Chris Mangan

The SDSU women’s basketball team is going into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed. I have one question – how?

The Jacks are currently ranked in the top 20 in both polls, and they are 31-2 on the season with one of the losses coming to Maryland, ranked No.1 in the Raleigh Region and 4-1 against teams in the tournament. Not only are they a seven seed, they play Texas Christian University in Texas. Does that make sense to anyone?

Look, I’m not trying to say that I’m not happy the Jacks are in the tournament because I most certainly am, but they deserved the recognition they earned.

I’m not the only one that thinks this. ESPN.com’s Graham Hays thought the Jacks deserved a higher seed.

Hays wrote in a story that was posted after the selection show, “… Two sleepers stand out, one is South Dakota State. But it’s not because the Jackrabbits are a neat story that they deserved a better seed than the No. 7 they were allotted; it’s because there aren’t 24 better teams in the country.”

If an expert that follows women’s basketball thinks the Jacks deserved better than a No. 7 seed, what did the selection committee see differently?

It is their first time in the tournament, and they do play in a pretty bad conference outside of Oakland, but they had a incredibly tough out-of-conference schedule, playing teams from the Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10 and ACC.

“I thought SDSU deserved a No. 5 seed, might get a No. 6 seed but was probably headed for No. 7,” Hays said in an online chat after the Selection Show. “They played as good a nonconference schedule as they could, but I guess the lack of strength in the Summit ended up costing them. That’s all I can figure. It’s a tough draw playing potentially two Texas schools in Texas, but it’s not impossible.”

I don’t think it’s fair to punish the Jacks because of the conference they play in. The Memphis men’s team plays in a weak conference, but they continue to get a high seed. I’m not trying to say the Jacks deserve the same treatment as Memphis; Memphis has done it for several years, while the Jacks are doing it for the first time.

I think the selection committee pretty much hosed the Jacks because they are an unknown. If this was a team that had a past of having a stellar record every year, made the tournament several years in a row and made deeps run in the tournament, there is no doubt in my mind they would have a higher seed.

Punishing Mid-Majors because the conference they play in is a complete joke. They still went out and beat the teams put in front of them, and if they are ranked nationally, they deserved the recognition by the selection committee.