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NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 12, 2008Tom O'ConnorDAVE WORLOCK: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to the second teleconference with Tom O'Connor, director of athletics at George Mason University and chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee. We are speaking to you from the very room where the committee will soon begin the process of selecting, seeding and bracketing teams for the 2008 championship. Tom, as happens every year, there's a great deal of discussion about the importance of conference tournaments, particularly for the leagues that project to receive multiple bids to the NCAA tournament. As you prepare to begin the process with your fellow committee members, what are your thoughts on how much value will be placed on the tournament outcomes that have been decided, as well as the results that will come in over the next few days? TOM O'CONNOR: Thank you, David. Good morning, everybody. What a special year for college basketball. I'll call it a great year. The excitement, the positioning of teams went down to the very last game in numerous conferences. Day to day we had changes. As everyone is aware, we're now in conference play. It has been the last couple of days, and it will be a great week for the continuation of college basketball. The challenge and task of the committee as we have said all along is to select the 34 best at-large teams. "The best" means that these teams surpass all others in excellence both quantitatively and qualitatively. There are going to be a number of teams that are worthy, but our objective is to choose the 34 best at-large to compete for the national championship. We're clearly in a stretch run right now, and yet there remains many variables in terms of conference tournaments, as David said. Teams can still play their way into or out of the NCAA tournament, or their own tournament obviously, which is the charm of college basketball and is a great precursor to March Madness. So we're on our way. We're ready to go. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, and thank you for taking the time to be with us this morning. DAVE WORLOCK: Thank you, Tom. Let's take our first question. Q. Looking through all the procedures, the term "bubble" is not an official term but gets thrown around a lot this time of year. Does the term "bubble" ever get used in the committee room? TOM O'CONNOR: Yes, it does. We use it all the time. It's a term that I just don't think we have a true meaning for. It's a term that came up a couple years ago. It's a cute term and everyone uses it, so we might as well use it as well. Q. Is there a way to define a team being "on a bubble"? Is that just basically teams that are being considered and are down near the last few teams that you guys are looking at? Is that the best way to define a "bubble team"? TOM O'CONNOR: Well, I guess if I had to really come up with a strict definition, it would be non-locks, if there are locks at this point. But non-locks would be the best way to describe it. Q. Is there any attempt to protect seeds beyond the first rounds, the higher seeds? TOM O'CONNOR: Well, first of all, I'll make a comment. I think that this year that selection obviously is extremely important in a first thrust because if you're not selected you can't be seeded. But the top five lines are important, and that's where we protect, and only in the first round. Q. So, for instance, if you sent a 6 seed 1000 miles to a site, there's no real reservation about sending a No. 3 1500 or 2000 miles to the same site? TOM O'CONNOR: No, we really don't protect anyone. We can't have a crystal ball and project winners. What happens on the court and who wins the game is the most important part. Again, we just can't project forward. Q. If there's a team that hypothetically is an 8 or 9 seed heading into its conference tournament, if it wins a couple of games at that conference tournament, is it a safe assumption that that team has moved out of that 8, 9 first-round game, helped itself enough to avoid that situation? TOM O'CONNOR: I learned a long time ago not to deal with if's and perceptions, but to deal with reality. I'm not trying to avoid the question because you're giving me a general, but there's still a lot of games to be played when you really think about it. In some conferences, there are as many as four games that could be played. So we need to wait. We're poised right now with all the information we have. The conference tournaments will play a role. But, remember, we're talking about the cumulative analysis of the entire season and that team's complete portfolio. So you really can't get hung up on just one game in a tournament. We have to focus on selecting, and seeding is going to come a little bit later. Q. A question on bubble teams. Some coaches out there who are "on the bubble," it could be said they're campaigning for a spot. Do you hear any of that campaigning through the media? Does it bother you? How do you feel about it in general? TOM O'CONNOR: Well, I don't think any of the coaches are on the bubble; I think their teams are on the bubble, and they're obviously the coach of the team. But I understand what you're saying. It really doesn't bother us or have any effect on what people say. There's tremendous respect I have for the nine other committee members. There's a tremendous amount of ethics and trust in our room. It really is what is said in this room. The NCAA staff has provided us all year with tremendous backup. All of our committee members have done their homework. We had a fantastic conference call on Saturday where everyone was right on target with both the quantitative and qualitative. So we're hitting the ground running with the information we have in the room right now. Q. Of all the different variables, the RPI gets tossed around a lot, along with conference record. Are there one or two that kind of go to the top of that list in terms of what really decides in the end? TOM O'CONNOR: There's so much that we have to study: the sheets that we have on each team, the data that we have on each team. People get hung up on the RPI, but the RPI is really a starting data control point. We take a look at the qualitative from the standpoint of ourselves watching teams play on TV and in person. Certainly head-to-head competition is important at this point. The non-conference strength of schedule, quite frankly, is important at this point. But there's so much information where we need to synthesize, dissect, then have a nice professional discussion in the room about those teams. Again, it sounds like a broken record, but it's who you play, where you play and how you did. It's still a factor and will always be a factor at any time right up till the last time that we select as an at-large. Q. I'm assuming you have a wall of TVs in the room; you're watching every conference being played? TOM O'CONNOR: We don't have any TVs in the room. Our thrust when we're in this room is to do our job and not to be distracted. We do take breaks to have lunch or dinner or breakfast. We do have a room where during some of our breaks we go watch some games. But, again, I don't think that's critical, watching games right now. We know what the score will be at the end of the game. The monitoring of the teams has been accomplished all during the year. We certainly are basketball fans and humans and certainly we'd like to see a game here and there. But the ultimate objective is to pick the teams. If we need to be in this room to do that analysis, then we need to be in this room. Q. The one stat you guys use for the last 12 games going into the NCAA tournament, it shows that a hot finish doesn't indicate a good showing in the NCAA tournament. Do you use that as a reward for a team or do you use it that they may do well in the NCAA tournament? TOM O'CONNOR: It's not a reward at all, quite frankly. The last 12 games is just one factor, one tool. Each of our committee members evaluates each of the teams on their individual performance. Usually the last 10 games means that a team may be playing well. They may be playing their way into selection during that time - or the reverse, quite frankly. We deal with what is in front of us. Specifically for selection, 12 games connects as a database to look at the eligibility of players, injuries, suspension, relationship to the entire year. A team may be getting hot at the right time. There's nothing wrong with that. We want to take a look at the last 12 games in terms of road wins. But when you talk about the last 12 and winning, it indicates a team is playing the best basketball of their season and they may be a worthy team. And there's nothing wrong with identifying teams that are on a roll as a consideration of one factor. Q. Do you have a sense about the nature of the bubble this year as opposed to previous years? I've heard some commentary that perhaps it's a softer bubble, if you will? Any general sense? TOM O'CONNOR: My sense is that we have a lot of good basketball teams. I have no idea what that means, "softer bubble." If you go back when we tried to define the word "bubble," we said non-locks. I just think there's a lot of good basketball teams out there. Anybody that's saying there's this "soft bubble" is maybe a backhanded slap at that team's coaches and especially student-athletes that really had a good year. If you look at it as a whole and take a step back, of all the teams that have been successful, I think it's a pretty darn good year of basketball. As I said in my opening statement, there have been a lot of close games, games that have come down to the wire. So I think it's been a strong basketball season. If there's that term "soft bubble," I don't think it's correct, quite frankly. Q. This year as opposed to other years, is it perhaps broader: more teams at this stage under consideration? TOM O'CONNOR: Yeah, you're right on target there quite frankly. There's plenty of quality teams that deserve the committee's consideration right now. That would be a better way of saying it. And the teams that are under consideration, I think we're really going to have to take a lot of time in selection. But once we get the seeding, I really believe that we're going to have even a tougher time because teams are so much alike. We have talked continually through the years about you can slip a piece of paper over the top of the names of some teams and still have similar resumés. You can slip a piece of paper between the sheets of the team and still have a tough time. And this year we can take a piece of tissue paper and put it between the sheets and you're still going to have a tough time. Seeding is going to be more difficult this year in relationship to the thrust of your question. Q. You mentioned head-to-head being one of the factors maybe in determining between two teams. I don't know if I've ever heard an answer to this. Is a head-to-head matchup that occurs in November or December any different than a head-to-head matchup that occurs later in the season? TOM O'CONNOR: That's an excellent question. It depends on a lot of the factors that go into that comprehensive assessment that we do at the end of the year. As I said before, with the road games, the eligibility of players, injuries, suspension, coaching changes, all that would be a factor. But we're going to look at every statistic there is. We're going to take a look at when a game was played, quite frankly. That will be put into a pot to discuss. As I said, we'll synthesize all of that information. If it comes down to a factor that we really need to really get involved with, we'll do that. But a game in November counts just as much as a game in February. Q. I know a lot of the committee got in last night. Can you talk about where you are in terms of getting a little bit ahead of where you've been in the past? TOM O'CONNOR: A couple of things. One, we had a great meeting in Nashville during the NCAA convention. We've had a number of conference calls and had a terrific conference call for close to two hours if not maybe a little bit more than two hours on Saturday. But the committee members have done an excellent job of compiling all the information. They needed to coming into this room. And I have to give credit also to the NCAA staff to give us the capabilities to help be able to pull that information. Thirdly, the conferences. The conference monitoring system, which is a two-way street, input situation, by the committee member and the conference offices, have been fantastic. I give a terrific amount of credit to the sports information people at the various conferences because they were right on target in giving us the information that we wanted. The initial ballot is going to be submitted earlier. In the past the initial ballot was submitted -- had to be submitted by 10:00 tonight. We're probably around 6:00 tonight. Before we go to dinner, we'll have that ballot done. So that's the big change from previous years. Q. Can you talk about how fatigue becomes a factor for the committee members over the course of the next four or five days. TOM O'CONNOR: Everyone has gotten a lot of rest. Everybody has been working out. Earlier this morning I saw a number of people in the workout room working out. We're ready to go. We're excited. The two words we constantly use is to be focused but have some fun. When we need to take breaks, we'll take breaks. When we need to get very focused, we'll get very focused. But fatigue won't be a factor. The committee members who have been through this before know what to expect. Both Jeff and Lynn, our new committee members, we've been talking to them about what to expect as well. They're right on board. Quite frankly, the initial ballot maybe in a couple years past was Thursday evening, but we've moved it this year to Wednesday. That may give us more time to reflect, as well, and be in a less tense situation. But fatigue will not be a factor. Q. At what point will you try to start choosing sites where each of the these teams will play? Walk us through that process of how you assign teams to different sites. TOM O'CONNOR: We first have to select, then we have to seed. Then when we're ready to do that, on Sunday, I can't give you a particular time. But one of the reasons why we came in early and one of the reasons why we've had conference calls all during the year, and specifically this past Saturday, is to see if we can pick up some time to spend more time on the bracketing, which is the selection of sites and whatnot. Again, we really feel good where we are today. I really feel confident that we're going to have some time on Sunday to really take a good, hard look at the brackets, where we're sending teams. Everyone should be right in place then. Q. What are your thoughts about the pod system and do you feel like it potentially gives some teams too much of an advantage? TOM O'CONNOR: No, I think the pod system is great because it was set up for institutions to be able to participate in the tournament closer to their home and it allows the fans to see them, allows families to see them. People are concerned with that a little bit from an environment standpoint, the so-called hostile environment. But that's not something that is really on our radar screen from that standpoint. Again, I said before, we can't project how a team's going to do. So our thrust is those teams that have deserved to be close to home should be close to home. We think it's a good system. Q. As a veteran member of the committee, how has your perspective changed now that you're in the role of chair and how do veterans of the committee assist the new members? TOM O'CONNOR: My role hasn't really changed. I'm one vote, I'm one opinion on the committee. I happen to be the person on the call today. But anyone could be in this position today. I know we've had nice conversations with Jeff and Lynn who have absolutely been fantastic in the first go-around, in the monitoring reports, whatnot. They know what to expect. It's a very open meeting that we have. We trust each other. I'm looking forward to a lot of input from Jeff and Lynn as we go through the next couple of days. Q. How much will losses early in their conference tournament hurt the good mid-major teams? TOM O'CONNOR: First of all, I don't know what "mid-major" is. I've said that for about 10 years now. I'll continue to say it. But a loss is a loss is a loss. A win is a win is a win. Q. You just said a loss is a loss and a win is a win. Does that include a team who goes on the road? When you talked about earlier who you play, where you play, even though they go on the road and lose a tight game, is that taken into consideration or is it still a loss is a loss is a loss? TOM O'CONNOR: A loss is a loss. A win is a win. Q. When you look at conference records, the ACC has an unbalanced schedule, where Virginia Tech only played Duke and North Carolina once. How much do you look at that, as well? TOM O'CONNOR: We don't really look at a conference in terms of selection. Once we come into the room and we're doing our initial ballot, we really look at all the teams as independents, just as a visual. When we come in the room and do our initial ballot, everyone is listed in alphabetical order and then you do your initial ballot based on if you think the institution should be an at-large or under consideration. We do understand the one play, the two plays within a league. It's made available. So we know who has played a team once or twice within the conference and where those games were played. But that's basically it. Again, conferences do not play a role in the selection of teams. DAVE WORLOCK: We'll go ahead and conclude the call. We want to thank you, Tom. On behalf of the entire committee, thank you to the members of press for participating today. We'd like to remind you we'll have another call with Mr. O'Connor at 7 p.m. eastern on Sunday night. End of FastScripts |
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