I will see your Georgia, and I will raise you a Coppin State

I e-mailed ESPN's Andy Glockner last night, asking him whether he agrees with me that a Georgia victory in today's SEC championship game would, in light of the bizarre circumstances that have caused the last-place Bulldogs to need three wins in 30 hours to reach the NCAA Tournament, be "the single most incredible story in the entire history of Championship Week."

He replied, "No, I think that's Coppin State, which won the MEAC tonight by winning four games in four days by a total of six points. They beat the top three seeds in the tournament on successive nights and closed by winning 12 of their last 13 games after starting the season 2-19 in D-I games. Unreal."

I still think Georgia is the better story, but there's no doubt Coppin State is an incredible one, too. Even with their torrid 8-out-of-9 finish to the regular season, the Eagles were the seventh-place team in the second-worst conference in America. They enter the NCAA Tournament with a 16-20 record (14-20 against D-I opponents) -- making them the first 20-loss team ever to go dancing -- and an RPI ranking of #217.

It'll be interesting to see whether the committee does the right thing and matches up Coppin State against Mississippi Valley State, the champion of the worst conference (the SWAC), in the play-in game. The selection committee has been reluctant to pit the SWAC champ against the MEAC champ in the play-in game, because those are the "historically black college" conferences, and it's seen as politically incorrect to put both of their champions in the play-in game, even though those conferences pretty consistently produce the two worst teams in the field. (Last year, the committee did Niagara a massive injustice by putting the MAAC champ Purple Eagles, RPI #136, who should have been a #14 or #15 seed, into the play-in game in place of the SWAC champ Jackson State, RPI #168.)

This season, though, I don't see how you can deny, with a straight face, that MEAC champ Coppin State (14-20 against D-I, RPI #227) and Mississippi Valley State (15-15 against D-I, RPI #229 are by far the two worst teams in the field. RPI-wise, the next-closest contender is #159 Mount St. Mary's, surprise champion of the NEC, which has an 18-14 record. That's 68 spots behind Coppin State -- equivalent to the difference between North Carolina and IUPUI. If there's ever going to be a year when the committee puts basketball ahead of politics, and puts the two worst teams in the play-in game regardless of what Jesse Jackson might think about it, this is that year.