Committee Chair Charles McClelland's Reasoning For Leaving Out Seton Hall Is So Insane That I Am Asking To Open An Investigation Into His Bias Against The Big East
When I first saw this quote I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was from a fake account. Just a mad Seton Hall fan writing up fan fiction...but nope. These were words from McClelland's mouth:
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I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with Seton Hall. I wouldn't even say they're the most egregious omission in the bracket, but one of his reasons for leaving them out is something that's never been used before: an injury.
Seton Hall beat UConn, the #1 overall seed in the tournament (who also got screwed in their region), in a game where Donavon Clingan only played 14 minutes thanks to an injury early in the 2nd half. Seton Hall was leading UConn by 5 at half and by 4 at the time of the injury....they ended up winning by 15. The loss of Clingan somehow devalued this win so much that Charles mentioned it as a reason that Seton Hall didn't make it. This would make sense....if UConn was truly awful without Clingan. However, they didn't lose a game when he was out. According to Torvik ratings, during the games Clingan was out, UConn ranked 12th in the country. Openly discussing that you devalued a win because of an injury (that happened in 2nd half of the game!) is CRAZY TOWN! Such a slippery slope! Are we now going to dissect every win by every team on the bubble to make sure an impact player wasn't missing?!? Also, is the opposite true? Kadary Richmond was hurt for a tough span of losses for Seton Hall! Those losses shouldn't count then!
Now onto the devaluing of St. John's Q1 wins. He isn't wrong, they did go 4-10 in Q1 games however his reason for Michigan State making it? Their Q1 wins. Guess how many Q1 wins Michigan State has? THREE! They were 3-9!!!!! Speaking of Q1 records….Providence was….6-9! They also didn't have any awful losses (12-0 in Q3-4 games).
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The lack of spine from the Big East leadership has also been disappointing to me. Where is Val Ackerman? I know nothing can be changed, but a statement would be nice. Rip into the committee. What are you scared of? The conference ranks SECOND in conference rankings on KenPom and only got 3 teams in. And what does Val Ackerman do as the commissioner of the league? Sit there and SMILE.
P.s. Barry Collier….AD at Butler. You sat there and let this happen?!?! You let this nonsense be spewed about your conference and bent over for the…..MOUNTAIN WEST? AND UVA? You should ALSO be ashamed.