Providence basketball coach Kim English was saddened that the Friars were overlooked by the NCAA.
Providence College’s men’s basketball team finished their resumes on Friday night.As the ball continued to bounce around the collegiate basketball globe, the NCAA Tournament selection committee had to rearrange the stack, and the Big East league did not do well.l
The Friars will not be dancing in March.
“We could talk about deservedness all you want,” head coach Kim English stated after the selection show. “Some teams who did get in and their lack of quality wins; those that did get in but lost many Quad 3 and Quad 4 games. However, it is not about what you deserve in life. It’s all about your earnings. At the end of the day, we did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.”
English stated that Providence will explore accepting a bid to the NIT. The field was set to be unveiled later Sunday night.
Providence’s NCAA fate was announced Sunday evening. The squad watched the selection show behind closed doors in their locker room in the Ruane Friar Development Center on campus. The Friars had hope. They finished 21-13 overall, with six Quad 1 wins and no defeats to Quad 3 or Quad 4 teams. Two victories in the Big East Tournament aided the cause, but nothing that followed Friday’s loss to Marquette did.
North Carolina State was a surprise champion in the ACC. Duquesne emerged from an Atlantic 10 upset party. Temple beat presumptive American Athletic Conference champ Florida Atlantic in the semifinals, making that a two-bid league. Oregon claimed the Pac-12 title. New Mexico was the Mountain West champ and would have been firmly on the bubble without the title.
Those five dramatically changed the landscape for teams on the tournament bubble, including the Friars.
“It was a disappointing night, but again, it’s what you earn,” English said of the weekend’s upsets. “If you don’t take care of the games you’re expected to take care of — Kansas State, St. John’s, Butler — you put yourself in a position where your fate is in the hands of someone else. This is not where you want to be. It is not where we intend to be as a program.”
Virginia, Colorado State, Colorado, and Boise State were chosen as at-large delegates for the First Four. When pitted against those teams, Providence and leaguemates St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Villanova all appeared to have a strong case. Only Seton Hall was named among the final four.
The Big East ultimately claimed just three bids, a stunning number for a league that ranked second nationally in KenPom ratings. Connecticut is the No. 1 overall seed. Marquette earned a No. 2 seed and Creighton a No. 3.
“I think it’s a very disappointing day for the Big East, absolutely,” said English. “Number one overall seed, a two seed, a three seed, no other seeds. Seton Hall has a plethora of Quad 1 victories. St. John’s had a strong showing in the NET, while the United States won six Quad 1s. It’s very unfortunate that a league of this caliber only has three teams.
The change of the selection committee’s metrics appears to have harmed the Big East and its hard-fought competition.
“I think the analytics are [expletive],” English said. “I think you could schedule bad teams in your non-league and beat the snot out of them, beat them by 50 or 60. Coaching for so long has been a gentleman’s agreement — you have a large lead at the end of the game, for health reasons, you take guys out. To get some other guys the opportunity to play, you take guys out. But right now might be a change in college basketball. Scheduling to beat teams by 40 and 50 might be a thing to do.
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