The NCAA staged its annual mock selection event last week at its headquarters in Indianapolis. The idea is to give selected members of the national media an insiders’ view of what supposedly takes place each year while choosing which 36 at-large teams deserve an invitation to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.
Regarding those at-large teams, which almost always come from the Power Five conferences and the Big East, most media folks I’ve known who have been lucky enough to attend a mock selection believe it to be a humbling, educational experience.
Deciding who gets in once the automatic bids are taken is like trying to stop a Stephen Curry 3-pointer. It’s a lot tougher in person than watching on television.
Yet where our own University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs are concerned, the faux committee shot an airball. Actually, it was more like a shot clock violation. Because not only did the committee fail to place the Mocs in the field as an at-large in one of the softest predicted at-large fields in memory, it made Mercer the automatic entry for the Southern Conference.
Yes, that would be the same Mercer Bears whom UTC swept in the regular season by an average of nine points, though the game in Macon did go to overtime. The same Bears who own a No. 140 Ratings Percentage Index to UTC’s No. 33. The same Bears who are 18-9 overall to the Mocs’ 23-4.