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Shooting March Madness

Sammy SportfaceI've got a problem with the top four seeds for this week's March Madness men's college basketball tournament.

There is no way Prairie View A&M, North Dakota State, Pepperdine and Oberlin deserved these top seeds. I would have gone with Alabama A&M, Texas El Paso, Weber State and Tufts.

Those schools deserved it more. The only reason Tufts got a top seed is one of the members of the selection committee has a mother who teaches biomechanical engineering at that school. Jingoism is everywhere.

There are several other teams that got snubbed. They didn't get an invite to the Big Slow Dance. They included Buffalo University, Gettysburg, Marist, Amherst, St. Bonaventure, Shepard College, Frostburg State, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of Hawaii, Ball State, Wyoming State and Belmont Abbey.

Each of these teams deserved to make the tournament based on their regular season records, strength of non-conference schedules and RPI rankings.

Come on. Wyoming State beat Wyoming twice including at Wyoming, which is a hostile environment. University of California at Santa Cruz beat San Jose State, University of California at Sacramento, The Sorbonne, University of California at Monterrey, University of California at Menlo Park, University of California at Reno, University of Reno, University of Jacksonville, Rollins College and Brigham Young at their place.

The Wyoming State Water Buffalos also meet the eye test; when you watch them play, which no one has, they look like one of the best 68 teams in the country.

Because of all of the mistakes the selection committee has made, this whole tournament should be protested in the parking lot of the NCAA headquarters in Kansas. It's illegitimate.

Even the first round match-ups don't make sense and are unfair to several teams. There is no way University of California at Menlo Park should have to play Michigan State in the first round. They got jobbed. It's unfair that Oregon has to play University of Reno in the first round because Reno has three six foot 10 guys and a shooting guard named Renaldo Reno who can hit threes.

The Midwest Region is where the committee really screwed things up. Why does Duke get to play Coppin State in the first round and them Hamilton College in the second round? The committee always gives special favors to Duke because they drive up TV ratings, which means more money for each committee member.

This same region has Havana College of Cuba, which doesn't even play in the NCAA, playing against the Wharton School of Business where Donald Trump got good grades. MBA schools should not be allowed in this tournament, and schools from Cuba excel at baseball.

My money for this tournament is on Oral Roberts University over Jesuit College, Liberty College over the Citadel, the Wharton School of Business over the Duke Fuqua School of Business, Trinity College of Texas over Richmond and Cornell over Canisius in a buzzer-beater.

The Final Four will be the University of Phoenix Online University against Prairie View A&M. In the other game will be John Carroll College versus Robert Morris.

The online university will trounce Lehigh in the final.

- Sammy Sportface

Sammy Sportface is possibly America's best blogger. He is only mildly interested in the truth. To read his new book, Wipe That Smile Off Sammy Sportface, go to Amazon.com.

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