It is very difficult to schedule when you're a mid major. You must be wiling to play on the road. Most coaches want to pad their schedule and it comes back and bites then come selection Sunday. This is the hand we're dealt. Play a better schedule or win your conference tournament.

But here's the thing: That's so much easier said than done. Do you think, for example, The Longhorns are going to welcome perennial bubble schools to play them, even at home? They want no part of playing Colorado State, or Boise State, because they have at best a 50/50 chance. They'd rather play a slightly lesser school they know they'll beat. Look at Thad Matta & Co. They'd play Pick Central or Columbus Northland if they could get credit for it. There really needs to be minimum criteria for out of conference scheduling implemented across the board so everyone has at least an idea for what they have to do schedule wise.

Yes, they did. And the champion came out of the American last year too. But if you look at the average level of play in the conference in comes much, much closer to conferences like the MAC and MVC than to the B10 and B12. Look at the American. What it is as far as status goes is a matter of semantics. Some may think mid-major and others high. But nearly all of its members were all in mid-major leagues just a few years ago. I'll bet the P5 views it as a mid-major league. Perhaps I should just say none of the top 5 seeds are from the power 5. Other than Miami, which really didn't have a great argument, none of the high majors are complaining about being left out. The gap between the high and mid majors is higher than ever so we can expect more high major at-large bids but even at that the committee was exceptionally friendly to then this year.

I don't have a problem with UCLA, Indiana and Texas getting in nor would I have a problem with them being left out but the fact none of them are even playing in the first round doesn't look right to me. I think the snub is Colorado St. and the team that should have been left out in favor of them is Mississippi. Other that that you just have a few teams with equal resumes and a few had to get in and a few left out. Temple & Richmond got left out in favor of P5 interests but I can't really point to those and say one resume was clearly better than another.