During a recent Basketball and Beyond broadcast with Seth Davis, Coach K stated that the 34 NCAA Tournament at-large bids are designed to go to the 34 best teams and that the current rules are set-up in such a way that the 34 best teams may not be invited. At the outset, I concede that the NCAA has decreed that the goal of the NCAA Tournament Committee is to use at-large bids to invite the 34 best teams available:

"The committee shall select the 34 best teams to fill the at-large berths."

I also agree with K that the current rules may not accomplish that purpose in all cases.

However, I reject the premise. As a basketball fan, I'm interested in the 34 most deserving teams receiving at-large bids. For example, I'd rather see an interesting and successful team from a lower conference which might have lost-out on an automatic bid by failing to win its conference tournament (perhaps Davidson) receive an at-large bid than -- say -- the eighth team from a "power" conference (perhaps Providence) irrespective of whether I think (again, for example) Davidson is better than Providence.

Thoughts?