11/11	Illinois-Springfield (EX)	W 81-57
11/15	at Wright State	W 69-61
11/21	vs Alabama State at Dallas	W 77-71
11/22	vs Houston Baptist at Dallas	W 107-70
11/23	at SMU	W 84-73
11/28	Nicholls State	W 75-65
11/29	Winston-Salem State	W 53-33
11/30	UC-Santa Barbara	W 87-59
12/6	Bowling Green	W 78-65
12/14	Morehead State	W 76-70
12/17	at Central Michigan	W 72-69
12/20	Illinois-Chicago	W 67-60
12/28	at Missouri State	W 72-69 OT
12/31	Evansville	W 80-50
1/3	Creighton	W 86-64
1/6	at Bradley	L 56-52
1/10	at Indiana State	L 75-70 OT
1/14	Drake	W 65-61
1/18	Missouri State	W 68-56
1/21	at Wichita State	L 64-58
1/24	Southern Illinois	W 70-63
1/28	at Northern Iowa	L 59-55
1/31	Bradley	W 69-65
2/4	at Southern Illinois	W 60-57 OT
2/8	Indiana State	L 75-73 OT
2/11	at Evansville	W 70-68
2/15	at Drake	W 67-45
2/18	Wichita State	W 74-59
2/21	@ Niagara BracketBusters	L 70-56
2/24	Northern Iowa	L 69-67 2OT
2/28	at Creighton	L 74-70
3/6	Evansville	W 78-68
3/7	Creighton	W 73-49
3/8	Northern Iowa	L 60-57 OT
3/18	NIT - @ Kansas State	L 83-79 OT

March 14 – I don’t know about you, but I have grown incredibly weary of hearing the experts tell me which teams are in the NCAA Field of 65 and which ones are not.  I am doing all I can to avoid hearing yet another sanctimonious recitation of the last four in and the first four out.  Or is it the first four in and the last four out? 

And the next time I hear the word bubble, my usual calm demeanor is going to burst.  Can’t any of you bracketologists think of a synonym for bubble?  I thought even those who majored in bracketology were required to take freshman English.   

            As soon as I use whatever force is necessary to take control of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament selection committee, I’m going to eliminate all of this inane conjecture.  I will dismiss each and every member of the committee and hire the person who can come up with a ranking methodology that simulates a double round robin conference schedule that includes every Division I team in America.  That person is going to create a ranking methodology that will tell us what Illinois State’s record be if the Redbirds played each of the other 346 schools at home and away?  How many of those 692 games would the Birds win?  This methodology that will create the final standings for this 347-team mythical conference will be the one that we will use to hand out the at-large berths for the tournament.

            No more will we hear the wizards reciting to us Pittsburgh’s signature wins, Creighton’s bad losses, Illinois’ record against the top 50 and Xavier’s strength of schedule rating.  All of that, plus much more, will be part of the methodology that reproduces a home-and-home conference schedule involving every team in the country, from North Carolina to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). 

There will be no more arguments over who made it to the Field of 65 and who did not.  The only relevant arguments will revolve around the creation of the methodology.  But that will all occur before next season begins.  After all have had their say, including the bracketologists, a method will be chosen and that will be that. 

I apologize to all of you geniuses who are receiving obscenely large paychecks for letting the rest of us helpless fanatics know well in advance of Selection Sunday who is going to play in the tournament and who is not.  But this is something that must be done.  And so it will be done.  It will be done soon.  My sanity depends on it.  In a result no less stunning than the aforementioned NJIT winning the NCAA Tournament, my sanity trumps Joe Lunardi’s paycheck.  For me, that moment will outshine all of the others.