Air Force Done
The SLAM curse strikes again
By Cub Buenning
It is now about 630AM Monday morning here in the Denver area and despite watching the entire selection show yesterday, I haven’t printed out a bracket yet. Normally at this point, I am knee deep in my pool (singular, I am apposed to multiple brackets) but today I am salty.
As many of you know, I recently penned a feature on the United States Air Force Academy squad for issue #107. Yesterday, “the powers that be” in Indy thought very little of the Falcons’ season and omitted them from the NCAA tournament. As writers, we are always a bit loyal to the subjects of our pieces; however, this one is even a little different.
First, they are one of the few semblances of a Division-I program in my geographic area, and having no representatives from Colorado is weak. Also, about 15 years ago I was just days away from signing and becoming a member of that same very team, but decided to check out some schools out east.
While I will take nothing away from the teams that were named yesterday, I must nitpick some to prove that this squad more than proved itself worthy even over a few of the teams that were named. Yes, I’ll start by admitting that the Falcons were pretty bad down the stretch of the season. They had lost 5 in a row and again were eliminated in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tourney. BUT………..
1.) They were ranked in the top 25 for almost the entire season, reaching as far as #11 with just a few weeks left in the season..
2.) They won 23 games in a tough MWC.
3.) Their non-conference schedule included teams from the Pac-10, ACC, Big-12, and the Atlantic-10.
4.) They had double-digit wins over tournament teams, Texas Tech and George Washington, both at neutral sites.
5.) They had a 36-point win AT Stanford, who at 18-12 were one of the last teams named to the field.
6.) The Falcons also had 30+ point wins against big conference teams, Colorado and Wake Forest.
7.) They held the nation’s longest home winning streak before losing it in a tight battle with conference rival and tourney-invite, BYU in the season’s last game.
What am I missing?
Old Dominion can thank George Mason’s run last year for their bid. At 24-8 they had basically the same record as the Falcons, from a similar (at best) conference. Their signature wins were…… I can find a one. While they had some nice wins in the Colonial (in which they won neither the regular season nor the conference tourney), they lost at home to Clemson and Winthrop, and suffered double-digit defeats at Virginia Tech and MARIST!?!?!?!
While I was a bit annoyed by the surplus of average teams from the power conference, including Illinois, Georgia Tech, and Stanford, I also feel that any time a service academy wins 20 games (especially with a schedule like the one AFA sported) they should be automatically put in the Dance, period.
My only reasoning for why Air Force was left off was the BCS effect. The end of the season, for some reason, counts at least three times as much as any point in the season. I also heard that the previous record for D-I teams with 20+ wins was 78, and this year there were something like 104, making it the toughest decision to date.
I’m sure that I’ll get over it at some point today, but I’m just heated.
For the record, I like Kansas, Florida, and Georgetown. Due to my anger, I don’t even know if they are in the same brackets; time to print one out, I guess.
20 Responses to “Air Force Done”
Mar.12 at 11:59 am
scott says:
What about Drexel, Florida State, and Syracuse?
Mar.12 at 12:07 pm
bakers' dozen (12-13) says:
I agree…AFA got shafted! They’ll win the NIT now.
Mar.12 at 12:24 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Akron got jobbed, too. I think I’ll only watch the NIT this year.
Mar.12 at 12:50 pm
Drer says:
The NIT selection show… oh the excitement I had….
Mar.12 at 12:51 pm
Drer says:
The reason Air Force isn’t in the tourney is simply, well Air Force. Period! Don’t lose to TCU, and simply beat Wyoming in the first round of your conference Tourney.
Mar.12 at 1:23 pm
Melvin says:
they lost to TCU!!!
Mar.12 at 1:36 pm
Bryant Reeves says:
TCU
Mar.12 at 2:21 pm
Cub Buenning says:
Agreed TCU is awful, but a stinker on the road in conference shouldn’t eliminate you from the tourney. #1 seed and home games until the FF at MSG is all the cadets have to look forward to now.
Mar.12 at 3:38 pm
Ryan Jones says:
It was still a dope feature, Cub.
Mar.12 at 8:24 pm
Cub Buenning says:
Thank you, Professor.
Mar.12 at 9:33 pm
deestarbuckz says:
I feel you Cub! I am stationed here in the Springs, and the lack of legit NCAA hoop hurts… along with the Nuggets up-and-mostly down ways. Thank God for League Pass!
Mar.13 at 2:44 am
chronically_ill says:
Cub, where did you end up playing ball at?
Mar.13 at 9:13 am
Cub Buenning says:
I “played” at Brown between 92-96.
Being a 6′8″ 200-pound swingman with range but shaky one-on-one defensive skills got me little run in the defense-oriented Ivy League. I was, however, one of the nation’s top pregame warm-up finger-rollers.
Mar.13 at 9:17 am
Chad Nothe says:
well said, but I appreciate the support you give them. i spoke with Nick yesterday he was pretty upset about it, but I just told him you got Austin peay on Wednesday, so just do it big in the NIT…God Bless, Chad Nothe
Dallas, Texas
Welch’s best man
Mar.13 at 9:23 am
Cub Buenning says:
Anytime a service academy wins 20 games they should be in the tournament.
Chad, you have associated yourself with good people. Nick, Dan, Jake, Matt, all those cats are great guys.
Mar.13 at 12:57 pm
Chad Nothe says:
Thanks Cub, I’ll tell him you spread the news like a true fan, thanks , God Bless
Mar.13 at 3:03 pm
Schnuedo says:
Unacceptable. I didn’t even notice they weren’t selected until early yesterday when I was picking my brackets. I was in shock. AFA was unstoppabble at home this year, and were a much more deserving entry then Texas Tech (whom they embarassed). Ugh… Disappointing.
Mar.19 at 11:16 pm
Chad Nothe says:
Cub,
Hey how about the Falcons rollin at home. They got Depaul this Wednesday night. Rumor has it Stukes said he was going to drop 30 tonight on the Falcons and Coach Felton was asking for the K-State tape, because he assumed they’d walk over AF. If you run into Stukes ask him what happened and let Coach Felton know that Depaul won not k-state. No place for trash talking ever. But your SLAM boy Woodbury had a good game…Hit me back…God Bless…Chad
Mar.22 at 11:22 am
Cub Buenning says:
Chad,
They are on their way to NYC! Last night’s game was a nail-biter and a great win for the Falcons! I couldn’t make it down to any of the NIT games due to previous commitments, but the court storming was great to see!
Curious how they will be play at MSG.
GO FALCONS!
cub
Apr.16 at 3:21 pm
Chad Nothe says:
except the team and a few of us close friends…God Bless
tough loss at MSG, but Nick and the rest of the them played there butts off, unfortunately for them Clemson got a few bounces to go there way, but I’m so proud of the guys. Nick broken nose plus dislocated shoulder for the last 10 or so games, played his butt off. Yes
didn’t know about the shoulder did ya? Nor did anyone else
God Bless…Chad