Southwest Missouri State got the shaft. Pure and simple, the Bears should be playing in the NCAA tournament. And they are not even the most deserving team that was left out. The NCAA selection committee chucked aside the criteria that it has claimed for years was the basis for selecting at-largeteams. Supposedly, RPI is important. The Bears have a better RPI than TEN TEAMS that received an at-large berth. SMS finished 34th. Three teams in the 50’s got in: Utah, UNLV and Pepperdine. The committee has told us that they want teams that finish strong in their last ten games. How about 9-1by SMS? Pretty strong, I’d say. St. Bonaventure, Seton Hall, Dayton, and Pepperdine all got in, all are below the Bears in RPI, none finished better than 6-4. The committee took regular season champ Indiana State from the Missouri Valley instead of the Bears, even though the Sycamores had a higherRPI. Even worse, the committee left out Vanderbilt which had a solid record in the very tough SEC. UNLV is better than Vandy? No way. In the meantime, the committee sent a terrible message: Schedule cupcakes, because playing good teams won’t get you into the tournament.
