Drexel Denied, Kansas State KO-ed

Drexel and Kansas State will not be dancing; Both snubbed by NCAA committee

Every year there are a handful of teams that can make a case they should be dancing. This year those teams were Florida State, Syracuse, West Virginia, Kansas State, Air Force and Drexel.

However, there are only two of those six that have legitimate cases, the Drexel Dragons and Kansas State Wildcats. Both should have been considered over the likes of the Purdue Boilermakers and Stanford Cardinals.

Drexel is considered by most experts as the team most deserving that did not get a bid. Their resume includes nonconference wins at Syracuse, Villanova, and Creighton as well as 14 road/neutral victories. It is clear that the committee was simply not impressed with their fourth place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They finished behind conference champion Virginia Commonwealth (VCU), Old Dominion, and Hofstra. Hofstra was also left out of the tournament, but did not have as impressive out-of-conference record as Drexel. Finishing at 23-8, Drexel could have been the Cinderella from the CAA like George Mason was last year, but instead the committee rewarded an average Purdue squad in an average Big Ten, and a Stanford team that did not eclipse the 20 win barrier.

In a much tougher conference than the Big Ten and Pac-10, the Kansas State Wildcats found themselves finishing fourth in a top heavy Big 12, as well as going 22-11 and 10-6 in conference play. Kansas State has a bigger argument since the fifth seed in the Big 12, Texas Tech punched their ticket to the dance despite getting destroyed by the Wildcats in the Big 12 quarterfinals 66-45. The Wildcats became the first major conference team in this era to end with 20-plus wins, 10-plus conference wins, and a fourth-place or better finish in league play and still miss the NCAA tournamnet (ESPN.com). They only lost to the overall number one seed in the tournament, Kansas 67-61 in the Big 12 semifinals. It is clear that Kansas State has a right be thoroughly disappointed by being left out over the Boilermakers and Cardinals.

Examining Purdue and Stanford's resumes, there is little that jumps off the page. Purdue finished 21-11 and tied for fourth at 9-7 in a conference that was really the "big two" in Ohio State and Wisconsin. If Purdue's dominating win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament was that impressive to the committee then the committee failed to look at Iowa as a whole. The Hawkeyes had a terrible nonconference record and were simply too inconsistent (lost to Penn State February 28th) to be considered an impressive win for the Boilermakers. They did hang around against Ohio State, but that doesn't warrant a tourney bid.

Finally, taking a look at the Cardinals can be summed up in that they and Miami (OH) are the only teams in the NCAA tournament that have less than 20 wins at 18. Miami (OH) won their way into the tourney on a miraculous three-point bank shot by back-up guard Doug Penno. Penno's three sent waves through Ohio and gave them an automatic berth by defeating Akron in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) title game, 53-52. Stanford on the other hand got bounced in overtime by USC in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament. They also finished sixth in the conference, lost four of their last five games, and did not have a single valuable nonconference win. They were even crushed by Air Force 79-45 on November 15th. The Cardinals did not fly high this year and deserved to be sent to the NIT.

It is understandable that it is impossible to get every team right in the field of 65, but these two blunders are extremely confusing. Purdue getting a nine seed, while Kansas State sits at home is impossible to comprehend. Stanford even being considered a bubble team after their lost to USC, while Drexel won 14 road/neutral games that would help them immensely in the tournament is just as mind-boggling.

My thoughts go to the players of both Drexel and Kansas State who played valiantly throughout the season. There is no reason they should be NIT bound, while Purdue and Stanford celebrate their tourney bids.