VCU Stuns Kansas

Kansas seemed poised to make it back to the Final 4 for the first time since winning the 2008 national championship, crashing the Elite 8 by dominating inferior teams and relying heavily on the offense of Marcus and Markieff Morris. Many people thought KU would walk over 11th seeded Virginia Commonwealth, and later 8th seeded Butler, to another appearance in the national title game.

Unfortunately, the Jayhawks ran into the hottest team in the country, and turned in its worse offensive performance of the season. KU fell to the rams, 71-61, and only has itself to blame. VCU played well, but KU's offensive performance was shocking. The Jayhawks shot 2 for 21 from three point range and 15 of 28 from the free throw line. Unbelievable.

There are two ways to look at this loss - on the positive side, KU was not expected to be much of a factor this season, and the Jayhawks still managed to win its seventh straight Big 12 title and make it to the Elite 8. However, KU may be losing the Morris twins to the NBA, and rumors of Josh Selby jumping to the NBA have lingered all year. If KU returns the twins, it will likely enter the polls next season ranked in the top five yet again and get another title shot in March. Should the twins jump to the NBA, KU will really struggle next year, and will likely be in a full rebuilding mode.

Colorado Snubbed from NCAA Tournament

Despite expanding the field to 68 teams and having less tournament-worthy "mid-majors," the NCAA selection committee just committed the biggest NCAA tournament snub in the history of the college basketball. While there are several other teams with arguments as to why they should be in the field, the Colorado Buffaloes have received the worst NCAA snub of all time .

You may not get into all of the math and statistics of college basketball like many college basketball followers, but even the casual fan can see at first glance that Colorado got hosed. The Buffs finished 21-13 overall and 8-8 in the Big 12. Not bad, especially in a tough league that featured five other tournament teams. Colorado beat several teams that not only made the tournament, but are a high seed as well. The Buffs beat Kansas State three times, while knocking off Texas as well. Missouri, who finished with the same Big 12 record as Colorado and had a terrible finish to its season, made the field as an 11 seed. Colorado beat the Tigers as well.

The real crime here is not so much Colorado being left out while less deserving teams such as UAB and VCU get in, it is that fans are going to be robbed of seeing some good basketball. You really think UAB, VCU, or USC can make a deep run in the tournament? The answer is no. If UAB or VCU makes it out of the first round it will then be destroyed in the round of 32. Thats why Colorado's snub is worse than the traditional bubble teams that don't get in - Colorado had a chance to go deep. We aren't comparing two mid-major schools that will both get hammered early. Colorado routinely beat good teams, and also gave league powerhouse Kansas two scares. This isn't your routine bubble punching bag, this is dangerous team from a BCS conference.

A big factor in the selection committee's criteria is the "eye test," or how a team looks simply based on watching their games. How does Colorado not get in based on this alone? Did the committee watch any of the recent games? Doesn't Colorado's third win of the season over KState or the Buffs' single digit loss to Kansas look better than UAB's loss to East Carolina in the Conference USA quarterfinals?

I realize Colorado had a weak non-conference schedule and has dropped some bad games this season. However, it is time for the NCAA tournament to select bubble teams that can do some damage, not serve as a punching bag for the top teams. UAB and VCU have no chance to go deep in this year's field, Colorado did. That is why this isn't your ordinary tournament snub, and hopefully the outrage over this injustice will lead to some changes in regards to how bubble teams are selected to the NCAA tournament.