Last night, the ‘First Four’ officially tipped of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
    For the last few years, these four games have served as a stepping stone into the bigger bracket for teams who may have otherwise been left out. For the NCAA, these games are basically a license to print money. The fact that none of the eight teams playing on Tuesday or Wednesday have a legitimate shot at the national championship does little to curtail the amount of viewers tuning in or the amount of advertising money pumped into these four games.
    My wife can — begrudgingly — attest to the fact that my total obliviousness to the players or storylines of these first eight teams to hit the court won’t stop me from yelling at the television. Worse yet for her, these four games are merely appetizers for the nonstop action on tap from Thursday through Sunday.
    So I clearly have no problem with the ‘First Four’, but I do have a problem with some of the teams playing in those games. Two games will determine which teams will advance into the main bracket as a No. 11 seed while the other two will have fought through a do-or-die game, only to earn a No. 16 seed and sacrificial lamb status as they have a two day turnaround before taking on either North Carolina or Oregon (both top seeds).
    I take no issue with the 11-seed games. Michigan and Vanderbilt are both power conference teams that had mediocre seasons. Tulsa did about the same — in a lesser conference — and has drawn plenty of ire from bracket “experts” who don’t believe they should even be in the play-in round. And then there is Wichita State, a perennial mid-major power that was unable to dominate because of injuries, but still finished strong enough to impress the selection committee.
    All of these teams belong right where they are. If the NCAA is going to continue to run a surplus of at-large bids for the purpose of putting on the ‘First Four’, all teams included should be ones that just barely earned a nod into the tournament field.
    Simply put, the four teams who will be slugging it out for 16-seeds are getting robbed of their rightful inclusion in the main bracket.
    It’s long been the rule that every conference tournament champion receives an automatic bid into the national tournament field. All four 16-seed play-in teams are conference tournament champions, but would — theoretically — have to win seven games to claim a national title whereas 60 other teams in the bracket would only need six wins.
    Honestly, I couldn’t care less that ‘First Four’ participant Holy Cross enters the tournament with a record of 14-19. And I don’t think it should matter that Florida Gulf Coast barely finished over .500 in conference play and needed some last-second heroics to top Stetson (12-22) by two points in the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament final.
    Playing in a lesser conference already limits the majority of teams in that their only ticket to the tournament will come via a conference tournament championship, regardless of regular season performance. Meanwhile, we have instances of truly below average teams from power conferences that are placed into the field with no need for a play-in - I’m looking at you, 2007-08 Georgia, with your 17-16 overall record.
    All four of these potential No. 16 seeds deserve to be in the 64-team field. The first four should be reserved for underperforming power conference schools and dominant mid-majors who weren’t able to win their conference tournament to secure an automatic bid.
    While I’ve always preferred college football to college basketball, one thing has remained constant for me in regards to the postseason. I’ve always loved the fact that in basketball, the NCAA won’t exclude you until someone has beaten you. Lesser-known teams might not get the benefit of a doubt in seeding or where they’re forced to play, but you’ll never see an unbeaten Cinderella story excluded from national championship contention just because the pollsters or a computer rating system likes a bigger name instead.
    These smaller teams still have that puncher’s chance, but requiring them to play an extra game is an example of the NCAA taking a step in the wrong direction. The Fairleigh Dickensons and the Holy Crosses of the world will likely end up a spatter on the windshield of a high seed in just a few days, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t earned their place in the tournament just the same as Kansas, Michigan State or any of the other favorites.
    Then again, I realize that my opinions are all for naught. Starting with last night, continuing into tonight, and lasting all the way into April, March Madness is about to make me a mindless drone. I’ll blindly follow the brackets to wherever they’ll lead, but it’s always nice to see a few upsets along the way.
 
    Mike Anthony may be reached at (912) 489-9408.