In past years, the Selection Committee has made the attempt to claim that they look at road wins both in and out of a conference as being a big factor that they look at when making the "tough" decisions? Obviously, that doesn't apply this year.
Out of the bottom 9 teams in the Big Ten, only 1 team had a road win against a team that made the NCAA tournament (I am including both in and out-of-conference games). That win was by Michigan over Miami (Ohio) - a team that is only in because they won their conference tournament.
Indiana, MSU, Illinois and Purdue combined to have 0 quality road wins. Although MSU did defeat Texas in New York in early season, the only true road win of note was Indiana winning at UConn. Meanwhile, Drexel had wins at Villanova and Creighton, as well as victories at Syracuse and Vermont (who won at Boston College) and the Missouri Valley Conference, who had a 5-4 record against the Big 10, including a victory over Wisconsin, gets 2 teams in the Dance because they don't have bad teams such as Minnesota, PSU and Northwestern in their conference. The also-rans of the MVC had wins such as Indiana State beating Purdue and Butler.
Now, despite my rant, the NCAA selection committee has done their normal job of placing the controversial major school 12 seed (Illinois) in a position to make the Sweet 16 by playing a ridiculously high-seeded Virginia Tech team (whose losses include to powerhouses, Western Michigan, Marshall, George Washington, Southern Illinois and to NC State 3 times, including by 25 points a couple of weeks ago). They then have the chance to play Southern Ill or Holy Cross, in a gym they are familiar with in Columbus, Ohio (Big 10 country). This way, if Illinois wins the first and possibly second round, the selection committee can say "I told you so." This is similar to what they have done in the past with Alabama and Auburn as lower seeds with questionable tournament qualifications.
Out of the bottom 9 teams in the Big Ten, only 1 team had a road win against a team that made the NCAA tournament (I am including both in and out-of-conference games). That win was by Michigan over Miami (Ohio) - a team that is only in because they won their conference tournament.
Indiana, MSU, Illinois and Purdue combined to have 0 quality road wins. Although MSU did defeat Texas in New York in early season, the only true road win of note was Indiana winning at UConn. Meanwhile, Drexel had wins at Villanova and Creighton, as well as victories at Syracuse and Vermont (who won at Boston College) and the Missouri Valley Conference, who had a 5-4 record against the Big 10, including a victory over Wisconsin, gets 2 teams in the Dance because they don't have bad teams such as Minnesota, PSU and Northwestern in their conference. The also-rans of the MVC had wins such as Indiana State beating Purdue and Butler.
Now, despite my rant, the NCAA selection committee has done their normal job of placing the controversial major school 12 seed (Illinois) in a position to make the Sweet 16 by playing a ridiculously high-seeded Virginia Tech team (whose losses include to powerhouses, Western Michigan, Marshall, George Washington, Southern Illinois and to NC State 3 times, including by 25 points a couple of weeks ago). They then have the chance to play Southern Ill or Holy Cross, in a gym they are familiar with in Columbus, Ohio (Big 10 country). This way, if Illinois wins the first and possibly second round, the selection committee can say "I told you so." This is similar to what they have done in the past with Alabama and Auburn as lower seeds with questionable tournament qualifications.
