Don, I can't find this in writing, but I think I remember reading the reason they gave the tourney winners the auto bids was to give the bottom feeders something to hope for. The teams competing for conference championships already know they are in, so the tournament is fairly meaningless to them. However, the middling teams that are either on the bubble, or below it can get in if they manage a small win streak. It's a carrot to get them to put out some effort. The Aggies 1986 appearance in the Dance was just such a thing... Not a tourney team, but got hot and won the conf tourney to get a bid. I personally don't think there should be any conference tourneys...
Scott, who and how much did you have to pay to get in the South with the potential of a meaningful visit to San Anton????? Great job.....congrats on a fine season btw. If I wasn't so certain of jinxing my boys, I'd tell you I'm not at all excited about a potential match-up -v- your Ags ivirtually in your own back yard! A lof of hoops to be played before then however.....
National Championships by conference... 1. Pac 10 (15) 2. Big Ten (10) 2. Big East (10) 2. ACC (10) 3. SEC (9) 4. Big 12 (4) 5. Mountain West (3) 6. West Coast (2) 7. CUSA (1) 7. Horizon (1) 7. Patriot (1) 7. Atlantic 10 (1)
Final RPI numbers... 1. Ohio State 2. North Carolina 3. UCLA 4. Wisconsin 5. Pittsburgh 6. Florida 7. Southern Illinois 8. Memphis 9. Georgetown 10. Nevada Las Vegas
You know Terry, that is very true. Alabama won 20 games against nobodies and then when it counted they were not ready. I like Duke's approach. Play a tough schedule and then when crunch time comes you are battle hardened. Duke is not the only one that does it but they usually do it best.