This year's March Madness features tons of adversity and plenty of parity. This is unprecedented, considering Vanderbilt made it as a
ninth seed in spite of having 15 losses on the season. Anyways, here's a breakdown as to why these "bubble teams" got burst by the selection committee.
- Syracuse (More Road Wins, Please): Syracuse had a stellar home record of 16-3 and had quality wins against Duke, Florida State, and Virginia. So why did they miss the tournament? They had 14 losses, marred by horrible road play. They had two wins on the road this season and their road losses include one to Boston College. Ouch.
- Illinois State (Make A Harder Schedule): The Redbirds just had to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and they were in. They had six losses, which get most teams in the tourney. They would've taken a spot from a team like Vanderbilt and probably would've been in the play-in game. The problem is that the Redbirds lost to the likes of Murray State and San Francisco (San Francisco isn't that bad; it's just their RPI's not great). Throw in the lack of quality wins and Illinois State is in the NIT. What Illinois State needs to do in order to make the tournament next year is summed up in this Dan Muller tweet:
- Indiana (Fulfill Expectations): Indiana started off the season with lofty expectations. Ranked in the Top Five with a quality neutral-floor win over Kansas and another over North Carolina would make any resume look like a No. 1 contender. There were a couple of issues with Indiana's season, though. Aside from the eye-catching collapse, the Hoosiers went on to lose 15 games this year, including losses to Fort Wayne and Nebraska.
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