Mock NCAA tournament selection reflects prospects of Temple, La Salle, Villanova

The NCAA tournament selection process is not a blind taste test. Teams up for consideration bring their baggage, pro and con, into the meeting room.

We know because of past performance, and the mock selection recently held by selected media gave more evidence. Media members from around the country gathered in Indianapolis and did their best to approximate what happens in the same room in March. It was a strong group of basketball writers who know their stuff, at least as well as the actual committee.

And they still showed their bias. And that is not especially good news for La Salle.

La Salle was in the chosen field, easily, with about six teams to spare. However, the Explorers were seeded behind Temple at the time. That makes sense now, after the Owls had their way with La Salle Thursday night at the Liacouras Center. But at the time of the selection, a week earlier, the vast majority of people in Philadelphia, media and fans, had La Salle on top of Temple, on merit.

This was pointed out in the room, I'm told. Somebody actually made the point that La Salle was the best in Philly. (This was a week earlier, not right now.) But the room wasn't buying it. Others no doubt saw Temple beat Syracuse and take Kansas to the wire. They hadn't watched Owls losses at home to Canisius, St. Bonaventure, and Duquesne. They factored those losses in - everything gets thrown into the data mix - but the Owls still passed the eye test. They still passed the experience test.

La Salle, meanwhile, hasn't been in the tournament in 20 years, and isn't on television much. The committee isn't looking at a team, just those pieces of data. That data got the Explorers in the mock field, after they beat Butler and Virginia Commonwealth in the same week. But the committee didn't know La Salle has been more consistent than Temple, and really had laid an egg only once, at home to Central Connecticut.

The Explorers are back in the danger zone now. After beating St. Joseph's last Saturday, the Explorers were a No. 10 seed in Joe Lunardi's bracket on ESPN.com, before the Temple game, and now a No. 11 seed, one seed ahead of the Owls. I consider Lunardi's bracket to be bias-free (really), but that doesn't make it a foolproof predictor. A loss Sunday at Rhode Island or to Duquesne or George Washington would really hurt La Salle. The Explorers may still have to win at St. Louis or win a game or two in the A-10 tournament to lock up a bid.

The Temple team that beat La Salle isn't just a tournament team, but maybe a top 25 team. We just hadn't seen that Owls team this season before the La Salle game. The offense hasn't been balanced, but rather dependent on Khalif Wyatt. The defense has often been atrocious. The team we saw Thursday is the team Fran Dunphy had hoped to present all season.

Even if that was just a cameo, it moved the Owls a significant step closer to locking up a bid, if they don't fall off a cliff the rest of the way.

The biggest local surprise: Villanova is right on the edge of getting a bid. (Lunardi has 'Nova among the first four out.) The Wildcats also have the advantage of more games against top 50 opponents. They have more losses in such games as a result, but the wins against Syracuse and Louisville, and on the road late at Connecticut, will not be ignored.

And none of this stuff happens in a vacuum. With 68 teams now in the tournament, more lower-quality teams make it than in the old days. All the last teams in have holes.

Committee members also have holes. They proved it last year, keeping Drexel out. NCAA experience is explicitly not part of the criteria. But it's interesting that Temple is still identified as Temple, not as Team X or Y or Z. Selectors can't turn off their brains.

One bottom line: Thursday was a bad night for La Salle to throw in a clunker, to show that without point guard Tyreek Duren on the floor the Explorers can come unglued.

All the local coaches are talking about how they're trying to avoid all this tournament talk, how they're shielding their players from it. But it's "human nature" for players to look at the bigger picture, Villanova coach Jay Wright said after his team came back to beat Rutgers after trailing by 10.

"Usually the way you learn, you lose a game like that," Wright added.

John Giannini mentioned Thursday that losing a game at Temple will never be held against a team. He's right about that. What he should worry about is whether some committee member tuned into the CBS Sports Network for the first half, to finally get a look at the Explorers.