THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The big 'reveal' — NCAA not following its own rules

I truly hope I’m wrong.

On two counts involving the business end of the college hoop season — I’d love to be mistaken.

But …

Well, let’s see how it plays out.

The subject is front and center today, for two reasons.

First, the NCAA is trying to milk all the publicity possible for its upcoming March Madness mardi gras, so there was a semi-legitimate “reveal” TV show over the weekend, in which the top four seeds for each region were provisionally announced with all appropriate fanfare.

Second, Gonzaga had an enjoyable time in Southern California, exacting brutal revenge on Loyola Marymount — the team that snapped the Zags’ 75-game home winning streak – with a 108-65 beatdown.

Then, the Zags cruised to Malibu and beat talented but woefully uncoached Pepperdine 97-88 in a game that looked like something from an afternoon at the local YMCA.

So, good news …

Gonzaga will welcome the College GameDay crew to Spokane this Saturday for a rematch with Saint Mary’s and — assuming no stumbles on Thursday in The Kennel against San Diego – this becomes a chance to finish the WCC regular season in a tie with the Gaels (and the Zags’ 11th straight win or share of the conference championship).

THAT’S ALL a lot of fun stuff, and no doubt it will lead to a raucous weekend at little ol’ Gonzaga.

OK …

We’ll return to the Zags and their immediate goals in a minute, but for now I’d like to focus on that NCAA tournament “reveal” for a closer look at what the committee is asking us to believe.

Rather than just reeling off the names of the teams and their temporary region assignments, I’d rather discuss some oddities about the whole thing.

In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if the tournament committee is simply lying to us.

Not just fibbing over this first “sneak peek” weekend, but ultimately lying about its choices and seedings for the tourney itself.

The suits who run this mega-event made a huge fuss of adopting the NET rankings (NCAA Evaluation Tool) prior to the 2018-19 season — junking the once-popular RPI as their go-to resource for sorting its 363 Division I basketball teams.

The NCAA itself called the NET “the primary sorting tool for evaluating programs.”

Then in 2020, the NET was streamlined, theoretically to make it more accurate.

Hang with me now, because I want to quote the NCAA’s word-for-word explanation of how teams would be judged and compared in the future – in the “new NET,” so to speak.

Here you go …

“The remaining factors include the Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home, as well as an adjusted net efficiency rating.

“The adjusted efficiency is a team’s net efficiency, adjusted for strength of opponent and location (home/away/neutral) across all games played.

“For example, a given efficiency value (net points per 100 possessions) against stronger opposition rates higher than the same efficiency against lesser opponents and having a certain efficiency on the road rates higher than the same efficiency at home.”

Yes, that all makes sense, except …

What about when the committee just decides to ignore its own NET rankings and goes strictly for drama, TV style?

I HAD the current NET rankings up on my laptop when the committee announced its first “reveal.”

The breathless television version and the actual NET rankings might as well have been in different languages, like Spanish and Mandarin.

For instance, defending champ Kansas was handed a No. 1 seed, despite being sixth in the NET — while UCLA (No.4 in the NET) was relegated to the second seed behind Kansas in the West.


If the committee believes in its own NET, why weren’t those two spots reversed?

Houston got the second overall seed behind Alabama (which was drilled 100-90 by Gonzaga in Birmingham), and that one’s a mystery.

Houston is cruising through the American Athletic Conference, but its two losses have both come at home – to Alabama (fair enough), but also to Temple (14-12, No. 120 in the NET).

Hint: Don’t wager on Houston to be having that “One Shining Moment.”

For our purposes closer to home, Gonzaga was handed the fourth seed in the West, which tallied with the Zags’ 14th spot in the NET.

However …

Saint Mary’s, which has never been lower than eighth overall in the NET this year, was left out of the top 16 seeds entirely.

Huh?

Saint Mary’s doesn’t exactly have a glittering schedule, with its non-conference foes ranked 58th, according to KenPom — as opposed to Gonzaga with its FIFTH-toughest schedule outside the WCC.

You can argue that Saint Mary’s perhaps shouldn’t have been ranked so high in the NET, but if the committee has had the Gaels there all year, so …

Did they fear Saint Mary’s wouldn’t excite a TV audience, or what?

Pure nonsense.

FINALLY for today, recall that I said at the beginning that I hoped to be wrong.

That’s especially true of Gonzaga, who I’m afraid belong in the NCAA’s second or third tier — almost entirely because of a shaky defense.

The Zags’ adjusted defensive efficiency is ranked No. 88 by KenPom, and no team anywhere NEAR that range has ever sniffed a national title.

Gonzaga is ranked No. 1 in offensive efficiency, but three of its five losses — Baylor, Loyola Marymount and Saint Mary’s — all came down to an inability to get stops in the final minute.

Even this past weekend, the Zags never really stopped Pepperdine (8-20), but managed to score at will and hang on to give the Waves another loss.

We’ll take a longer look at the Zags’ weird metrics (awesome on offense, struggling on defense) when we get closer to the NCAA tournament.

Oh, and by the way, Gonzaga’s two wins this weekend provided a bump up to No. 10 in the NET – which should translate to a No. 3 seed in the tournament.

That’s if you believe NCAA will play by its own rules.

Uhhhhh ...

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”