John Calipari, head coach of Kentucky (Photo : Chris Keane/Reuters)
It's March and the biggest sports event in America this time of year does not involve professional athletes.
NCAA March Madness is the most exciting and grandest sports event in the nation (excluding single game events). It's aptly called Madness as 68 teams whittle down to a solitary champion in the span of 68 games played in three weekends.
The insanity starts with the seedings on Selection Sunday where two of the best teams in the country were notoriously underrated.
The Michigan State Spartans are one of the favorites to win it all, according to ESPN in a survey of their panel of experts.
The Spartans were chosen by 18 out of 31 members who cast their vote. They have the veteran talent and one of the best coaches in College Basketball in Tom Izzo. So why are they not a no.1 seed?
Analysts from different networks covering college basketball were shocked with that the Spartans were not one of four top seeds, and they should have been chosen over Virginia.
There was an answer offered by Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee chairman, as coursed through MLive.
"(Virginia had the) No. 2 overall strength of schedule, No. 3 in the RPI, finished as the runner-up in the regular season, and obviously in a very close game in the ACC tournament final," said Castiglione. "A lot of our committee felt good about (Virginia) as a possible one seed line, and felt like even the loss in that (ACC) tournament championship didn't change their mind all that much."
The Spartans played seven games against the bottom 100 RPI, some with an RPI of 294 or higher. Unfortunately for Michigan State, this factor is not in their control as the Big Ten determines the schedule.
Meanwhile, Kentucky coach John Calipari also ranted on his team's ranking, but he notes that it's not for his team's sake, it's for their opponents.
"Did we not play a basketball game today?" Calipari asked ESPN's Rece Davis. "I'm happy for A&M. When they got a three, I said, 'What in the world? Are we going to get a three or a two?'" They actually ended up as a fourth seed.
Calipari continued: "I always say this. When you misseed a team, it's not that team you hurt. It's the teams they play. That's who you hurt. Ask Wichita State. There's no reason they should have played us in the second round [in 2014]. They were 31-0. They were the No. 1 team."
