The first action of the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament gets underway tonight in Dayton, Ohio , 7:30 tip-off, with a play-in game between Coppin State of the MEAC and Mount Saint Mary’s of the Northeast Conference. MSM is the favorite in this game by a 7-point chalk with a 126 total according to online sportsbook, SportsBetting.com.
The entire concept of the play-in game is baffling to me. The conferences selected in this play-in are always going to be at the bottom of the proverbial NCAA barrel as far as RPI ratings go. In order to not target the same league year after year they alternate some of the worst leagues that play division-one hoops.
Here is what the NCAA does. There are two leagues made up of historically African-American colleges and universities. They are the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). The SWAC has the lowest RPI of the 32 conferences in 2008 with the MEAC only slightly better coming in a 31st.
The play-in game will almost always include a team from one of these historically African-American leagues. This year the MEAC gets the honor for the second consecutive year.
So who gets the other play-in berth? One would think it would be the lowest ranked conference of the non-historically African-American schools. Ok, I can’t pull any punches here. The league that gets the honor of providing its champion to the play-in game is of a prominently white ,(non-historically African-American) but not necessarily the lowest. Several leagues have rotated into the play-in game over the years. In 2007 it was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association (MAAC) champion Niagra. In 2006 it was the Northeast providing Monmouth. The SWAC participated in the 2005 play-in game losing to Oakland of the Summit. In 2004 Florida A&M of the SWAC played Lehigh of the Patriot League. Another league involved in the play-in game in the past is the Southland.
One thing I find interesting. the Ivy League has never been required to provide a team to the play-in rotation. This year the Ivy is rated below the Northeastern League whose champion is Mount Saint Mary’s, tonight’s opponent to Coppin State.
I have thought for years the bracket field needs to be expanded. If the NCAA were to expand the brackets then hopefully they would eliminated this ridiculous play-in game. It's especially not fair to the SWAC and MEAC who provide one of their teams yearly.
Just in case you need a good play for tonight. Give the 7-points and take Mount Saint Mary’s.
