Kids Depend on NCAA Selection Process

From the time they are little, they see themselves playing in the tournament. They are celebrating on the shoulders of a teammate, cutting down the net. You know the feeling.

But what starts as a dream later drives their choice of college and motivates their play. The players who are hungry for their moment in the NCAA Tournament are the faces that bring humanity to the faceless NCAA. And that’s why the selection process better be right.

“You’re dealing with kids’ lives,” says Tom Butters, who is the athletic director at Duke and the man in charge of that selection process.

While there is time to make up an injustice to coaches or programs, there is not for the players. They get four years--if that--and are gone.

When it comes to filling out the bracket, the force that drives the people on the selection committee is not the seeding, but the selection. “You can play your way out of a bad seed, but you can’t play your way into the tournament,” Butters says.

The committee’s focus is to be fair to the teams on the bubble, that the right ones are selected, that the right faces reflect the joy of making the tournament.

Bill Curley is one of the faces of players on the bubble. He has never played in the tournament, and he is out of time. A senior at Boston College, he will be sweating the selection process.

Curley has dreamed of playing in the tournament “since middle school.” A high school All-American--6-foot-9 even then, he led his team to the state title--he could have gone to a perennial tournament team. But he went to his hometown team, Boston College, and committed himself to the long struggle to turn around a program that had fallen to the bottom of a very tough conference.

“My freshman year, we were 1-16 in the league,” Curley says. “We knew it would get better, but it took longer than I thought it would.”

Curley plays with the desperation of a collegian out of time. He has driven Boston College down the stretch. His duel with UConn’s Donyell Marshall on Feb. 9 is the stuff of legend, one superb player matching another in a game decided in double overtime.

“We’ve talked about it all year,” Curley says of playing in the tournament. “We wanted to do something to get there.”

Greg Brown also knows. He, too, is out of time, but it is a time he wasn’t sure he would ever have.

Brown is a 5-foot-7 senior at New Mexico. “I always dreamed of playing in the March Madness,” he says, “but at my size, it was a dream. But the dream is that if you play good enough, you can still hope.”

Brown has always had to prove himself. He led Albuquerque High to the state title, but still had to prove himself. He went to New Mexico Junior College for two years, was his district’s player of the year, but “New Mexico was as close as I could get” to playing for a powerhouse program. New Mexico wanted him to redshirt, but four games into the season, Brown was sent out as a reserve. In one night he proved he should start. And he has started every game since.

New Mexico made the tournament last year but was blown out by George Washington, 82-68. New Mexico can win the Western Athletic Conference’s automatic berth. But if it doesn’t, it, like Boston College, will be on the bubble, dependent on the expertise and judgment of Butters and the selection committee.

The selection committee draws on a computer rating program. Though the final bracket is almost a direct reflection of the ratings, Butters says they are just the beginning.

“I hope we never get to the point where everything is so systematic that we can’t use our judgment,” he says. “There are things the computer can’t tell you.”

Injuries, the atmosphere and setting of games, results on the road and in conference are factors, Butters says. What else? “Everything else,” he says.

The NCAA gives automatic berths to the champions of 30 conferences. The other 34 spots are up for grabs. “Everyone knows the first 25, 26 of those teams,” Butters says. “Most of our time is spent on the final spots.”

Here are teams on the bubble:

Georgia Tech twice beat North Carolina, each time when the Tar Heels were No. 1. “Beating North Carolina twice has given us a lot of hope because a month ago people said we were definitely out,” Coach Bobby Cremins says. Tech helped itself by not only playing a difficult schedule, but by beating Temple, Vanderbilt, Georgia and St. John’s. “Why would anyone schedule tough non-conference games if they don’t mean anything?” Cremins says. “I think the NCAA will really look at the big picture.”

George Washington looked like a team of swell-headed underachievers at midseason, and Coach Mike Jarvis was accused of wasting some big (Yinka Dare) talent. People laughed when Jarvis said GW was ready for a “10-game winning streak.” But GW went 8-2 and upset UMass.

Wisconsin started the season 11-0, beating Stanford and Ohio State. Then the losses started--eight in the next 12 games. Just when they seemed out of it, the Badgers beat Michigan. They close with games against Iowa and at Indiana. “We can analyze this, we can analyze that,” Coach Stu Jackson says. “But you’ve got to win.”

Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said he knew his team needed to finish strong, then they lost four of their next five before winning the last two..

Washington State went 10-1, then lost its first three Pac-10 games. It won five of six, then lost three of four. The Pac-10 does not have a conference tournament, but Washington State has games that will seem like they are in a tournament--they close at home against Stanford and Cal.

Virginia beat North Carolina, but lost by 41 to UConn (at home), by 36 to Florida State, and to Old Dominion and Stanford. They have to do what Georgia Tech did last year and upset their way to the ACC Tournament title.

Vanderbilt won the SEC title and made the Sweet 16 last year, and Eddie Fogler was named coach of the year. He left, Jan van Breda Kolff came in--and Vanderbilt has disappointed, despite having Billy McCaffrey. Vanderbilt needs to overcome defensive problems to win the SEC bid.

Texas A&M; once controlled the Southwest Conference, but lost at Southern Methodist and to Baylor. Now the Aggies need to win the SWC Tournament.

Tulsa, was bumped from the Missouri Valley Tournament. The MVC has one automatic berth. Coach Tubby Smith says Tulsa can “play with just about anybody in the country.” Tulsa took Arkansas to overtime and played Oklahoma State tough, but lost each game.

Coppin State scheduled and played tough games on the road against Kansas State, Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma and Boston College, but will probably need to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic’s automatic berth.

College of Charleston is not eligible for the Trans America’s automatic berth--it is too recent a member--but is the best team. It has beaten South Carolina and Alabama.

Texas Pan American, in Coach Mark Adams’ second season, has eclipsed the school’s win total for the past three seasons (seven, zero and two) to become one of the country’s best turnaround stories. It won’t survive to get the Sun Belt’s automatic berth, but will survive to lobby for a reward.

Tulane’s longest winning streak is four, and the Metro Conference has a low power rating. But if the Green Wave can make the Metro tournament final (hello, Louisville), Tulane will put itself on the bubble.

Mississippi State’s victory over Arkansas on January 19 looks better and better as Arkansas keeps winning. The school’s best victory since 1962, it may vault them into the tournament.

New Orleans expects to win the Sun Belt tournament and automatic berth. But if it doesn’t, it will lobby that it beat George Washington and Southern and its losses include powers Arizona and Purdue.