Monday, March 13, 2000
Committee chairman answers criticism
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Tournament committee opened a Pandora's box of second guesses when it anointed Pac-10 schools Arizona and Stanford top seeds.
The selectors not only put 26-3 Stanford ahead of 28-3 UC in the South despite two losses during the last week, but they kept 26-6 Arizona in the West despite six losses and a season-ending injury to center Loren Woods.
So why did they drop UC to a No. 2 on the basis of center Kenyon Martin's season-ending broken leg?
Committee chairman Craig Thompson, commissioner of the Mountain West Conference, said the big factor in Arizona's favor was that the committee was able to evaluate the Wildcats' play without Woods for a handful of games, including a victory over Stanford.
“There was a test there,” said Thompson.
On the other hand, the committee could only judge UC on the basis of the final 37 minutes of its loss to St. Louis in the first round of the Conference USA tournament. Thompson indicated UC could have received a No. 1 seed if it had beaten St. Louis and won another game or two in the league tournament.
“They're clearly a different team without Kenyon Martin,” Thompson said. “The issue we had is, "How different of a team are they without Kenyon Martin?' We know he will not play in the NCAA tournament, but they're still a very, very solid basketball team.”
The committee requested all schools hand in a list of players they expect to play in the tournament by 5 p.m. Friday and Thompson said Arizona told him Woods, like Martin, is out for the season.
“We came back to (Cincinnati) a few times,” said Thompson, when asked if there was any support for giving the Bearcats a top seed because of their powerful regular season.
“When you lose a probable player of the year in a number of publications, that's going to affect your team,” he said. “Cincinnati didn't have an opportunity other than one 37-minute span in one game to judge how Cincinnati would play without Martin. It was very difficult because that was such an emotional game to lose a player of his caliber.
Thompson praised the four No. 1 seeds for distinguishing themselves in their league as well as against national non-conference foes.
He noted Duke won both the ACC regular season and tournament titles, Arizona and Stanford shared the Pac-10 title and Michigan State won the Big Ten tournament after sharing the regular season championship.
UC went 16-0 in winning the regular-season C-USA championship.
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