One-tenth of one second.
That's apparently what ultimately kept Mississippi State from being invited to its third straight NCAA Tournament. One-tenth of one second. You can't begin to say it in the time it takes to live it.
But because Kentucky freshman big man DeMarcus Cousins put back a missed John Wall jumper one-tenth of a second ahead of the horn on Sunday afternoon, the second-ranked Wildcats tied up the Bulldogs in regulation, then defeated State in overtime in the SEC Tournament championship game.
And because the Bulldogs twice lost in overtime to UK -- along with nine other defeats -- the tournament selection committee didn't appear to take much more than one-tenth of a second in dismissing the Bullies' 23 wins, even though they also won the SEC West.
"We're talking about the entire season," said committee chair Dan Guerrero, possibly referring to State's mid-November home loss to Rider and December road defeat at Western Kentucky. "We place value on that."
But if they value November over February or March they value the wrong end of the season. February and March should matter more because that's a far better barometer of your tournament chances than November.
Heck, in November and early December, 2009 NCAA champ North Carolina looked capable of returning to the Final Four after victories over Ohio State and Michigan State. Then the Tar Heels finished 16-16.
That's not to say Guerrero and his group got everything wrong. It's certainly tough to argue with Kansas being the overall No. 1 seed, or Kentucky, Syracuse and Duke following them on that line.
There's also nothing wrong with West Virginia, Ohio State and Kansas State earning second seeds. After that it gets dicey, however, if not downright nonsensical.
For instance, Villanova -- having lost six of its last 10 -- somehow rated a second seed in the South, where Duke was widely regarded as the weakest No. 1.
If the NCAA uses the serpentine system as it says, where the strongest No. 1 is matched with the weakest No. 2 while the weakest No. 1 gets the strongest No. 2, shouldn't Kansas have drawn Villanova and Duke been paired with West Virginia?
Instead, the Dookies just may have the easiest road to the Final Four while either Kansas or Kentucky -- supposedly the top two No. 1s -- appear to have the toughest draws out of the Midwest and East regionals.
The Jayhawks draw Ohio State for a second seed and Georgetown for a third while UK must battle second-seeded West Virginia and fourth-seeded Wisconsin. And that's only if Big Blue escapes former No. 1 Texas, which was given an eighth seed in the East.
There's also the not-so-little matter of geography, which Guerrero's committee evidently never took in school. How else to explain San Diego State being shipped to Providence, R.I., to play Tennessee when there were Left Coast first-round sites at San Jose, Calif., and Spokane, Wash.?
Just as inconceivable, Maryland must travel to Spokane and Gonzaga to Buffalo. Then there are first-round foes Murray State (Ky.) and Vanderbilt -- whose campuses are roughly 80 miles apart -- playing in San Jose instead of Oklahoma City, New Orleans or Jacksonville.
Doesn't anybody at the NCAA know there's a recession going on here?
But at least all those teams are in the tournament, their hoops hopes and dreams alive for at least four more days.
Mississippi State won six of its last 10, beat Florida and Vanderbilt in the SEC tourney, came within one tenth of one second of toppling Kentucky, yet must stay home while floundering Florida -- which lost six of its last 10 -- was awarded a No. 10 seed in the West.
Then there's Virginia Tech, which went 10-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference to Wake Forest's 9-7, beat the Demon Deacons head-to-head and went 23-8 overall to Wake's 19-10.
Yet Wake made the field and Virginia Tech did not.
"Somebody help me understand that," said Dick Vitale on ESPN early Sunday evening. "Wake loses five out of six and was blown out by Miami (in ACC tourney). I have a major problem with that. I think you should take the last 10 games and weight how a team is performing at the end of the year. I think (Virginia Tech coach) Seth Greenberg got a raw, raw deal."
This isn't to say Mississippi State is blameless in all this. Knowing they desperately needed to win their final two regular-season games against Auburn and Tennessee, the Bullies lost both, trailing the Vols 17-0 early on.
But they also twice battled No. 2 Kentucky into overtime, clobbered UCLA in the Wooden Classic and beat NCAA participants Old Dominion and Houston.
Said State coach Rick Stansbury after one tenth of one second cost his Bulldogs the SEC Tourney, "Any person watching that game, how could you not be absolutely amazed what these guys did against one of the most talented teams in the country?"
Only the selection committee can answer that one. And should.
Click here to vote in our daily poll: Are you going to participate in an NCAA basketball pool?
PDF: Download the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Championship Bracket