Letting the Bidding Begin

The waiting game ends today for anxious college basketball teams hoping to receive NCAA tournament bids.

Questions will be answered when the Division I men’s basketball committee, after meeting in Indianapolis for four days, reveals the 65-team field for a three-week tournament that culminates with the Final Four in St. Louis, April 2 and 4.

The outcome of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament final between Georgia Tech and Duke at the MCI Center, as well as the other five conference championship games today, could affect the makeup and configuration of the field.

The No. 1 regional seedings seemed obvious at the start of the conference tournaments, but with two of the top four teams -- North Carolina and Wake Forest -- losing, even those aren’t certain. And determining other high seedings seems less clear. Before the bracket is unveiled, last-minute alterations might occur again.

But Bob Bowlsby, Iowa athletic director and chairman of the committee, said the 10-member group was prepared.

“We try and put in place contingency plans, and we will always take into account everything that we have at our disposal,” Bowlsby said in an interview last week before the committee began its deliberations.

“We’re going to move forward as expeditiously as we can, but there are times when it’s difficult. We’re not going to guess at outcomes [of tournament games] if it’s going to make a major difference in where somebody ends up playing. But to the extent we can, we will put in place contingency plans.”

The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern, Southland and Southwestern Athletic championship games will be played today.

Illinois of the Big Ten, North Carolina and Wake Forest of the ACC and Kentucky of the SEC -- the nation’s four top-ranked teams -- were expected to receive the four highest regional seedings at the start of their conference tournaments. They still might.

After that, the picture is more fuzzy.

Late slides removed Boston College, Kansas and Oklahoma State from consideration for No. 1 seedings. The committee figures to drop them to the second- and third-tier lines of the bracket, pushing others further down in the process.

“We’ve had a lot of shake-up ... relative to some of the teams at the top,” Bowlsby said. “Things have changed in some ways, and we’ve got a little bit of work to do. There isn’t any doubt that at the top line you’ve got to get it right.

“To me, it feels like the top line may not be quite as difficult as lines two through eight are going to be. While selection is always difficult because you’re dealing with a finite number and somebody’s always going to be in and somebody’s always going to be left out, I think this year we will have a real challenge seeding the tournament lines two through eight.”

Sorting between bubble teams from strong conferences was another pressing item on the committee’s long to-do list.

Georgia Tech, Maryland and North Carolina State of the ACC; Georgetown, Notre Dame and West Virginia of the Big East; and Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota of the Big Ten seemingly needed to impress in conference tournaments to bolster their standing. Losses in the first round of their tournament probably hurt the chances of Maryland, Notre Dame and Indiana.

“There is more parity in college basketball right now than at any time during the five years that I’ve been involved with the basketball committee,” Bowlsby said. “The better competition there is, the better balance there is, the tougher our job is.

“The selection process is a little like the block/charge call -- somebody is going to be unhappy on one side of the issue or the other.

“Unfortunately, we have to get it to 65 teams and put the best 34 at-large teams in there. That automatically means that there’s going to be some controversy with it.”

The Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and other statistical tools help differentiate between teams, Bowlsby said, but numbers aren’t the only factor, especially with so many weekend tournament games for the committee to monitor.

“We always are looking for critical matchups, and it’s particularly true in terms of seeding,” he said. “You may say, ‘Hey, that looks like that’s going to be the matchup we’re going to see in Conference X on Saturday afternoon. If Institution A wins, I probably got them on the three line. If Institution B wins, I probably got A on the four line and B on the three line.’ Those things happen.”

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Schedule

Dates and cities playing host to the men’s NCAA tournament:

PLAY-IN GAME

* Tuesday: at Dayton, Ohio.

FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS

* March 17 and 19: at Boise, Idaho; Cleveland, Indianapolis and Tucson.

* March 18 and 20: at Charlotte, N.C.; Nashville; Oklahoma City and Worcester, Mass.

REGIONALS

* March 24 and 26: at Chicago and Albuquerque.

* March 25 and 27: at Syracuse, N.Y., and Austin, Texas

NATIONAL SEMIFINALS

* April 2: at St. Louis

NATIONAL FINAL

* April 4: at St. Louis