It looked bad on paper. It was worse in person.
When the men’s NCAA tournament bracket came out and Midwest Region No. 9 seed Auburn was gifted with a chance to play here in Birmingham, that was an unfair disadvantage for No. 8 Iowa—and, more significant, potential second-round opponent and No. 1 seed Houston. How unfair? We found out Thursday night.
Tigers fans packed Legacy Arena, nearly blowing the roof off with noise several times as their team defeated Iowa, 83–75. It might as well have been Auburn Arena, which is just 140 miles away. This was a pure road game for the Hawkeyes.
“The hometown, they came in deep and heavy,” said Auburn player Allen Flanigan. “They showed out. They was loud and rowdy all game. Felt like a home game for us.”
And now Saturday will be a road game for the Cougars, a situation that should be avoided if at all possible in the second round to a No. 1 seed. The selection committee blew it with this geographic injustice.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said afterward, in a tone that suggests he’s not at all happy about it. “So, you know, Auburn is really good, but anybody that makes the NCAA tournament would like to be in their situation right now. But good for them. That’s a great break, but we got a lot more pressing matters to worry about than that.”
Indeed, the health of Sampson’s star guards, Marcus Sasser and Jamal Shead, is the greater concern as the fates conspire against what has been the most consistent team in the country this year. But there is a difference between bad injury luck and a bad draw from a committee that should be protecting its top seeds better than this.
Seeing a storm of criticism looming on the horizon, NCAA spokesperson David Worlock issued a preemptive explainer statement late Thursday night regarding Houston and Auburn.
“By principle, the Division I men’s basketball committee protects the top four seeds in each region against a homecourt disadvantage in the first round of the tournament. When assigning first- and second-round sites for all 16 lines, the committee assigns teams to their closest available site, and then uses principles tied to conference affiliation to ensure that rematches of regular-season games do not occur prior to when they are permitted. The committee does not adjust from its bracketing principles for the purpose of avoiding a potential homecourt disadvantage beyond the first round.”
Well, maybe it should. Extending geographic protection through the first weekend, at minimum, would seem like a sound strategy whenever possible.
This is a complicated process, and the NCAA does sweat the details. Having sat in several mock bracket exercises, piecing together a perfectly fair bracket is difficult—and when you start moving things around, it can become a Jenga game that ends in the whole thing crashing down.
In this particular instance, the NCAA was a bit boxed in by avoiding Southeastern Conference rematches before the regional final. It couldn’t have made Auburn the No. 9 seed in the South Region because Alabama is the No. 1 seed, which could have created a second-round matchup. It couldn’t have made Auburn the No. 9 in the West, because Arkansas is No. 8, and that would be a first-round matchup. And in the East, Tennessee’s presence as a No. 4 seed created the possibility of a Tigers-Volunteers game in the Sweet 16.
One possible solution that wouldn’t have seemed overly difficult: Flip Arkansas and Auburn. Make the Razorbacks the No. 9 seed in Birmingham, taking on Iowa, and make the Tigers the No. 8 seed in Des Moines, playing Illinois. On the overall 1–68 seed list, Arkansas came in at No. 30 and Auburn at No. 35—maybe a slightly wider discrepancy than you’d like for a seeding swap but not egregious. (Iowa was No. 32 and Illinois No. 36.) The Hogs and Tigers split games during the season, and Auburn finished with a better conference record (10–8 vs. 8–10), which makes them fairly interchangeable.
At the very least, flipping an 8/9 seeding to avoid sticking the overall No. 2 team in the tournament with a second-round road game would be the more fair decision.
Both Iowa and Houston have done the committee a favor by refraining from complaining—so far. “Obviously, if we had our choice, we would have preferred to be a little bit more neutral,” said Iowa senior Connor McCaffery. “But that’s not why we lost at all.”
Added his father, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery: “We want to be one of the teams that’s in it. And I think once that happens, you have to take the mindset of, We’ll play anybody, anytime, anywhere.”
(Houston athletic director Chris Pezman declined comment to Sports Illustrated on Friday.)
Auburn’s home court advantage Saturday probably will be diluted from what it was Thursday, since those fans are competing for single-session tickets with Alabama. It won’t be a sea of blue and orange this time.
The psychological test will be whether Auburn and Alabama fans team up and root for each other. That certainly doesn’t come naturally. Ultimately, though, the Crimson Tide faithful could be better served by the Tigers taking out one of their prime national championship competitors—especially one that could enjoy a huge home-court advantage of its own when the Final Four comes to Houston.
But getting there is the hard part. The NCAA selection committee gave the Cougars a brutal first-weekend assignment, something that should be strenuously avoided for a No. 1 seed.
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