Hofstra-gate

The NCAA basketball tournaments are beginning this week.  While some law prof bloggers are looking forward to match-ups involving their home institutions, we at Hofstra are left considering what might have been.  Hofstra's men team was left out of the big dance despite a 24-6 record and a berth in the Colonial Atheletic Association final.  What is most galling is that George Mason, a team that Hofstra beat twice, is going instead.  George Mason had a slightly tougher out of conference schedule, but it has been tough to rationalize the two head-to-head losses.  A critique of the NCAA tournament picks is here.  Gary Moore, our own Assistant Dean for Law School Information Systems and new blogger, posted on the NCAAs here.

Two additional facts are giving this controversy more life.  One is that fact that GMU's Tony Skinn is being suspended for punching a Hofstra player (Loren Stokes) in the groin at the end of GMU's CAA tourney loss.  (Gordon Smith mentioned the "cheap shot" here.)  Not only did the committee apparently overlook this behavior, it also overlooked the effect on GMU's play.  At the bottom of this article, ESPN's Jay Bilas is quoted as saying: "Hofstra beat them twice late in the season, plus George Mason's second-best player has been suspended (for the tournament opener against Michigan State). How can that not affect their tournament profile?"

In addition, there is an apparent conflict of interest on the NCAA tournament committee.  GMU athletic director Tom O'Connor is on the ten-member selection committee.  In addition, University of Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage is the head of the committee, and this web site reports that Littlepage and GMU head coach Jim Larranaga are "old friends, dating to Larranaga's days as an assistant at Virginia."  Based on these conflicts, MSNBC and WFAN host Don Imus called for a criminal investigation (perhaps slightly tongue in cheek.)  Some audio on the controversy can be called up here from WFAN's Mike and the Mad Dog; see clips with Hofstra's Tom Pecora, Iona's Jeff Ruland, and CBS's Jim Nantz.

I don't know much about how the committee operates, but it would be interesting to apply corporate law concepts to their actions.  There are clear duty of loyalty concerns here -- the committee members have a duty of loyalty to the NCAA, but they have conflicts of interest when it comes to their own teams.  Did the GMU director step out when GMU was being considered?  Did Littlepage step out, given his connections to the GMU head coach?  Even if the other independent committee members approved the inclusion of GMU, did Littlepage exert "domination" over the other committee members with regard to that vote?

It's likely that this is not much more than a one-day story.  But as a Hofstra prof, it's hard not to be a little outraged at the way this has played out.