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Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Sometimes, our best-laid plans just flop. In March, this writer rolled out a historical series looking at NCAA Tournament at-large selection and the proverbial ‘bubble’, examining teams just above and below the cutline in the tourney every year from 1985 through 2019. The series ran in early March, five years […]
Before the 2020 Selection Sunday that would never come due to the NCAA’s response to the COVID-19 virus, Hoopville’s Adam Glatczak looked at the history of the NCAA Tournament bubble in the era of the 64+ team tournament field, from 1985 up to present.
Many teams miss out on the NCAA Tournament every year. Some are very close to getting in. Some are agonizingly close. Here is a list of 16 of the very nearest misses for the NCAA Tournament since the tourney’s expansion to 64 teams in 1985.
We conclude our extensive year-by-year looks at NCAA Tournament and Selection Sunday bubbles over the last 35 years by revisiting recent history, the last five years of tournament selection 2015-19.
Part 6 of our year-by-year deep dives looking at the NCAA Tournament bubbles past brings us to the years 2010-14. The 68-team tourney arrives, TV commentators go ballistic about VCU’s selection in its Final Four year, and inspired picks in 2012 and 2013 are followed by a decided shift in committee philosophy the next year.
Part 5 of our series recalling, researching and reviewing NCAA Tournament Selection Sundays of the past looks at the years 2005-09. Included: Jim Nantz and Billy Packer tee off on the MVC and CAA in 2006, the same year the Valley got four bids but probably (our opinion) should’ve had six.
Part 4 of our look back at Selection Sundays and NCAA Tournament bubbles over the last 35 years moves into a new decade with our review of 2000-04. Strength of schedule becomes king, Barry Hinson has his first notable snub, and Butler in 2002 and Utah State in 2004 beg the question of just how much do teams like them need to win to get a bid.
Part 3 of our reflection, research and review of Selection Sundays and the NCAA Tournament bubble over the last 35 years looks year-by-year at 1995-99. The stretch saw conference champions like Manhattan and Miami (Ohio) rewarded in 1995, a shift towards mid-pack majors as the 90s drew to a close but also surges by a trio of Midwestern leagues.
We begin our review of the bubble over the years with the first five years of the 64-team NCAA Tournament era, 1985-89, including the first big snub (and blow-up) in the expanded tourney era, a 14 seed at-large team nearly making the Elite 8 and a conference going from a national champion one year to no team in the Big Dance at all the next.
As Selection Sunday 2020 approaches, Hoopville contributor Adam Glatczak is going to look back at 35 years of the bubble. Introducing his year-by-year look at at-large ins and outs since the NCAA tourney expanded to 64 teams in 1985
