NCAA Committee Chair, Wally Szczerbiak Discuss OSU’s Tournament Resume

NCAA tournament selection committee chair Bruce Rasmussen has been all over the place this week making various media appearances in an effort to show transparency about the committee’s selection criteria.

Rasmussen spoke earlier on Friday with Andy Katz about several bubble teams, and in an evening appearance on CBS Sports Network, Wally Szczerbiak grilled him about Oklahoma State. Why wouldn’t the Cowboys be in the field come Sunday?

Rasmussen opened up in detail about OSU’s biggest criticism — its lacking non-con schedule — and offered up a nugget of hope.

“I will tell you that non conference strength of schedule is something the committee looks at, but we don’t look at the number. Because the number is deceptive. We will look at a team and see what they did with their non-conference schedule … did they schedule some teams to give the committee a picture of how good we think they can be? Not just within their conference but in other conferences?”

Shoutout to @wallyball. Stumping hard for #okstate, and he’s right: 5 wins vs. Quad 1 opponents, zero bad losses. Hard to see why the Cowboys should be left out of the field come Selection Sunday. pic.twitter.com/SH3TT3KOja

— Kyle Boone (@PFBoone) March 9, 2018

That’s good news for Oklahoma State because of its lackluster non-conference slate, and based off his comments on air, I tend to think Middle Tennessee State’s chances are all but sunk. Which means that an at-large bid could be up for the taking between Louisville, Arizona State, OSU, and other teams sitting on the bubble.

But here’s the crux of it: OSU needs to root against madness in March. If teams like Nevada or Rhode Island slip up in their conference tournaments — teams that will clinch the auto-bid to the NCAAs should they win — then suddenly those teams fall into the at-large conversation. And based off their resumes, they would almost certainly be in over the Cowboys.

There is a lot that needs to fall OSU’s way over the next day, but the bottom line is root for chalk in one- and two-bid leagues so that the at-large conversation remains open for OSU’s taking.