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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 17, 2019

Bernard Muir

Indianapolis, Indiana

DAVE WORLOCK: Good evening, everyone. We'll get to Bernard Muir and a question-and-answer session shortly. We are at the Marriott Marquis in the selection room where the committee a few hours ago completed the selection, seeding and bracketing process.

Without further ado, we'll turn it over to the Q&A segment for Bernard.

Q. What is the thought behind Temple, what you liked about them, why you put them where you put them?
BERNARD MUIR: They were among the last teams selected to the field. We thought Temple had one of the better wins beating Houston. Couple that with only one loss in the third and fourth quadrants, that was a rival game with a fellow big five team in Penn, which won that series this year.

Temple tied for third in the league, which was a very good league, had a good win over UCF late in the season. That's what ultimately got them into the tournament.

Q. Michigan State, the seeding process with the Spartans and placement with Duke in that region?
BERNARD MUIR: Michigan State was one of about six or seven teams that started off the week in our minds as a collective committee that we thought could eventually get to the 1 line. At the end of the day, I know as tournaments were unfolding, we thought Gonzaga deserved to stay on the 1 line.

With regards to assigning teams to their regions, we try to assign teams to their most natural and closest region possible. In the case of Michigan State, when their time came up on the seed list after surpassing Kentucky, we decided to put them in their closest region, which would have been Washington, D.C. for the regional. That's why they were assigned there.

We don't look at matchups necessarily. It's more trying to assign teams to their natural and closest region.

Q. In the Big Ten tournament, Michigan State beat Michigan. How much of that was emphasized? Was it any factor at all? Did you already have things filled out at the point?
BERNARD MUIR: We didn't have everything filled out at that point. Today we had 12 different brackets with a variety of scenarios.

What I will say is that every game across an entire season matters. I think sometimes fans tend to just fixate on the last few games of a conference tournament. We are trying to make sure that we look at the full body of work, which you've heard committee speak before.

Michigan State did climb over Kentucky into the No. 6 seed line. The committee didn't feel comfortable moving them above Tennessee, who was No. 5, based on the full season's results.

Q. What was the conversation with Houston in terms of entering today between the 3 and the 2 line? Did the outcome in the AAC championship game factor in or were they set where y'all had them?
BERNARD MUIR: We pretty much had Houston pegged for where we put them. The outcome today didn't change things. We certainly looked at their rÃ©sumÃ© overall, talked about them throughout the week. We know they're a very good and talented team on both sides of the realm, both offensively and defensively. Very impressed.

I'm sure they will have an opportunity to win some games here in this tournament, have a great run. At the end of the day, we kept them right where we started the week off, where we had them slotted.

Q. How tough was it to leave out TCU? Was their rÃ©sumÃ© lacking as to why they weren't given a bid?
BERNARD MUIR: They were in the discussion to the end because of reasonably good metrics, top five in five of six categories. Because the Horn Frogs had no losses in the third and fourth quadrants, they were certainly considered among the last teams that we considered into the tournament field.

But a poor road record, 3-7, no non-conference wins in the first quadrant ultimately hurt their chances. It was a really close call, but unfortunately they were on the wrong side of the bubble.

Q. Generally speaking, how would you say the committee used the NET rankings? There seemed to be some disparity, St. John's compared to some teams that didn't get in.
BERNARD MUIR: I think it's important for people to keep in mind the NET is just one tool of many that we use to evaluate teams. Certainly we're spending a lot of time observing what the teams do in competition.

I hate to use committee speak, but this is what it is, we're looking at their full body of work throughout the course of the season.

In this case with TCU that you're mentioning, there were 33 data points that we're looking at over the course of a season to see did they challenge themselves when they had the opportunity, did they win games when they had those opportunities. That's what we measure.

It is not only looking at one team, one sheet, we're looking at multiple teams and how they compare to other teams. That's how we're trying to get our top 36.

Q. Looking at Gonzaga in the last couple days, you decided not to penalize them for the loss in their conference tournament. Talk to me about the thinking about that, why maybe that loss wasn't as damaging as it might have been.
BERNARD MUIR: Had Tennessee won today, we would have made a switch and put Tennessee on the 1 line because they were playing so well. When you looked at their rÃ©sumÃ©, they had a head-to-head with Gonzaga, had won that head-to-head. Had they won, I know we would have made a switch.

We thought going in that Gonzaga deserved to be on the 1 line. They've done enough work. We know when you watch them, you look at their metrics, that is a quality team and certainly deserving of a 1 seed, and that's where we kept them.

Q. Florida State is in the West Region for the third straight year. Michigan is back for the second straight year. You avoid shipping teams out of their geographic regions. Was that something you talked about? Why did they end up there again this year?
BERNARD MUIR: We're trying to balance the bracket. That's kind of our first charge. We're making sure that we have a very competitive bracket. We're trying to adhere to our principles.

We would love to keep teams in their natural region when possible. But in terms of shipping them out of their natural region, that's a secondary consideration for us. Our primary consideration is to make sure we balance the bracket.

There are certain instances where we have to shift teams around in order to make that happen.

DAVE WORLOCK: I will add that the committee tried to send teams to their closest geographic region for the first and second rounds. Florida State actually is on the East Coast, albeit in Hartford, for the opening weekend. If the Seminoles advance, they'll be in the West Regional.

The committee does take into consideration the first and second round. The regional has different principles that limits the options that the committee has.

We appreciate everyone. Thank you. Enjoy the tournament.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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