For all of that work, the NCAA on Monday rewarded the Crusaders by booking them a 498-mile bus ride for the first round.
UMHB (25-3) was snubbed in its bid to host a regional round of the NCAA Tournament and instead will travel to Jackson, Miss., to face Fontbonne (Mo.) in a first-round game at 6 p.m. Friday.
That game is the opener of a four-team regional that also features a first-round game between Maryville (Tenn.) and host Millsaps. Friday’s two winners will square off in the second round at 7 p.m. Saturday for a berth in the Sweet 16.
The Crusaders, who ascended to the top of the South regional rankings with Sunday’s win in the American Southwest Conference Tournament final, were not chosen as regional hosts because of what the NCAA terms “geographic proximity.”
The NCAA pays all postseason travel costs in Division III. UMHB, Fontbonne and Maryville can all reach Jackson by bus, therefore saving the NCAA on airfare.
“I’m not shocked at all because that is just in keeping with the NCAA administrative minds,” UMHB coach Ken DeWeese said. “If the Pentagon ran like the NCAA runs, this country would be ruled by Cuba because we would get in a fight with every country and never win any of them.”
Five of the 59 tournament teams receive first-round byes, and 10 teams play their first-round games on Thursday. The winners of those five first-round games then travel to face the bye teams in the second round on Saturday.
Based upon its record and regional ranking, UMHB could have been considered for a first-round bye. Depending on its Saturday opponent, only one bus trip or one flight would have been needed in the second round to complete that scenario.
As it turns out, that was never a consideration.
“Mary Hardin-Baylor was never considered for a first-round bye because we saw that we had three other teams that could get to Millsaps by bus,” said NCAA director of championships John Williams, who is the liaison for the Division III men’s basketball championship committee. “Even though they are one of the top seeds, everything is based on geographic proximity.”
For the record, the three teams seeded behind UMHB in the South regional rankings - Guilford (Va.), Millsaps and Centre (Ky.) - are all hosting regionals.
“We feel like we did everything that we needed to do in order to play at home,” said UMHB vice-president for athletics Ben Shipp. “That includes building a beautiful facility that is great for the entire campus, putting a very competitive team on the court, and getting great support from our student body and community at the conference tournament.
“All of those things typically help you to host.”
In the football playoffs two years ago, the NCAA matched up UMHB with conference foe Hardin-Simmons in the first round rather than sending Millsaps to Belton. The governing body’s reasoning behind that decision was that it wasn’t “in the best interest of the student-athletes” to send Millsaps that far by bus.
On Monday, Williams dodged the best-interest question.
“I don’t know if I would say (the reason for the decision two years ago) was incorrect,” he said. “Ideally, we wish we didn’t have to bus people that far. The committee looks at the field, then puts the bracket together based only on the standard of creating it with the fewest amount of flights.”
The chairman of the men’s basketball championship committee, Gary Grace - a business officer at Wartburg College (Iowa) - was unavailable for comment and did not return phone messages.
The winner of UMHB’s regional will advance to next week’s sectional round to face the winner of the Guilford regional.
“It’s not a good feeling when you put a bracket together that’s not completely based on competition or performance,” Williams said. “But we have to abide by the rules.
“We have zero flights in the first round, just one in the second round and then we’ll need one the following week if Millsaps wins its regional.”
So that means UMHB would host a sectional?
“I mean if Millsaps or Mary Hardin-Baylor win that regional, then we would need a flight,” Williams clarified.
As for the Crusaders, DeWeese didn’t want his players to be overly concerned with the site.
“When it was released, all I told the guys was, ‘We know who we’re playing. We’re not practicing today. We’ll come back tomorrow ready to work.’
“My feeling on the bracket should not be a concern of the team. They just want to go play.”
If anything, it might serve to spark the Crusaders.
“We worked hard to get where we are, and I thought we would get rewarded a little better than that,” UMHB senior post Ryan Burgart said. “But we’re not on the committee, so we just have to go win wherever we go.
“It’s motivation. We have to go out and prove that we are the best team in the region.”
That’s an admirable goal, even if it didn’t benefit the Crusaders in the bracketing process.
“Honestly, I would not be concerned about not hosting if all of the three seeds behind weren’t hosting,” DeWeese said. “But when No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 are all rewarded and No. 1 is not, then there is no reason to have the regional ranking committees.
“Maybe we should just let (the selection committee) pick out who they want. Maybe they should just geographically pick out some teams that fit their budget.”
Notes: UMHB will be making its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. . . . Fontbonne (21-6) won the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. . . . Maryville (24-2) eliminated UMHB in last year’s first round. . . . Millsaps (25-3) won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
