It was a little more than a year ago that college basketball decided to form a 12-person oversight committee. Bob Huggins wanted to be on it, but he knew that was not likely. “I would love to be on it. It probably won’t happen, but I would love to be on it.”

He was right. He’s not a member, and the committee has gone on without him and done some things he didn’t particularly like, namely overhauling the pre-draft process for players. Huggins is a critic, and though he understands the value for the individual, he’s opposed to what it can mean for the team.

But none of this is to say the man and his voice have been overlooked. Huggins, a dozen other coaches and four college administrators — three are involved with the oversight committee — have been asked to evaluate the NCAA tournament’s selection, seeding and bracketing process.

This is awesome. Bob Huggins doe not tiptoe.

Huggins, as you know, has made noise about all of that, especially as it relates to his team and who his Mountaineers always seem fated to play.

[Stephen F. Austin is] coached by Brad Underwood, who was an assistant coach at Kansas State from 2006-12 and was hired by Huggins for the lone season he coached the Wildcats.

“And they say none of that stuff matters, it’s all just numbers,” a skeptical Huggins said of the matchup.

Underwood, in his third season at the school, is 59-1 in regular season and postseason conference games. In 2014, he led the school to an upset as the No. 12 seed over the No. 5 VCU in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

“Very sharp guy,” Huggins said. “He’s done a great job.”

The first game could be just the start of a familiar path for Huggins. Friday’s winner advances to Sunday’s game and will face either former Big East foe Notre Dame or the winner of Wednesday’s Michigan vs. Tulsa play-in game. Michigan’s coach, of course, is former Mountaineers coach John Beilein.

The No. 2 seed in the region is Xavier, a heated rival for Huggins when he coached at Cincinnati, and the Musketeers could be a Sweet Sixteen opponent, though it’s possible Pitt, the No. 10 seed, could be there, too. The Elite Eight could present the No. 4 seed Kentucky and Huggins’ friend, Wildcats coach John Calipari.

“Couldn’t have planned it any better,” said Huggins of Calipari, who called Huggins to predict the two would again be in the same region. “It just kind of seems like these things just happen.”

Replete with opinions, Huggins now has a stage and the privilege, to say nothing of the directive, to sound off on what he thinks is wrong and how he believes he and the others can help make it right.

The purpose of the ad hoc committee is to provide the perspective of men’s basketball coaches as well as a team perspective to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee regarding the selection, seeding and bracketing process.

The ad hoc committee will meet multiple times in the coming weeks.  Any resulting feedback will be presented to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee in advance of its summer meeting.

At a May meeting in Indianapolis, the NABC board of directors and the NCAA committee engaged in considerable discussion regarding tournament selection, seeding and bracketing.

“We had a very good dialogue with the men’s basketball committee and NCAA staff during our meetings and especially on the topics selection and seeding for the tournament,” said Haney. “The men’s basketball championship is one of the greatest events in sports and we are hopeful that recommendations from our ad hoc group will help to enhance it even more.”