The NCAA Tournament selection committee tried to distract us by offering front-row seats to its theatre of the absurd. And the ploy almost worked.
The committee showed its greatest wart to the world Sunday when the 68-team field was revealed and the final at-large spot went to North Carolina — a controversial pick, for sure, given the Tar Heels’ abysmal record (1-12) in the Quadrant I games that purportedly carry so much weight in the selection process.
But the comedy went next level when CBS brought committee chair Bubba Cunningham on screen to answer questions about the decision. Of course, Cunningham couldn’t answer because his employer is none other than … North Carolina.
That’s right, folks. The committee chair couldn’t discuss the most controversial selection because he’s the athletic director of said selection.
By rule, Cunningham recused himself from all committee discussions (and voting) that involved the Tar Heels. So he was joined on CBS’s screen by the vice chair, Keith Gill, who explained the committee’s decision to include the Tar Heels.
Granted, the NCAA goes to great lengths to avoid conflicts of interest. But human nature trumps recusal policies any day of the week and twice on Selection Sunday.
The optics were terrible. Brutal. And utterly predictable.
This wasn’t the first time the Hotline has taken issue with the nature of college sports selection committees. Week after week, the Big Ten received the benefit of the doubt from the College Football Playoff’s committee, whose chair was … Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel.
It’s long past time for the CFP and NCAA Tournament to end the tradition of having sitting athletic directors run the selection committees that have so much power over events with monumental significance.
And yet, the Cunningham fiasco was all just a diversion from the biggest story of the selection process: the dominance of two conferences.
The SEC received 13 at-large bids, a record, and the Big Ten took home seven.
That’s 20 of the 37 at-large spots to the richest, most influential leagues. The other 29 conferences (and 364 schools) in Division I combined for 17 bids.
SEC and Big Ten hegemony, well established in college football, is creeping into basketball. And it will only expand as the era of revenue sharing arrives (this summer) and the conferences with the deepest pockets are positioned to construct the best rosters.
The SEC and Big Ten have the governing authority to shape the CFP to their liking starting in 2026. Their power is somewhat limited on the basketball side, with the ACC and Big 12 possessing leverage and the NCAA operating the event.
But it stands to reason that the same motivation driving SEC and Big Ten decisions on the football postseason — to create more access for their schools — will spur the two heavyweights to eventually transform March Madness in a manner that suits their purposes.
And if their teams continue gobbling up tournament bids at the current rate, well, their case for total control will only get stronger.
So take your eyes off the Cunningham controversy and focus on what really matters for the future of March Madness:
Conferences that represent 9.3 percent of Division I membership collected 54.1 percent of the at-large bids.
Other winners and losers from Selection Sunday …
Winner: CBS. Terrific tribute to Greg Gumbel to open the selection show. The voice of the best hour of television of the entire year passed away in December, from cancer, at the age of 78. Well done, CBS. Well done.
Loser: The ACC. No conference has a richer basketball tradition, but the ACC’s recent competitive struggles were on full display Sunday when it received just four bids — the same total as the Mountain West. And it was awfully close to claiming just three. Had Memphis lost the American conference title game, the Tigers would have received an at-large bid and knocked the Tar Heels out of the field.
Winner: The Mountain West. Just 10 days ago, it was easy to envision the conference sending two teams to the NCAAs, New Mexico and Utah State. But Colorado State blasted to the conference tournament title (and automatic bid) while San Diego State did just enough to corral one of the final at-large spots, doubling the total to four.
Loser: The SEC. As noted above, the conference experienced unprecedented Selection Sunday success with 14 bids, easily breaking the previous record of 11 bids set by the Big East in 2011. But we suspect it’s all downhill from here, folks. Anything less than total domination over the next three weeks and the SEC’s postseason will be branded a failure. The downside risk far exceeds the upside potential.
Winner: Rick Pitino. St. John’s is the sixth school Pitino has led to the NCAAs, following Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona. If he’s not the greatest coach in the history of the sport, he’s on the short list.
Loser: Gonzaga. The Hotline erroneously believed the Zags played their way to a No. 7 seed by winning the West Coast Conference tournament. Instead, they were placed on the No. 8 line and paired with No. 1 Houston in the second round (in Wichita). Then again, the Cougars can’t be thrilled about seeing a team as accomplished as Gonzaga in their four-team pod.
Winner: Brigham Young. The Cougars were seeded fairly (as the No. 6 in the East) and placed favorably with a beatable No. 3 seed (Wisconsin) and a wobbly No. 2 (Alabama). Don’t be surprised if the Cougars are still standing when the Elite Eight rolls around.
Loser: UCLA. The Bruins spent much of this week in the Eastern Time Zone for the Big Ten tournament — they were obliterated by Wisconsin in the quarterfinals — and now must head back across the country for their first-round game in Lexington, Kentucky (against Utah State). Even worse for the seventh-seeded Bruins: They drew a Thursday tipoff.
Winner: Seattle. Climate Pledge Arena will have the pleasure of hosting two Pac-12 legacy schools, Arizona and Oregon, which are scheduled to meet in the second round if they survive the openers. Not hard to guess which team the locals will be rooting against.
Loser: Kansas. The (AP) preseason No. 1 skidded through the Big 12 schedule and was handed a No. 7 seed on Sunday — its lowest since 2000. The Jayhawks aren’t exactly right for the Cinderella role, but they would be a surprise participant in the Sweet 16.
Winner: Providence. Spectators at Amica Mutual Pavilion will be treated to a heavyweight coaching matchup with Kansas and Bill Self facing Arkansas and John Calipari in the first round. And if the Hogs advance, they will face St. John’s in the second round, with Calipari matching wits against his longtime rival, Pitino.
Loser: Michigan. Some poor sap of a No. 5 seed was going to draw UC San Diego, champion of the Big West and a potential Cinderella team. That sap is the Wolverines, who had better not overlook the Tritons in Denver.
Winner: Todd Golden. Florida’s third-year coach has the hottest team in the land and the No. 1 seed in the West. If the Gators advance to the West regionals at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Golden can spend a few minutes seeing old friends. He was USF’s coach for three years before relocating to Gainesville.
Loser: The case for NCAA Tournament expansion. If the favorable bubble treatment given to Texas and North Carolina is any indication, the extra spots in a 76-team field would go to mediocre finishers from the power conferences and not good teams from the mid-major leagues. Which would be an immense shame.
*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to wilnerhotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716
*** Follow me on the social media platform X: @WilnerHotline