Evidence of bias in NCAA tournament selection and seeding

We investigate bias in the selection and seeding decisions of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. Using data on 910 teams associated with the ten tournaments from 1999 to 2008, we test for bias toward teams from seven ‘major’ conferences and six ‘mid-major’ conferences, as well as for bias toward teams represented on the Committee. We find substantial support for the hypothesis of bias in favor of virtually all major and mid-major conferences in selection and/or seeding, as well as evidence of bias toward majors over mid-majors. We also find substantial evidence of bias toward teams with some type of Committee representation.