The NCAA announced Sunday that Selection Sunday wonβt be that, even in hypothetical form.
Arizona was expected to receive between a No. 7-9 seed, meaning it would likely face a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the second round if the Wildcats won their first game.
While the announcement meant some bubble teams such as UCLA and ASU will never know if they would have made the field, an announcement wouldnβt have been a 100% declaration anyway, since there could have been more unexpected teams stealing bids by winning conference tournaments β and the tournaments themselves would have inevitably shaken up the seed lines anyway.
βPlayers and coaches want to see their school name on the bracket. Members of the media want to dissect matchups,β said Dan Gavitt, the NCAAβs senior vice president for basketball. βBracketologists want to compare the work of the committees versus what theyβve predicted. Fans are curious for those same reasons. All of us want something to fill the void weβre feeling.
βHowever, anything less than a credible process is inconsistent with the tradition of the NCAA basketball championships. Brackets based on hypotheticals canβt substitute for a complete selection, seeding and bracketing process. There will always be an asterisk next to the 2020 NCAA menβs and womenβs basketball championships regardless if brackets are released. There is not an authentic way to produce tournament fields and brackets at this point without speculating and that isnβt fair to the teams that would be positively or negatively impacted by manufacturing March Madness.β
Arizonaβs 77-70 win over Washington probably put the Wildcats in the field for sure at 20-11 with a NET rating of 14 and SOS of 11.
If the Wildcats had lost to USC in the quarterfinals, they wouldnβt have likely changed their seeding, but a potential win over Oregon in the semifinals might have moved them up to a No. 6, and a championship game win could have moved them up more, depending on who the opponent was.
Then again, the way the Wildcats finished the season, more than two wins in a row is hard to imagine.
The lack of an announcement also puts many coaches who have bonuses tied to the tournament in limbo. In the case of UAβs Sean Miller, he would have not received a bonus for getting in the tournament but escalating bonuses starting with $25,000 for a victory in the first round.
As it is, Miller will only receive a $20,000 bonus for having the Wildcats win between 20-24 games during the regular season.
Our final story wrapping up the Wildcats' season is also attached to this post. And if anyone wants to download a souvenir copy of UA's official pregame notes for the USC game that never happened, they're attached to this post and can actually serve as a season review of sorts.Β
In addition, also attached are UA's final stats and UA's final "team sheet" that the NCAA selection committee uses to sort out teams for seeding.
