'Skewed system' cost Blue Raiders NCAA berth: Moore

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Other than winning the Sun Belt Conference Championship and the automatic berth into the NCAA National Championships that goes along with it, Middle Tennessee head men's golf coach Johnny Moore believes his team did everything it needed to do in order to continue its season. Unfortunately, for Middle Tennessee, which stormed back from a 13-shot deficit before losing a playoff at the SBC Championships, the NCAA Men's Golf Selection Committee did not agree and the Blue Raiders were left on the outside looking in when the 81-team field was announced Monday. Blue Raider sophomore golfer Chas Narramore did get an invite as an individual and will begin play in the East Regional at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga., May 17-19. As far as the team, though, Moore is disturbed that 81 teams were selected into the tournament and Middle Tennessee, despite a national ranking of 45th in the latest Golfstat poll and a cumulative record of 115-30-1, did not get an invite. "I think it's a travesty what has happened to us," Moore said. "We are the highest-ranked team that did not get into the tournament. We are ranked (45th) and there are teams ranked anywhere from 130th to 140th that's in the tournament and they got at-large bids simply because of their geographic location. It's really tough for me to swallow. I'm not hurt, I'm mad because this is an injustice." Moore's greatest complaint is what he calls a "skewed system" because the selection process is currently based on geographic location rather than overall ranking. For example, 22 of the 52 teams that earned at-large berths in the NCAA Championships were ranked below Middle Tennessee; however, they were ranked among the top teams in their respective regions. Denver, for example, is a member of the Sun Belt Conference and finished fourth in the SBC Championships last month. Despite a national ranking of 81, the Pioneers gained an at-large selection based on the region in which they compete. In all, five teams ranked between 113 and 179 earned at-large bids and an additional four teams ranked between 75 and 100 also earned at-large bids ahead of Middle Tennessee, despite its much-higher ranking. "Our team is in the top half of the field and they have proven that all year," Moore said. "The problem is there is no equity in the process. There were teams going into their conference tournaments knowing they were in the NCAA even if they finished in the lower half of their conference tournament because of their geographic location. It's wrong and it's not fair." Moore said he believes the Southeastern Regional Committee "dropped the ball" in regard to Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders were ranked 13th in the Southeast Region prior to the selections and the top 12 teams were picked. "I think our regional committee dropped the ball on this thing and the reason I believe this is because we beat some of the teams that just got in ahead of us, or we had a better record than them head-to-head," Moore said. "My understanding is they ran some head-to-heads on the Golfstat program and everyone of them came out Middle Tennessee. The committee is there to stop inequities in the Golfstat system and they stepped back and did nothing. "They went straight down the Golfstat list so in my opinion the committee was non-existent, and if I'm stepping on any toes they don't need to put their shoes in the aisle. The problem is having coaches on these committees. What other system has coaches exclusively on the region committee to select teams? It came down to the wire on four teams in our region and of those four teams; two of those coaches are on the committee. It's hard to be objective when your team is sitting there and you get a vote. That's where the system if flawed." This system will undergo major change next season but that does little to help Middle Tennessee this year. According to Moore, in future years the selection committee will be comprised of athletic directors with coaches getting limited input at the regional level. "If this were next year Middle Tennessee would be in the NCAA Championships no question," Moore said. "The new system will reward the top teams in the country, regardless of region, much like basketball is currently done. It is a system that needed to be changed and it is going to be changed but it does nothing to help our kids this year when they deserve to be there. I hope they will turn it around and use it as a motivating factor for next year not to be put in this position again in the future."

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

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