Coaches: New quadrant system hurts mid-majors' tourney chances

ByJEFF GOODMAN
March 11, 2018, 8:19 PM

Middle Tennessee?coach Kermit Davis and? Saint Mary's?coach Randy Bennett, whose mid-major teams were snubbed on Sunday, told ESPN that the new quadrant system makes it more difficult for mid-majors to make the NCAA tournament.

"The committee sent a message to me that it's going to get tougher for everybody at our level to get an at-large with this new system," Davis said. "You've got to be perfect. We only have a few chances, and they are usually either on the road or on a neutral court, where the Power 5 schools have six to eight opportunities at home in front of their crowd."

"Look at the season that Saint Mary's had," he added. "They were in the top 20 a week ago. I think people would rather watch both of us in Dayton than two Power 5 teams that finished seventh or eighth in their leagues."

"One hundred percent," Bennett said about the quadrant system hurting mid-majors. "Explain to me how the quadrant system is scores? There's the problem. I don't know why they do anything. I will tell you that they won't tell you how they keep score."

USC?coach Andy Enfield was baffled after hearing the Trojans were left out of the equation. USC finished second in the Pac-12 in the regular-season and lost in the league tournament championship to Arizona.

"We had an RPI of 23 and a strength of schedule of 37," he told ESPN. "It says we played a tough schedule and won a lot of games. We also won 11 games away from home -- six on the road. They were supposed to value that."

Oklahoma State?coach Mike Boynton, whose team didn't make the 68-team field despite beating Kansas?twice and West Virginia?in Morgantown, wouldn't comment on whether he thought the committee penalized three teams involved in the FBI probe by keeping them out of the tournament: Oklahoma State, USC and Louisville.

"I don't know anything about that," Boynton said. "But I'm disappointed for my kids. I think they proved in Big 12 play that they could compete and beat anyone. The fact that we weren't even in the first four out was surprising."

"It meant that we had to beat Kansas for a third time just to get in the conversation," he added.

Asked whether he believed the FBI probe had anything to do with his team's omission from the bracket, Enfield told ESPN, "I certainly hope not because none of our players were involved."

Baylor?coach Scott Drew, whose Bears were also kept out of the NCAA tournament, said that his team lost to only one non-NCAA tournament team all season, and finished sixth in the Big 12 -- considered by many as the best league in the country.

But Drew's suggestion was to expand the field to 96 teams.

"Almost 50 percent of the teams go to a bowl game in football," Drew said. "We always talk about the kids. If you increase the number of teams, it allows more kids to experience the tournament. Add one more game for everyone, and now you've got to win seven. If you're truly about the kids, that's a reason to do it."