NCAA Selection Committee Announces Sweet 16: 'It's The Teams That Won Last Weekend'

INDIANAPOLIS—The 10 members of the NCAA Selection Committee reconvened in Indianapolis late Sunday to select this year’s Sweet 16 participants, announcing they had chosen the teams that, at the end of last weekend, had won their first- and second-round games. “There were many deserving programs out there, but we decided to go with the teams that won,” said committee chairman Gene Smith, noting that because they had been victorious, Duke, UConn, Wisconsin, and the other thirteen selectees would continue playing in the NCAA Tournament, whereas the teams that lost would not. “We know there’s going to be some controversy about including Richmond and Butler, but you can’t deny that they won. And while we did consider some NIT participants and some other bubble teams, in the end we had to acknowledge that none of them had won any NCAA Tournament games this year.” Smith added that committee members would meet again after Friday’s games to pick who will play in the Elite Eight, saying they would probably weight their decisions in favor of teams that win in the Sweet 16.