Tough talk could be good news for UH
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
It sounds almost too good to be true and, in the end, it just might be.
But, for now, talk — hopeful speculation — is circulating that the NCAA men's basketball tournament selection committee may adopt a tougher line on teams that finish with sub-.500 conference records.
The implication is that just because a school has a megaconference pedigree, a 7-9 record in conference might not be the ticket to the Big Dance the way it has in the past. The rumor is that the committee, come Selection Sunday in three weeks, might resolve to take a deserving at-large team from a so-called mid-major conference over a middlin' team from one of the power elite.
Which, if it holds up, would be good news for the University of Hawai'i and teams like it that have occasionally found themselves deserving only to be left out.
Of course, the Rainbows could take the element of chance out of the whole thing by sweeping this homestand — tomorrow night against San Jose State then next week against Tulsa and Rice — and finishing strong on the road to win the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title outright. They could render moot all questions about their lagging strength of schedule by winning the conference tournament and securing the automatic bid that goes with it.
For it has long been a bone of contention that while sixth and, on occasion, even seventh-place teams in the marquee conferences have annually received at-large bids, too often quality teams from the mid-majors have been overlooked.
With six of the 31 Division I conferences accounting for 35 of last year's 65 berths, it is an issue worthy of review. And committees are allowed some latitude to tweak standards as they see fit. But Karl Benson, WAC commissioner and committee member, says there has been no mandate to the committee to take a tougher line. "It is up to the individual members," he said.
Indeed, talking about taking a longer look at standards is one thing. Actually doing something about them when the lights go on is something else.
And, we have yet to hear the full chorus of protests from the powers-that-be. So far only Michigan State's Tom Izzo has weighed in on this. "That's ridiculous (being tougher on sub-.500 teams) — and you can write that, too ... " Izzo told the Detroit News this week.
Of course, as you might expect, Izzo's team was 5-6 in the Big Ten at the time.
Indeed, the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, etc., have come to consider it a birth-right to have half their teams make the field every year, worthy or not. Already, the SEC is saying it expects seven bids this year. And the Pac-10 is talking expectantly of six.
Most years that would be bad news for potential "bubble" teams such as UH. This year it is encouraging just to think there just might be a happier ending.
