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2016 March Madness Preview

Bubble Teams: There is no perfect system in figuring out who the top 36 at large bids should go to in the NCAA tournament, but I think that the NCAA got a lot wrong in the selection process. There are three teams that are in the field that have no business being in the tournament. Tulsa, Syracuse, and Vanderbilt should be incredibly appreciative of their bid. Tulsa had a very average season that was not worthy of the NCAA tournament. Tulsa went 20-11 including 12-6 in a mediocre American Athletic Conference. Nothing on their resume really stood out. They were 6-6 on the road, 4-5 vs the RPI top 50, and 8-8 vs the RPI top 100. Syracuse is another team that I did not think deserved a bid. They had a down year for their standards going 19-13. They went 3-8 in games on the road and had an RPI of 70. The last team that got into the tournament that I did not think belongs is Vanderbilt. They also went 19-13 and went 5-11 in games on the road or on a neutral court. They were 2-7 vs RPI top 50 teams. Instead of these teams getting in, I would have given their spots to mid major teams like Monmouth and St. Bonaventure. They did everything they had to do out of conference, but they got punished because their conference is not as strong as the teams who got in.