Everyone should be at-large; really, they should

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Sitting here watching the ESPN pre-NCAA selection show, and a parade of coaches are reporting in. These are the coaches from teams that are on the bubble, whose spirits should have just been crushed by Mississippi State’s winning of the Southeastern Conference tournament and earning an automatic bid.

And just once -- and this coach would win the admiration of all those who follow the sport and be considered the most honest man in America -- it would be great to hear, oh, say, Steve Fisher of San Diego State or Ed DeChellis, head coach of Penn State, say: ‘You know what Doug Gottlieb, our team blew it. We didn’t win enough big games, we blew it in the conference tournament (San Diego State), our program has no history of doing much in basketball (Penn State) so, you know what, don’t call me for your show because you know and I know and everybody who’s watching knows. We shouldn’t make it.’

Would have loved to have heard DeChellis say just now, ‘Yeah, we lost to Rhode Island. We lost to Temple at our place. We played in a game where the final score was 38-33 and that was a Big 10 Conference game so, really, how good can our conference be? ‘

And Fisher, bragging how you beat UNLV three times doesn’t mean you’re great. Really, how good is UNLV? UNLV lost to San Diego State three times.

-- Diane Pucin