NCAA Basketball: Make regular season matter

Don’t blame all of the injustices in the NCAA Tournament on the NCAA selection committee.

Much of the unfairness centers on the way teams are determined.

Why, after playing an entire season, should a conference’s automatic bid all come down to a 3- to-5-day tournament?

Shouldn’t a 4-month season have precedence over a tournament that lasts 3 to 4 days?

Certainly, teams such as Mississippi State and USC are only in because they won conference tournaments. But should those 4-day events matter more than a 4-month season?

Hardly.

That’s why teams such as San Diego State and Saint Mary’s this season – along with countless others over the years – have unfairly been left out of the tournament.

Oh, sure, one of those two teams could make a name for itself by winning the NIT. But that’s hardly a consolation for being snubbed by the NCAA Tournament.

There is one very valid criticism of college sports overall: Why does the Big Ten always get such high rankings in the postseason?

Seven Big Ten teams are in the NCAAs. Watch them fall on their collective faces – just like Big Ten teams traditionally do in the football postseason.

Until the regular season matters more than a tournament, there will continue to be injustices in the NCAA.