If your college team has woken from a midseason coma and suddenly can’t miss and can’t lose, don’t get your hopes up for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee working this week to determine the 65-team field no longer emphasizes fast finishes.
For years, the team data sheet each committee member received featured a stat showing each team’s record over its last 12 games. In a nationwide conference call Wednesday, committee chairman Dan Guerrero said that statistic no longer appears.
“We took the last 12 games off the team sheet because there was some real concern out there that there was a misconception about how we were evaluating that whole situation and how much weight we were giving it,” Guerrero said from Indianapolis, where the committee has gathered. “Certainly an 11-1 team in one situation versus a 7-5 team in another situation could be evaluated completely different depending on what the quality of competition was.
“We didn’t want to make that an absolute criteria.”
That’s not good news for bubble teams that are finishing strong, such as San Diego State and Arizona State (both with eight wins in their last 10) and Washington (nine of 11). That doesn’t mean, however, that fast starts will be discounted.
“We have the ability to look at that, to see who is playing stronger, to see who has jelled during the course of the season,” Guerrero said. “Can that enhance a resume? Yeah, it might. I can’t say it’s an absolute variable that is going to be the tipping point for any one team.”
In light of that, this week’s plethora of conference tournaments also won’t carry as much weight as many believe.
“It can enhance a resume,” Guerrero said. “It’s important to know that when we lock down here, conference tournaments represent 1 percent of all the games played. We need to look at it from that context.”
CBS’s selection show is Sunday at 4 p.m.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
