As life in ‘bubble’ nears, Barnhart seeks best NCAA tourney possible
Mitch Barnhart will enter a “bubble” in Indianapolis on March 8. He will not leave this “bubble” until April 6.
“My family will not be with me,” he said.
Welcome to the world of the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball Committee (aka the selection committee for the NCAA Tournament) during the coronavirus pandemic.
The committee, which Barnhart serves as chairman this year, will decide selection and seeding of the 68-team field. During its meetings, the 10-person committee will wear masks and keep 6 feet apart. “The whole deal,” he said. “We practiced that in Indianapolis two weeks ago when we did the reveal.” That was the look at a preliminary bracket as of mid-February that is subject to change come Selection Sunday (March 14).
The committee members will stay in Indianapolis until the NCAA Tournament ends.
Because he’s Kentucky’s director of athletics, Barnhart is required to leave the meeting room whenever the UK team is discussed. This period of exile can last as long as, say, 20 minutes.
“The first couple times, I was trying to guess what was going on,” said Barnhart, who is completing his five-year term on the committee. “After a couple times of having done it, you sort of say, you know what, they’re working their way through a good conversation. Just let it go. Let it be.”
Barnhart can participate when other Southeastern Conference teams are being discussed. He described his input in such discussions as of “a very objective factual note.” Who won. Where the game was played. Statistics.
When asked what feedback he’s received from the Big Blue Nation this year, Barnhart said, “Everybody has this notion that I walk into the room with my Kentucky A.D. hat on. That’s not the case.”
So, no surprise that Barnhart declined an invitation to assess the Kentucky team’s chances of making the field.
There is no requirement that a team needs a .500 record or better to receive an at-large bid, the NCAA said.
The record in the final 10 games of a season used to be a factor in deciding if a team is bid-worthy. Unfortunately for UK, which took a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s game against Florida, that has not been the case for about a decade, the NCAA said. A team’s “full body of work” is considered, Barnhart said.
Team assessments can be made via the eye test or by statistics.
“Each committee member comes to the evaluation process through their own prism … ,” Barnhart said. He likened this variety to coaching. Some coaches want their teams to play fast. Others base success on a slower pace. Some prefer man-to-man defense. Others like to use a zone.
Barnhart acknowledged how second-guessing and criticism go hand in hand with selection and seeding.
“Lots to do,” he said. “But I feel an incredible effort has been given to put the best tournament on that we can put on.”
Assist to Pomeroy
The West Coast Conference is collaborating with college basketball statistician extraordinaire Ken Pomeroy to seed teams for its men’s and women’s tournaments.
In non-pandemic seasons, the WCC has a 16-game unbalanced league schedule for men and an 18-game double round-robin schedule for women. Seeding is based on winning percentage of conference games.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, not all WCC teams could complete their conference schedules.
Pomeroy is using what’s called a proprietary algorithm that moves beyond winning percentage. It accounts for the strength of the opponent and the location of the game (home or away).
Pomeroy’s offensive and defensive efficiency metric is not part of the algorithm.
Anthem update
Players on East Tennessee State University’s men’s basketball team have knelt during the playing on the national anthem before three games this season. This has sparked support and condemnation. Of course, there were similarly mixed emotions when Kentucky players knelt during the anthem at Florida on Jan. 9.
Much as UK Coach John Calipari did, ETSU Coach Jason Shay said that his players kneeling was not intending to disrespect military veterans. The kneeling was meant to call attention to centuries of race-based injustice in the United States.
Shay was quoted in the Johnson City (Tenn.) Press as saying of military veterans, “no one knows the sacrifice, the fear, the pain, the anxiety, the loss that they’ve experienced fighting for our country’s freedom and rights.
“But many of us don’t know the same sacrifice, fear, pain and loss that people of color have had to endure over 400 years.”
Several Tennessee state representatives condemned the ETSU players for kneeling. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and the state’s two senators called for universities in the state to adopt policies that would ban protests during the national anthem.
In an email to The Washington Post, David L. Hudson Jr., an assistant law professor at Belmont University, wrote, “This is embarrassing. The First Amendment protects the right to peaceful protest. The lawmakers’ action is an affront to this fundamental First Amendment freedom.”
Paul Hewitt, the executive director of Black Coaches United, suggested recruits consider such a ban in making their college choice.
“If the state of Tennessee wants to take away the most basic of American rights, which is the right to peacefully protest, then while we don’t want to tell kids where to go to school, it has to factor into your decision,” he said, according to Yahoo Sports.
Instead of condemning those who kneel during the anthem, Tennessee House Democratic Caucus Chair Vincent Dixie suggested the focus be put on racism.
“What can we do to make people not want to kneel?” he told the newspaper in Nashville, The Tennessean. “What can we do to take that out of the equation? What is causing them to kneel in a peaceful protest?”
‘Grasping at straws’
Alabama’s basketball success this season prompted a question about it happening at a “football school.”
To which sophomore guard Jahvon Quinerly said, “It’s been really fun. You know, we’ve been getting a lot more recognition this year. … Hopefully, we’ll be able to go out there and compete for a national championship like the football team did. So hopefully we’ll be able to get on their level pretty soon.”
Alabama Coach Nate Oats said rival recruiters try to use the football program’s success against Tide basketball.
“To me, it’s kind of absurd and ridiculous,” said Oats, who added that the success of Nick Saban’s football teams reflects a healthy athletics department.
Oats held up Ohio State as an example of high-level success in basketball as well as football. When Billy Donovan was coach, Florida also enjoyed high-level success in both sports, he added.
“Whoever wants to use it as a negative, I think they’re grasping at straws trying to come up with something.”
Mask on
North Carolina Coach Roy Williams, 70, has received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine. Because of the pandemic, he had not been with his grandchildren as much as he’d like.
“I’ve seen my grandchildren a couple times,” he said on a recent ACC teleconference. “We went, like, 12 weeks without seeing them at all.”
Williams added that he and his wife, Wanda, usually go no more than a week or two without seeing their grandchildren.
“The toughest thing is I keep my mask on when I’m rolling on the floor, playing with them … ,” he said. “Because it’s so scary.”
Mask off
North Carolina had a brush with COVID-19 this month when some players were seen not wearing masks at a social gathering.
Roy Williams said he disciplined the players. He also asked that the incident be put in perspective.
“I was upset about it,” he said. “I’m still upset about it. But let’s not make it out like we charged the Capitol building or anything like that.”
Happy birthdays
To Patrick Whitmer, the public address announcer at Kentucky home games. He turned 51 on Thursday.
And to his wife, Michelle Whitmer, a teacher in the Owensboro school system. Her birthday was Tuesday.
Of the birthdays two days apart, Whitmer said, “We kind of compromise and do something on the 24th.”
Happy birthday
To Joey Holland. He turned 66 on Thursday. … To former Florida “big” Joakim Noah. He turned 36 on Thursday. … To former CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer. He turned 81 on Thursday. … To Chuck Aleksinas. He turned 62 on Friday. … To Tayshaun Prince. He turns 41 on Sunday (today). … To Marquis Teague. He turns 28 on Sunday (today). … To Florida Coach Mike White. He turns 44 on Tuesday. … To former Louisville coach Denny Crum. He turns 84 on Tuesday. … To Tom Leach. “The Voice” of UK basketball and football turns 60 on Wednesday.
This story was originally published February 28, 2021 at 11:46 AM.
