Cornell and Temple Both Screwed

This year's NCAA basketball bracket provides yet another example of Cornell getting screwed in NCAA selections.

The Big Red lost four times this season -- twice to #1 seeds Kansas and Syracuse -- and played a tough out-of-conference schedule which was mostly on the road. There wasn't much Cornell could do as its RPI plummeted as a result of the weak Ivy schedule.

Temple racked up 29 wins and the A-10 regular season and tournament titles, and went 7-3 against the top 50 in the RPI.

Yet Temple is seeded lower than it should be -- at #5 -- and Cornell is seeded lower than it should be -- at #12.

I agree with Temple coach Fran Dunphy who stated yesterday that he thought the matchup was a conscious choice by the committee to make him play his former assistant at Penn, Cornell coach Steve Donahue. It's certainly a compelling storyline, but it does not justify the two teams' low seeds.

Temple is a tougher team than the Big Red wanted to play in the first round, and vice versa. Neither team is happy, and one of them will be going home after one game.

For Big Red fans, we must immediately think back to years of getting screwed in NCAA lacrosse seeding and hockey seeding.

Such is the struggle for a team coming from a conference known more for its brains than its brawn.