J. Michael Neal wrote:
> My contention at the time (I was disgruntled by the fact that Minnesota
> was higher rated than Vermont and not only didn't get a bye, but would
> have to beat Michigan to make it to the Final Four) was that I didn't
> mind if the NCAA came up with guidelines like this, but that they
> shouldn't spring them at the last minute.
 
Generally, the committee has been rather secretive about the way things are
done.  The only way we have learned about the process is by 1) watching to
see what happens, and 2) asking the questions that are needed to get
answers.  The committee generally does not volunteer information on its own.
 
In recent years discussion such as that which has taken place here and
elsewhere has led the people who are in the position to ask questions, to
be able to ask the right ones and get answers.  A perfect example is Dave's
verification of the "automatic bye" rule from the conference call recently.
 
I don't think such a guideline was intentionally "sprung at the last
minute" - chances are that if no one asked, we wouldn't have known.  But
that doesn't mean that this was not going to be the case all along.  It has
been rumored (in this case) that there would be an automatic bye for maybe
a month or more now.
 
Either way, you only have to go back a few years to a time when the process
was extremely cloudy and very few people knew what was going on.  The
situation is much better now.  For example, it used to be widely rumored
that there was some sort of backroom dealing going on, that certain members
of the committee were making deals to get their teams bids or higher seeds
in exchange for allowing the same for other teams.  I don't know if it did
before, but I don't think too many people believe this takes place now.
 
My take on the auto bye rule is that it is not that different from other
parts of the process.  It may result in a lower-ranked team getting a bye
instead of a higher-ranked team.  But this also can happen with the
requirement that the top two seeds in each region go to teams from that
region.  And there are also the cases where a team not in the top 12 can
receive a bid by winning the regular season or conf tourney.
 
Basically, the system is not designed to reward the best 12 teams in order
of ranking.  If it were, there would be no auto bids or auto byes.  This
needs to be considered when analyzing or critiquing the process.
 
Perhaps the greatest advancement that has been made is that teams generally
know what it is they have to do to get in or get a certain seed or bye, and
they know how the results of other games may affect them.  There is still
some guesswork involved, but it is not like several years ago when most
people had no real idea what was going on.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
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