Bubbles Burst

Thanks in part to the Fab Five documentary on ESPN (which finals kept me from) there's been less talk than normal about teams that got snubbed by this year's selection committee. That doesn't mean they got it perfect though. Here, by Margin of Victory free* rankings are the biggest snubs and the luckiest teams.

Snubs

1. Cleveland State 24-8, #42 (RPI 42) Maybe not the biggest name, but the biggest snub.

2. Virginia Tech 21-11, #46 (RPI 62) Another year, another NIT for the Hokies.

3. Boston College 20-12, #50 (RPI 61) The third snub, but at this point they probably don't deserve it.

4. Harvard 21-6, #52 (RPI 36) Jeremy Lin should spend his bench time reading about the Ewing Theory.

5. St Mary's 23-8, #54 (RPI 46) Apparently not just a one man team last year.

The Lucky

1. USC 19-14, #71 (RPI 67) Flat out don't deserve to be in the field.

2. VCU 23-11, #59 (RPI 53) Probably another mistake on the committee's part.

3. Marquette 20-14, #49 (RPI 64) Not really lucky, they earned it in a hard Big East.

4. Clemson 21-11, #48 (RPI 57) A bubble team for sure, but deserving of the tourney.

5. Florida State 21-10, #47 (RPI 55) A testament to the committee that these last three go 49-48-47.

On the whole, most bubble teams go what they deserved this year. Teams like Colorado(67) or Alabama(68) gripe, but they really shouldn't. Except for picking four too many teams (68 is not a power of 2?) the selection team did a good job this year.

*Why no MoV? Because this is about which teams have been the most deserving, not which ones will do the best. Winning by 50 or 1 shouldn't make a difference there, just like in BCS rankings. No MoV also proves superior to RPI because SOS plays a more significant role (with conferences, opponent's records are about the same for all teams, making RPI SOS not so good). The committee apparently recognizes it, putting teams like Marquette in ahead of Harvard (as they should). Unfortunately, Cleveland State gets the brunt of this error, while USC gets an undeserved benefit of the doubt.