The east has 11 conference tournament champions, no other region has more than 6.
It's not a minor statistical aberration when it's this egregious.
If Houston, Purdue, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona had
just 'done their jobs,' the imbalance you justly decry would have been non-existent, and irritated UConn fans could be dismissed as greedy whiners, lacking appreciation for a top seed in their best 2 locations since, well, 2014.
In this ultimately most awkward 'perfect storm’ of a final weekend, all the key information was fully known before UConn won at MSG (Houston getting blown out starting in the first half helped), save for the good times, bubble-bursting DJ Burns show, during which UNC still saved its #1 seed by having made its tournament Finals.
To strengthen the above perception, Auburn and Illinois performed to expectation on a Sunday that turned out to be meaningless...except to those who wanted at least a second CT team in the field of 68.
The Committee's pants stayed at their ankles when they arguably had their best opportunity ever to rework things in response to what actually happened during the conference tournaments,
as though everything was in order by the end of Saturday. And they couldn't be bothered.
They just needed to keep the cameras above their waste and recruit someone who could keep a straight face. It could have been a hostage video look, so committed were they to the reasonable scenario they'd preconstructed.
I didn't see or hear the suit who laid out the case for Auburn, Illinois, and ISU's positions on the S-curve, but somebody mentioned that he had a "smirk." If he did, it's understandable. Maybe he drew the short straw.
He was no less than a stand up guy for something that could ultimately be defended by, "Who cares what those folks think?" and, "Let 'em just win their games if they're so good."
UConn did it last year when their high KenPom region was packed with teams set up for play in their own time zone, in addition to the defending champion and Musselman's NBA talent-packed roster.
And so, let 'em just win their games. At this point, nothing's going to change.
My earlier post began as an, "It's not their fault" joke. That's why I quoted @tennspro calling it "ludicrous." I initially went for the absurd, but the more I wrote, the more it made sense.
"Conspiracy" wasn't in mind. Nor was "incompetence." But I can see and have read credible pros & cons for both of those charges, which is why I've Liked many of the posts that have surrounded mine.
The "lazy" angle has merit, but I think that doing the full job (even with the uniquely available opportunity) just calculated out to the multiple powers that be as not worth the effort. That is indeed part of the ever-inescapable money motivation angle, even without adopting a sinister view of it.
When UConn is clicking, it can look like there must somehow be an extra player on the floor. I suppose the East region might look like there's an additional round to be played. It is the hand that has been dealt.
It's very very hard to win 6 consecutive games against steadily escalating one-or-done competition, but every year somebody does it. Once again, it might as well be us. Let's do it.
Go UConn!
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