2002 NCAA Tourney Breakdown

Remember this tournament? Missouri limped in as a 12-seed with an absolutely lousy resume. Unconscionable losses all over the place, 1 (one) Top-100 win in the conference, and worst of all, the double whammy: A coach who not only looks like Quin Snyder, but coaches like Quin Snyder.

Naturally, they went to the Elite Eight.

I mean seriously. Quin fucking Snyder.

[EDIT: I asked the Ladies... about him, and I guess they kind of have a different opinion of him than I do. For some reason.]




2002

South
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Duke	ACC	27-3	Tournament Champion
#2	Alabama	SEC	25-6	At-Large
#3	Pittsburgh	Big East	26-4	At-Large
#4	USC	Pac-10	22-8	At-Large
#5	Indiana	Big 10	19-10	At-Large
#6	California	Pac-10	22-8	At-Large
#7	Oklahoma State	Big 12	23-8	At-Large
#8	Notre Dame	Big East	20-10	At-Large
#9	Charlotte	C-USA	18-11	At-Large
#10	Kent State	MAC	25-5	Tournament Champion
#11	Penn	Ivy	24-6	Regular Season Champion
#12	Utah	MWC	19-8	At-Large
#13	UNC-Wilmington	CAA	22-9	Tournament Champion
#14	Central Connecticut	NEC	27-4	Tournament Champion
#15	Florida Atlantic	Atlantic Sun	18-11	Tournament Champion
#16	Winthrop	Big South	17-11	Tournament Champion

West
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Cincinnati	C-USA	29-3	Tournament Champion
#2	Oklahoma	Big 12	25-4	Tournament Champion
#3	Arizona	Pac-10	21-9	Tournament Champion
#4	Ohio State	Big 10	21-7	Tournament Champion
#5	Miami (FL)	Big East	24-7	At-Large
#6	Gonzaga	WCC	28-3	Tournament Champion
#7	Xavier	A-10	24-5	Tournament Champion
#8	UCLA	Pac-10	19-11	At-Large
#9	Mississippi	SEC	19-10	At-Large
#10	Hawaii	WAC	26-5	Tournament Champion
#11	Wyoming	MWC	20-8	At-Large
#12	Missouri	Big 12	21-11	At-Large
#13	Davidson	Southern	18-9	Tournament Champion
#14	UC-Santa Barbera	Big West	18-10	Tournament Champion
#15	Illinois-Chicago	Horizon	17-13	Tournament Champion
#16	Boston	Am. East	21-9	Tournament Champion

Midwest
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Kansas	Big 12	26-2	At-Large
#2	Oregon	Pac-10	22-8	At-Large
#3	Mississippi State	SEC	24-7	Tournament Champion
#4	Illinois	Big 10	24-7	At-Large
#5	Florida	SEC	22-8	At-Large
#6	Texas	Big 12	20-10	At-Large
#7	Wake Forest	ACC	20-11	At-Large
#8	Stanford	Pac-10	19-9	At-Large
#9	Western Kentucky	Sun Belt	26-3	Tournament Champion
#10	Pepperdine	WCC	21-8	At-Large
#11	Boston College	Big East	20-11	At-Large
#12	Creighton	MVC	22-8	Tournament Champion
#13	San Diego State	MWC	18-11	Tournament Champion
#14	McNeese State	Southland	19-8	Tournament Champion
#15	Montana	Big Sky	13-14	Tournament Champion
#16	Holy Cross	Patriot	18-14	Tournament Champion

East
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Maryland	ACC	26-3	At-Large
#2	Connecticut	Big East	23-6	Tournament Champion
#3	Georgia	SEC	21-9	At-Large
#4	Kentucky	SEC	19-9	At-Large
#5	Marquette	C-USA	26-5	At-Large
#6	Texas Tech	Big 12	23-7	At-Large
#7	N.C. State	ACC	21-9	At-Large
#8	Wisconsin	Big 10	17-12	At-Large
#9	St. John's	Big East	20-11	At-Large
#10	Michigan State	Big 10	18-11	At-Large
#11	Southern Illinois	MVC	26-7	At-Large
#12	Tulsa	WAC	25-5	At-Large
#13	Valparaiso	MCC	24-7	Tournament Champion
#14	Murray State	OVC	17-11	Tournament Champion
#15	Hampton	MEAC	24-6	Tournament Champion
Play-in	Alcorn State	SWAC	19-9	Tournament Champion
Play-in	Siena	MAAC	16-18	Tournament Champion

Last teams in: Missouri, Tulsa, Utah (12 seeds)
Worst RPI's in: Wyoming (#60), Wisconsin (#54)
Best RPI's left out: Villanova (#43), Arkansas (#46)

Conference RPI standings (number of bids received)
1. SEC (6)
2. ACC (4)
3. Big 12 (6)
4. Big East (6)
5. Pac-10 (6)
6. Big 10 (5)
7. Mountain West (3)
8. Conference USA (3)
9. Atlantic 10 (1)
10. WAC (2)

Mid-Major Involvement
For purposes of consistency, regardless of the conference ranks, we'll regard the ACC, Big 10, Big XII, Pac-10, Big East, and SEC as the "power conferences." Although the Missouri Valley rates very well in comparison to those teams, until Bradley gets to the Final Four or something, they're still a mid-major.

Power Conference Automatic Bids: 6
Mid-Major Automatic Bids: 24
Power Conference At-Large Bids: 27
Mid-Major At-Large Bids: 8

TEAM MOST LIKE IOWA:
I don't think you have a proper understanding of how hard this part is. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a team that had such a horrifying non-conference tilt, then posted a winning record in a power conference? Sometimes I can't even find a team with such a horrendous non-conference RPI even in the Top 100 overall. That the Hawkeyes found themselves in such a position this year speaks either to their perseverence or Alford's uncanny ability to quickly lead a team straight out of tournament contention, regardless of how far along the season is. Anyway.

BIG EAST
5W. Rutgers (18-12, 8-8) (RPI: 83)

Rutgers was ninth place in the Big East, yes, but we're talking about a 14-team conference here. Rutgers's non-conference schedule is comically bad--it's littered with creampuffs like Stony Brook (who I've never heard of), Hartford (not the Whalers, sadly), and Fairleigh Dickinson, who is fairleigh awful. Oh, and in February they took a break from the Big Easy East to play St. Peter's, another school that couldn't crack the top 300 of the RPI (and another school I've never heard of).

By the time January 22 rolled around, the Scarlet Knights were 11-7 and 2-4 in the conference. As you might expect, they went on a 6-1 tear that included 3 wins against NCAA-bound UConn, Miami, and Notre Dame. That. Just. Happened.

Soon, however, they remembered they were Rutgers and all that entails, and lost 4 of the last 5 games of the season, including a first-round loss in the conference tourney.

I hope you've noticed that just about every team I find that reminds me of Iowa ends up biting it in the conference tournament very early. That wasn't by design, but it's certainly something you should keep in mind if you're thinking of heading to the United Center on Friday.