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| The Missouri State Bears and coach Cuonzo Martin need some hugs after they were left out of the NCAA Tourney yet again. - Missouristate.edu |
It still wasn't enough for the NCAA tournament committee, who left the Bears out of the field yet again.
In 2006, the Bears made history, being the team with highest RPI at 21 to be left out of the field.
While this year's Bears have a respectable RPI of 43, 25 wins, and 7 road conference victories, it still wasn't enough for the committee.
Coach Cuonzo Martin and company have to be asking what is enough, especially when they watch the likes of UAB, VCU, Clemson, and Penn State make the field.
I understand that the Bears do not have any quality victories on their resume. Zero wins over a Top 50 RPI team.
That is fine.
But why are UAB and VCU any better? Especially VCU, who finished 4th in the Colonial.
VCU and Missouri State have one common opponent in Wichita State, who both teams defeated.
Finally, watching teams like Penn State (19-14), Clemson (21-11) and USC (19-14) get selected to tournament fields makes little sense.
What are these teams the best at? What have they won? Are they the best "mediocre" teams in the nation? Are these teams "champions" of anything?
I don't think Missouri State could win the Big 12 or the Pac 10 or even the Atlantic 10.
But they did win the Missouri Valley, which is a bigger accomplishment than any of these 'bubble' teams that made the field accomplished.
The Bears were champions of the MVC.
Clemson, USC, Penn State, and VCU are champions of nothing.
Missouri State will figure it out under Coach Martin at some point. But their exclusion from the field is once again unexplainable.
Especially when you look at the resumes of teams that were selected.
Sources:
Do what you can to raise the profile of the MVC. I couldn't name more than a handful of the teams in the MVC. I'm sure that's true of most people. You could argue that that shouldn't matter because the selection committee surely knows who is in the MVC, but I'll bet you that they probably shrug when they hear "MVC." Might not be fair, but it's reality. People associate Clemson with the ACC; USC with the Pac-10; Penn State with the Big Ten. Say "Missouri State" to someone outside of your region and you will not get an association with a group of good schools playing with other good schools. Your problem is your conference. Even VCU and UAB get a little prestige from their conferences. MVC gets you nothing.
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