Jim Williams » How does the NCAA pick the field of 65?

One of the questions I’m most-often asked is: “How does the NCAA Selection Committee come up with the 65 teams that make up the field for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament?” Or as most of us know it, March Madness or the Road to the Final Four, baby.

One man who has the job of following the process closely is NCAA representative Chuck Wynne. He works with the staff at CBS so that when the big NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show airs at 6 p.m., Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony, Seth Davis, Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg will have all the information they need to reveal the brackets.

I spoke to Wynne about the process:

Does the committee watch the conference tournaments?

Wynne » The committee members are very knowledgeable about college basketball and watch countless games, both in person and on television, throughout the season. While watching and evaluating teams throughout the season, they are always trying to decide whether a team belongs among the best 34 at-large teams. While the conference tournaments matter, it is important to note that the committee evaluates each team’s entire body of work.

When does the process of picking the field begin?

Wynne » The process actually begins in November with the start of the season. From the opening tap of the opening game, the committee members are monitoring teams from specific conferences that are assigned to them. Once the committee convenes selection week, the 10 individuals are expected to be experts on the teams in their leagues for which they monitor and have a general overall knowledge of the entire college basketball landscape. The selection process may culminate with the Selection Sunday announcement but it begins way back in November.

How long does the process take?

Wynne » The committee arrives in Indianapolis on the Tuesday before Selection Sunday. They are then sequestered in a local hotel. For the next five days, right up to the CBS Selection Show, they are working on the selecting, seeding and bracketing process. The actual formal process of selection begins Wednesday morning as each committee member submits his first ballot for teams that should be included.  The first ballot starts the process that ends with the release of the brackets.

Do committee members lobby to get a team into the field?

Wynne » There are strict impartiality guidelines that prohibit committee members from talking about their own school or participating in some votes that involve their school(s). In fact, they must leave the room when these discussions take place. Their job is to select the best 34 at-large teams, seed them, and bracket them according to the established principles and procedures.

How are the seeds determined?

Wynne » Once the 65 teams are selected, the committee must seed them 1 through 65. Seeding is based on a variety of factors, all designed to help the committee rank order the teams. Seeding is important because the committee wants to reward those teams with the best overall body of work for the season. In the end, it comes down to the 10 members of the committee discussing, debating, and, finally, agreeing on the rank order of the teams based on the numerous factors they have discussed.

So there is the method to the madness — and we will all be watching CBS to see how it all turns out.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on dcexaminer.com.