NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Chair Mark Hollis refuted comments made last week by Cincinnati basketball coach Mick Cronin and said ticket sales "are not discussed in the room by any means" when the basketball tournament selection committee makes their choices. Hollis said yesterday on CBS, "In talking with the staff, I think 90% or more of the tickets are already sold, so it's a non-factor. There are so many things we're looking at in the room. I assure you, ticket sales are not one of them.” Cronin last week said ticket sales, and not wins and losses, determined tournament seeding because the NCAA was "financially driven" (“Cincinnati-UConn,” CBS, 3/5). ESPN.com's Andy Katz noted NCAA Senior VP/Basketball Championships Dan Gavitt on Friday also "rebutted Cronin's claim." Gavitt said, "Mick's assertion that this was a fact is not true. When it happened in the past, it was for separating conference opponents, not ticket sales." Gavitt also noted that the "majority of ticket sales are made before the announcement of the field." The remaining tickets "largely go to the host schools" (ESPN.com, 3/3).
NUMBERS NEVER LIE: ESPN’s Jay Bilas said there is "no conspiracy" regarding seeds and ticket sales, but the selection committee has "all these bracketing principles that say they can move a team up or down a seed line so they don't play a team from their same conference until the Elite 8." Bilas: "What they need to do is seed this 1-68, bracket it and play the tournament. Quit moving teams in the seed line. They can move the pods wherever they want to, that doesn't matter. What matters is everybody works really hard to get the seed they earn. Moving it up or down for any reason is not right" ("College GameDay," ESPN, 3/4).
