Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Monday, March 15, 2004

In terms of the bubble, the biggest surprise was that Utah was excluded while both Maryland and NC State got in from the ACC, and West Virginia slid in also.

Utah went 24-7 this year. It had an RPI in the 38-40 range. It was regular season co-champion of the Mountain West.

Maryland and NC State, by contrast, had RPIs in the 46-50 range. They were both 8-8 in ACC play.

West Virginia was the weakest RPI team to make the cut. It had some very good wins but some very questionable losses.

The committee obviously punished the Utes for their relatively weak schedule. Utah did not have a single win over a top-50 team, and 10 of its wins were over teams with RPIs of 200 or more.

But Maryland did not exactly have a bevy of quality wins either. It's only top 50 win was over NC State.

And West Virginia's overall schedule was no stronger than Utah's.

Utah yesterday was shocked, confused, and emotional. After the NCAA snub, they decided to turn down the NIT bid. Their season is over.