University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, March 18. 1992
11
Coach urges tourney for all teams
The Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Coach Mack McCarthy says he knows an easy way to decide which college basketball teams should be in the NCAA tournament: Let them all in.
McCarthy, whose Tennessee-Chattanooga basketball team was shunned by both the NCAA and the National Invitation Tournament despite its overall record of 23-7, realizes such would not be a new solution.
But he insists admitting all teams would be more equitable than the current system of automatic berths and at-large bids determined by computer rankings.
"Just let everybody in and play one extra weekend," McCarthy said.
"That's all it would take, one extra weekend. I wouldn't care if I'm the 117th seed out of 300. That means I'm going to play somebody worse than me in the first round. That's be OK."
UTC was absent Sunday night when the NCAA announced its 64 team tournament field and again when the NIT selected its 32 teams. That left the Moccasins with the best record of any team not in post-season play.
"Obviously, I'm prejudiced, but I think we can beat a lot of people in both those fields," said McCarthy, whose team posted its best record in seven years. I mean, I think we are a better basketball team than a lot of teams that are still playing."
UTC was 12-2 in the Southern Conference and shared the regular season
title with East Tennessee State. It then won two more games in the league tournament before losing in the final.
NIT executive director Jack Powers on Monday said the NIT relied heavily on the Ratings Percentage Index, a computer system also used to help select and seed NCAA tournament teams.
In both that system and Jeff Sagarin's college basketball rating index in USA Today, UTC ranked 117th.
McCarthy called the computer ranking systems flawed by arbitrary starting points that include past season records but omit such factors as recruiting. The systems also attach unfair weight to late-season games, he said.
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Where: The posters will be available at KU Bookstores in the Kansas and Burge Unions and at the Kansan business office.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The University Daily Kansan would like to give the best fans in the nation the opportunity to support our Minneapolis-bound basketball team with the newest addition to the 1991-92 Jayhawk Basketball Poster Series. Complete your collection with our post-season posters!
MARCH MADNESS!