Packard proved wrong as MVC rolls on
Billy Packard: I want an apology.
On selection Sunday the self-proclaimed voice of college basketball ripped the selection committee for giving too many bids to mid-majors. He said the idea that the Missouri Valley Conference would get as many bids as the ACC, Big 12 or Pac-10 is an injustice to the conferences that usually contend for national titles.
He even used skewed statistics that said the six BCS conferences have represented 71 percent of the Sweet 16 in the last five years. Packard also ripped the inclusion of George Mason from the tiny Colonial Athletic Association when so-called deserving big conference teams like Maryland and Florida State were left out.
The rest is history as the MVC sent two teams, Bradley and Wichita State, to the Sweet 16, tied for second among conferences. Bradley beat the fourth and fifth seeds in its region in Kansas and Pittsburgh.
Even better, George Mason rolled to the Sweet 16 by beating two Final Four teams from last season in North Carolina and Michigan State. Also, Maryland lost to low-major Manhattan in the opening round of the NIT, proving what we all already knew, that Packard’s an idiot.
The problem is that it shouldn’t have taken a great performance in the NCAA tournament for people to realize Packard was wrong already. For starters, BCS conference teams have represented 71 percent of the Sweet 16 teams in the last five years. This is a true statement.
What Packard failed to mention was that 78 percent of all at-large bids in that time went to BCS conference teams, so in essence the big conference teams underachieved. Packard also hadn’t seen a single MVC or CAA game in person, yet he felt qualified to talk about these teams with one TV game as his guide. The game he watched was the MVC championship game, which was an ugly defense-oriented slugfest won by Southern Illinois over Bradley.
He said the league was overrated because that game was ugly. He failed to mention that other championship games where teams knew each other’s tendencies perfectly because they were meeting for the third time like the Big 12, Big 10 and SEC were also hideous low-scoring contests.
The last point Packard made was that the BCS conferences are stronger at the top. Well, no kidding — that tends to happen when you have Duke on the front of your chest.
The only thing the selection committee was arguing was that the third and fourth teams in the MVC were better than the fifth and sixth in the big conferences, which was proven by Bradley’s finish as fifth in that difficult league.
If anything, the selection committee should have selected a fifth MVC team in Missouri State. The Bears were No. 21 in the RPI, which was the highest rated RPI team ever to not be selected for the tournament by 12 spots.
When such a major journalist states such an uninformed biased opinion, people believe it as fact. This hurts basketball because fans tend to question the validity of teams that are flat-out better.
On to the tournament! My favorite region by far is the Oakland region — with my affinity for the West Coast, mid-majors and Rodney Carney, this group guarantees I will have somebody to root for in the Final Four.
Bradley’s seven of eight wins down the stretch has continued with the big upsets of the Jayhawks and Panthers behind the inside tandem of Patrick O’Bryant and Marcelles Sommerville.
Bradley will take on a Memphis Tiger group that is spectacular in the open floor, with finishers like Rodney Carney and Shawn Williams with Joey Dorsey to clean up the boards. UCLA and Gonzaga battle in the other regional semi-final for West Coast supremacy. Aaron Afflalo showed his all-around game in a couple of wins this weekend in underachieving performances by the Bruins. Gonzaga played better than it had in months in a win over Indiana where Errol Knight, Sean Mallon and J.P. Bautista showed the nation that it’s not just Adam Morrison and his merry men. I’d like Memphis to beat Bradley and UCLA to qualify for Indianapolis.
The other great story is that a pair of mid-majors will battle in Washington D.C., guaranteeing the little guys a spot in the Elite Eight. The George Mason Patriots showed their heart and depth last weekend and get to play Wichita State in what is basically a home game.
The first time these two teams met, the Patriots prevailed in Wichita behind a game-winning three by Tony Skinn. This time I’d like the Shockers to win behind the inside combo of Kyle Wilson and MVP Player of the Year Paul Miller.
But, this winner won’t be able to contend with a Connecticut squad that will win after being pushed in the Sweet 16 by Brandon Roy’s Washington Huskies
Quickly, as my editor only gives me 1,000 words per week, I’d like LSU to beat Duke behind Big Baby Davis and Texas to squeak by West Virginia for the second time this season.
Texas is my pick to win this bracket (yikes that actually hurts to type) now that Daniel Gibson has regained confidence in his shot.
Despite the unbelievable all-around game of P.J. Tucker, the key to this bracket is Brad Buckmen, because when he plays poorly the Longhorns lose (evidenced by the Duke, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma losses).
In the Minneapolis region I really like Florida. The team played better than anyone else last weekend, and I just don’t think Georgetown has the athleticism to play with it.
That would leave the Gators the tough four-guard line-up of Villanova, and although Allan Ray, Randy Foye and Kyle Lowry are spectacular, the size of Yannick Noah and Al Horford will be too much for the Wildcats.
