0I flipped on the TV to catch a little bit of the Middle Tennessee-Denver game this afternoon.
I didn't see much of it, but I knew what was coming about the time the guys calling the game started pondering the question: Could MTSU get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament?
The expert they cited -- I forget who it was -- said it was possible, but only if MTSU won out.
Take a wild guess what happened next.
Denver, which makes about as much sense in the Sun Belt as ketchup at your favorite steak joint, pulled off the upset.
You can pretty much bet the farm on the fact that the Sun Belt will have one NCAA tourney team now -- the team that wins the Sun Belt tournament. That doesn't make much difference for UNT, which isn't going anywhere without winning it all in Hot Springs.
It just seems like the Sun Belt's luck when it comes to these deals. It would have done the league a whole lot of good to have MTSU capitalize on its shot to win out and wrap up a bid heading into the conference tournament. The publicity alone would have been great.
The Sun Belt needs NCAA tournament shares and the fortune they bring. The more teams the league gets it, the more money in its pocket. The more games the hot team in the Sun Belt in any given year wins on its way to getting into the NCAA tournament, the better the chance that the team that does get in doesn't end up a No. 16 seed. That is just about a guarantee that the Sun Belt rep will get whacked.
There is little doubt that the league would be better off if it can avoid a scenario like last year when Arkansas-Little Rock stunned UNT in the finals. UALR's resume was so bad it ended up in one of the play-in (sorry, opening round games) and lost.
If MTSU wins this year, it probably has the resume to avoid the play-in games, but you never know.
The Blue Raiders' resume took a huge hit today.
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