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Message: [QUOTE="nelsonmuntz, post: 4450421, member: 833"] Nope. In the 1980's, that was how the NCAA Tournament was selected. No one cared about the non-conference schedule, so teams feasted on cupcakes. John Thompson's Georgetown teams were the worst, but hardly the only offenders. They would play half the MEAC every season. Around that time, a few stats dorks started doing SOSs, and the committee used those to justify their selections. Then Bobby Knight, because he was a miserable jerk and also a little smarter than the average coach, started gaming the system. He did this out of necessity, because his own recruiting declined as a new generation didn't want to get abused by a jerk, so he had to figure out a way to stay in the NCAA Tournament with .500 Big 10 records. He started loading up on mid-majors and playing tougher OOC schedules. He would lose some games, but the computer rankings loved his approach, and suddenly other perennial bubble teams started scheduling tougher opponents and eased up on the cupcakes. Before you knew it, perennial powerhouses like Georgetown were the ones sitting on the bubble. That is actually why Butler is in a major conference today. They were one of the first teams Knight added to his schedule in the 90's. Michigan and Alabama will continue to load up on cupcakes, but something tells me that Lane Kiffin and Dave Clawson and Sonny Dykes will figure out the best way to get their teams in the tournament, and make it hard for Alabama and their 2 bottom of the barrel Sun Belt opponents plus Citadel to argue for a slot in the playoffs with a 9-3 record. [/QUOTE]

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