Sweet Sixteen berth shouldn't change opinions on UCLA's tournament inclusion
Like Dante Hicks, UCLA wasn't even supposed to be here today.
On Selection Sunday, it was borderline shocking that the Bruins were included in the field of 68. Not only were they included, but they avoided the play-in game. The committee's placement of UCLA upset many.
In trying to justify UCLA's inclusion, there were a few points in its favor: The Pac-12 was pretty good, the Bruins were at least decent at both ends of the floor and they were the No. 41 team in the country by KenPom rating. For whatever it's worth, they're also a big-name school with several potential NBA prospects.
But their resume was spotty, at best. They went 2-8 against top-50 opponents and 4-12 in road or neutral-court games. Their hot finish was made up of a narrow loss to Arizona and a handful of blowouts against really bad teams.
All things considered, UCLA was almost definitely one of the best 68 teams in the country, but that doesn't necessarily mean it deserved to be in the tournament. The Bruins were right on the bubble, advanced metrics liked them, there was a strong argument that narrowed tournament rotations would see them play better and it wasn't an egregious oversight to include them.
And now UCLA is in the Sweet Sixteen.
But winning a pair of games and making the Sweet Sixteen doesn't vindicate the committee or justify UCLA's inclusion. They're separate matters in general, and it's not as if UCLA's two wins have been all that decisive.
As much as a strong run may have been predictable - the outrage is whiteboard material, after all - it hasn't been emphatic. UCLA needed a controversial goaltending call to get past SMU in the Round of 64 and then lucked into No. 14 UAB in the Round of 32 instead of No. 3 Iowa State.
The biggest knock on the Bruins was their performance against quality opponents, and they just beat the No. 24 and No. 122 teams by KenPom rating, the former coming in questionable fashion. The Pac-12 is undefeated in the tournament, solidifying its regular-season strength of schedule, but is still a little short on marquee victories.
UCLA won both games, and deserves credit for that. The Bruins took the seed they were given and made the most of it. Just like their success can't vindicate their inclusion, their regular-season record can't really be held against their tournament performance.
The Bruins are a good team, even if they didn't always play like it during the course of the season. Their starting five is playing really well, and they can match talent with almost anyone. They'll be a challenge for either Iowa or Gonzaga next week, and they could conceivably continue this run.
It just shouldn't change how you felt about their inclusion in the tournament to begin with.