Stanford Sucks

Stanford is gone. More accurately, they never really showed up. Louisville, which didn’t lead the Big East, and didn’t even make it to the finals in the Garden, led 41-13 after fifteen minutes. Stanford managed to score a total of 20 points in the first half; that works out to one point each minute. A late run made the score respectable, but Stanford still lost by twenty. On a neutral court. I seem to recall Cuse losing to Louisville by only five, in their house, after letting a double digit lead slip away. Not that a close loss makes any kind of case for the Orange, but at least we didn’t get embarrassed.

Now explain to me why this team deserved a bid to the tournament. Their record was lousy: 18-12; their conference record was lousy: 10-8; and their RPI was lousy: around 63. And they ran up that stellar record in the Pac-10, or whatever it’s now called, hardly a dominant conference. What entitled this team to steal someone’s NCAA bid? What possible excuse was there for giving them a tournament bid, just so they could get blown out in one of the most lopsided first round games so far? Is the committee trying to retain geographic diversity? Are they afraid no one from the west coast will tune in unless they give every possible California team a bid? Jay Bilas says there was no conspiracy, just some bad selections, but this explanation only raises more questions in my mind. It provides no real answers.

Let’s see how Arkansas and Georgia Tech fare.