ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
The NCAA Tournament opens three weeks from today. The difficult work for nine men will be completed by then.
"I have to agree, the bubble gets bigger every year,'' said Virginia athletic director Terry Holland of the parity in college hoops. "The selection process is going to be extremely difficult this year, probably more difficult than it's ever been.
Holland, the chairman of the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee, discussed the process of filling the 64-team field on a media conference call Wednesday. Specific, he wouldn't get.
He did say that the committee would not "reverse'' recent games that have ended with ACC officiating mistakes for the sake of selection or seeding.
He also said that after the tournament's top 16 seeds - four in four regions - the committee would try to create a more geographically friendly field in seeds 5-16 in a region. After some criticism of moving teams last year, the committee discussed what it could have done differently.
Holland also left open the possibility that a fifth ACC team could be seeded within the top 16 in the tournament. That would be a first, but any such fifth team would not be placed in a region in which a team from the same league was a No.1 seed.
"The top four lines [seeds], there's a commitment to a national tournament,'' Holland said. "We will try to assign teams on those lines to their natural geographic area or a contiguous geographical area.
"Below line four, our commitment to a national tournament changes only slightly. Looking back after last year, we found a couple of things we maybe could have done differently that wouldn't have violated our principles.''
The committee selects the 34 at-large teams to go into the bracket with 30 conference champions who are automatic qualifiers. "You get down to those last 10-12 spots, and the teams you're considering all look alike,'' he said.
Holland stressed that teams are considered individually, not within conference groupings. He said the committee also is looking for a strong non-conference schedule.
There also is some sentiment on the committee for regular-season conference champions who lose in league tournament play, but played solid non-conference schedules. Holland used Santa Clara's selection last year as an example.
"Now, there's a team that did exactly what we asked them to do. The committee is going to try to reward those who do that.''
He also said a losing conference record "doesn't put you out,'' but history makes it obvious that a school had better not play too far below .500 if it wants an NCAA bid.
No school has been invited to the NCAA that has finished lower than two games under .500 in their conference regular season. Those teams include Clemson last year, Wake Forest in 1992 and Georgia Tech the previous year.
No at-large selection ever has finished with fewer than 16 victories in its pre-tournament overall record.
Virginia was 6-8 in the ACC and 16-10 overall after defeating North Carolina State 55-46 on Wednesday night. The Cavaliers are on that bubble which seems as large as the roof of the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, site of the 1997 Final Four.
The Cavaliers' schedule ranks ninth nationally in this week's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), but UVa is hurt by its 3-9 record against teams in the RPI top 50. A team's record in its final 10 games of the season also is crucial, and Virginia was on a four-game losing streak before beating N.C. State.
Holland's statement that a conference's power rating is no factor in the team selection process would seem to be good news for the Atlantic 10, which, as the No.7 RPI conference this week, is hoping to get a league-record five teams into the field (St.Joseph's, Temple, Xavier, Massachusetts and Rhode Island).
Holland said the NCAA committee will begin its selection process March 7. The seeding becomes difficult partly because several major conferences play tournament championship games on "Selection Sunday [March 9],'' finishing only hours before the bracket is revealed.
"Our major concern is the selection process,'' Holland said. "You can play your way out of a bad seed but you can't play your way into the tournament if you're not selected.
"As good a job as we might have done there, when you're seeding, you have games occurring, and having to move a team late on Sunday [afternoon] makes it almost impossible to feel comfortable about it.''
It also was announced that besides the Final Four, five other NCAA sites already are sellouts - first- and second-round sites in Winston-Salem, N.C., Pittsburgh and Auburn Hills, Mich., and regional sites in Birmingham, Ala., and San Jose, Calif.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Banayote photo. Indianapolis' RCA Dome, site of the NCAAby CNBFinal Four. Graphic: The NCAA Tournament.