to 16 that way. The results and subsequent matchups are, in my opinion, a lot more fun than the current selection process yields.
So, who gets in?
1. Houston 29-2 American
1. Gonzaga 29-2 West Coast
1. Virginia 28-2 ACC
1. Nevada 28-3 Mountain West
2. Buffalo 28-3 MAC
2. Wofford 28-4 SoCon
2. UNCG 28-5 SoCon
2. Liberty 28-6 Atlantic Sun
3. UC Irvine 27-5 Big West
3. Tennessee 27-4 SEC
3. NM State 27-4 Western Athletic
3. Murray State 7-4 Ohio Valley
4. UNC 26-5 ACC
4. Duke 26-5 ACC
4. Texas Tech 26-6 Big 12
4. Hofstra 26-6 Colonial
5. Belmont 26-5 Ohio Valley
5. LSU 26-5 SEC
5. Kentucky 26-5 SEC
5. Michigan 26-5 Big 10
6. Vermont 25-6 America East
6. Cincinnati 25-6 American
6. VCU 25-6 A10
6. Florida State 25-6 ACC
7. Michigan State 25-6 Big 10
7. Utah State 25-6 Mountain West
7. ACU 25-6 Southland
7. Furman 25-7 SoCon
8. Kansas State 24-7 Big 12
8. Stony Brook 24-8 America East
8. Northern Kentucky 24-8 Horizon
8. Charleston 24-8 Colonial
9. East Tennessee State 24-9 SoCon
9. Drake 24-9 Missouri Valley
9. JSU 24-9 Southwestern Athletic
9. UCF 23-7 American
10. Virginia Tech 23-7 ACC
10. Davidson 23-8 A10
10. Kansas 23-8 Big 12
10. Marquette 23-8 Big East
11. Montana 23-8 Big Sky
11. Purdue 23-8 Big 10DBD
11. Old Dominion 23-8 Conference USA
11. Gardner-Webb 23-11 Big South
12. Colgate 23-10 Patriot
12. Texas State 23-8 Sun Belt
12. Utah Valley 23-8
12. Temple 23-8 American
13. Villanova 22-9 Big East
13. Wisconsin 22-9 Big 10
13. Maryland 22-9 Big 10
13. Radford 22-11 Big South
14. Kent State 22-9 MAC
14. Fresno State 22-8 Mountain West
14. Austin Peay 22-11 Ohio Valley
14. Auburn 22-9 SEC
15. Mississippi State 22-9 SEC
15. Georgia State 22-9 Sun Belt
15. UCSB 21-9 Big West T U
15. Dayton 21-10 A10
16. Northern Colorado 21-10 Big Sky
16. NC State 21-10 ACC
16. Northeastern 21-10 Colonial
16. Central Michigan 21-10
Conference Breakdown
American: 4
West Coast: 2
ACC: 6
Mountain West: 3
MAC: 3
SoCon: 4
Atlantic Sun: 1
Big West: 2
SEC: 5
Western Athletic: 1
Big 12: 3
Colonial: 3
Ohio Valley: 4
A10: 3
America East: 2
Horizon: 1
Missouri Valley: 1
Big Sky: 2
Conference USA: 1
Patriot: 1
Big 10: 5
Southland: 1
Sun Belt: 2
Big East: 2
Southwestern Athletic: 1
Big West: 1
For instance, even the casual basketball fan will be able to spot some laugh-out-loud funny pairings like No. 5 Kentucky vs. ninth-seeded Jacksonville State and some must-watch competitions like Abilene Christian vs. Davidson.
With this system re-design, some red flags immediately pop up. First and foremost, the best teams are not the highest seeded teams.
Just look at the two seeds for example: Buffalo, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Liberty and Wofford.
Two of these teams may not even make the tournament (Liberty and UNCG), but somehow they made it onto this new bracket as a top-eight team.
So, what does this say about college basketball as a whole? Making the tournament is not always about wins. Sure, a team with a losing record will never make it, but in the same sense, an undefeated St. Bonaventure would be drastically undersized and outplayed by a Duke team with a handful of losses.
Some key takeaways from this system re-design:
ACC, Ohio Valley and SoCon are all four bid conferences. In the 2018 NCAA tournament, the ACC sent nine teams, while the SoCon and the OVC, only sent their conference tournament champions.
Also, one of the power five conferences, the PAC-12, is completely left out.
At the end of the day, the committee is an unfavored assembly of college basketball experts, but when it comes to making sure the best of the best are in the tournament, they do a pretty good job at making sure calamities like my system re-design don't happen.