Anthony J. Buffa wrote
 
>At the risk of jumping into the fray as a mediator (an unusual role for
>those of you that know me :-)
>
>..... TNL, I dont think anyone has said they actually disagree with
>Niagara being picked .... and the quality of the team. Clearly they are
>in the top 20 in the country.... the arguments have been, and continue
 
If you deny that Niagara is not in the top 12 in the country. then you
disagree with Niagara being picked.  I know a lot of people really don't
want to be confused with the facts, but Niagara did prove themselves to be
CLEARLY in the top 8 in the country.
 
>to be, regardless of how they did in the tourney or where they are
>ranked or how many quality players they have etc etc ... is the
>numerical method used to pick the teams flawed... and the answer is yes.
>Is it flawed enough that Niagara should actually not have been picked? i
>dont think anyone is saying that.... however the clearcut case of
>Quinnipiac points to the current method flaws ... point is it is going
>to be a while before the leagues are more or less balanced and the
>current method once again works well.... I think John Whelan and others
>have better methods to use ... and I believe that Niagara ranks well in
 
I totally disagree.  Teams like Q need be brought to the selection
committee's attention.  Then, the incestuous nature of conferences can be
considered.  But if you skew the numbers to reflect preconceived notions,
then a truly deserving team may not be brought to the selection committee's
attention.  I think it's much better for the committee to look at a team
like Q and say "you don't make the cut" than to never look at the team at
all.
 
For those who are developing ranking systems that did not rank Niagara in
the top eight prior to the tournament, note that you now have empirical
data that indicates that your system still needs adjustment.
 
>those too, however these alternatives put Q where they really should be,
>down much lower than the current ranking system would indicate. Clearly
>the powers to be saw this and thus picked Niagara and did NOT pick Q.
>
>In sum, no one is picking on Niagara (or Q for that matter), but just
>pointing out weakness in the current numerical scheme... hoping that the
>NCAA might opt for a better one..
>
>Tony Buffa
>RPI '64
>
>====================================
>
>[log in to unmask] wrote:
>>
>> For all of the people who have had a hard time understanding and accepting
>> the team Niagara fielded this year, it's time to put it in the past and
>> begin thinking about the 2003 tournament.  It's highly likely that you'll
>> see a similar Wayne State team there.  With a highly motivated Bill
>> Wilkinson as coach and an all freshman team this year (academically, three
>> are sophomores and one is a junior), you may want to archive your
>> commentaries for use again three years from now. :-)
>>
>> TNL
 
T. N. Long
TN Tech. Phi Delta Theta #102
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