I need your help this morning. I’m taking up a collection to buy NCAA Tournament Selection Committee chairman Ron Wellman a pair of eyeglasses and a new computer software program.
He may also need a pair of earplugs to drown out the deafening and defiant chants of “S-E-C, S-E-C, S-E-C,” since three of the tourney’s remaining 16 teams proudly call the Southeastern Conference home.
Just in case you missed this, No. 1 Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee are also the ONLY three SEC schools that Wellman’s committee saw fit to invite to the tourney nine days ago, which means that among multiple-bid leagues, the SEC is also the only conference that remains undefeated.
And given that, plus the ridiculous ease in which both the Gators and Vols have advanced thus far — not to mention UK’s shocking upset of previously perfect Wichita State — it would seem that Wellman and his committee might want to revaluate their eye tests and whatever computer spreadsheets that so wrongly undervalued the SEC’s worth.
Then the nine men and one woman who make up this year’s committee should deliver a blanket apology to all 14 SEC athletic directors and basketball coaches at this year’s spring meeting in Destin, Fla., for one of the worst evaluations in NCAA Tournament history.