Arizona's Bid Payback for Mountain West Embarrassing Big Boys

The Mountain West is as major conference that nobody wants to admit is a major conference. The Mountain West thoroughly embarrassed the Pac-10 in football during the regular season and Utah proved that it was the best team on the field after walloping Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. To make matters worse, the trouble-making conference wants to propose a college football playoff.

The NCAA wasn't about to take that lying down.

The NCAA used Selection Sunday to show the Mountain West just exactly where the conference stands in the pecking order of college athletics. The selection committee swung Arizona's bid like the paddle of an Omega House pledge trainer leaving the Mountain West to ask "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"

Selection Sunday had a host of undeserving bids (looking at you Maryland), but Arizona's bid was a direct shot at the Mountain West conference. Because honestly, the moment USC won the Pac-10 tournament, Arizona's bid should have been revoked. The selection committee claims it doesn't look at conferences, but cut the noise, they look at conferences. Six teams from the Pac-10 in a down year? Come on.

I hope that the selection committee was making a statement, because I would hate for them to be that incompetent.

There is absolutely no justification for Arizona's bid other than name recognition and the streak. The Wildcats didn't win 20 games, lost in their first game of the conference tournament, finished below .500 in the conference (9-10 including the tournament) and lost five of their last six games. So much for "how you finish."

San Diego State is the team getting the most play as an NCAA snub, but here's a secret about the Aztecs. State plays a good schedule, but doesn't beat any of those power teams. The Aztecs played Arizona State, Arizona and St. Mary's losing to all three. So there is a justification there. I don't necessarily agree, but I get it.

But UNLV is the team that needs an explanation right now. The Rebels beat Louisville on New Year's Eve without Wink Adams, matching Arizona's quality wins over Gonzaga (at home) and Kansas. UNLV also stumbled down the stretch and lost in its first game of the conference touranment. But the Rebels did finish on the plus side in conference and reached the 20-win mark (21-10).

Oh, and one rather important point here -- UNLV beat Arizona. Rut oh, Shaggy.

And really, this is UNLV. A storied college basketball program. This isn't Cal State Northridge. The Rebels and Wildcats had similar RPIs. The main difference in tournament resumes is conference affiliation. If UNLV and San Diego State were Pac-10 teams, both would be in the tournament right now. There is no doubt in my mind.

As further proof that the tournament selection committee knew what it was doing, Utah will play Arizona in the first round. So once again, the Mountain West is going to have to just go out and prove itself on the court/field. And if recent history is any indication, the Utes probably will. (Because they won't go out like BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl.)