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Final Four Selection: A Two-step Process?

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Run_Fido_Run's picture
December 3, 2014 at 9:00am
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I have a question for you guys who have followed the Selection Committee process closely. First, a little background . . .

Mike Greenberg astutely pointed out this morning that the only logical conclusion, if Miss State had beaten Ole Miss, was that FSU would have been left out of the top 4. After all, TCU jumped FSU and, had Miss St defeated Ole Miss, that would have been a good "resume" building win for them, too, so presumably TCU wouldn't have jumped them. And it makes no logical sense for the Selection Committee to have reasoned that TCU jumps FSU if Ole Miss beats MSU, but not if Miss St beats Ole Miss. 

Yet, many of the so-called experts are saying this morning that the Selection Committee was always going to keep FSU in the top 4 - it was merely a question of where they would be slotted. Which, if true, calls into question the logic of the committee. Or does it? 

Maybe the committee looks at the final final four - the one that will be selected this Sunday - as a two-step process and this past "ranking" was a trial run. First, use a ranking and voting system to select the four best teams. Then, if appropriate, reseed the final four to reward the two best "eye test" teams and set up good match ups. By that method, FSU is a slam dunk to be among the four - and quite possibly the 1st or second team on a traditional "rankings" basis - but not worthy of being a top 2 host team. But maybe the Committee is inclined to slot FSU 3rd, but then wouldn't send them out to the Rose Bowl? Therefore, they kind of gerrymander them into the 4th slot?

If you look at the Selection Committee website, you can even find some "wiggle room" language that would allow them to approach the final four that way:

The team ranked No. 1 by the selection committee will play team No. 4 in the semifinals. Team No. 2 will meet team No. 3.

Notice they don't write, "The team ranked No. 1 by the selection committee will play the team ranked No. 4 by the selection committee, etc. (to be fair, my version isn't as elegant and concise, so maybe whoever wrote the guidelines for the Committee didn't want to be redundant, whereas attorneys writing a contract wouldn't care about writing style).

One way to interpret the committee's role is that it has two main purposes that could be morphed into one as pertains the Final Four: 1). select the four playoff participants and (2). set up the bowl match ups: 

Mission. The committee’s task will be to select the best teams, rank the teams for inclusion in the playoff and selected other bowl games and, then assign the teams to sites.

Note these wiggle room phrases like "rank for inclusion" and "assign the teams," which suggest that they have some leeway in reseeding the final four in their "bowl games."

Or, is this line of thinking completely off base, given what some of you might know about the committee's processes?

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