You think that was bad? In 2006, George Mason's athletic director was on the Selection Committee. Sure, HE can't vote for his own school. Doesn't mean he can't slip money under the table to the other members to vote for his school. Is it a coincidence that his school gets in and a school that beat them twice doesn't?
2006 was the Bracket Matrix's first year. That season there were 23 brackets.
http://bracketmatrix.com/matrix_2006.html
13 of them chose Hofstra, 11 chose George Mason. If the Bracket Matrix were in charge, Hofstra would have made the field as the last team in and George Mason would have been the first team out. I actually picked both of them. Other things to consider.
1) George Mason got to play its Sweet 16 and regional final in nearby Washington DC. Do you think that was a coincidence? As far as I'm aware, there's no rules that say AD's have to leave the room when it comes to regional placement. Do you think George Mason wins those last two games if they don't have a home court advantage?
2) George Mason played North Carolina in Dayton where they upset them. That game should have been played in Greensboro. It was because Tennessee was mysteriously seeded higher than North Carolina and got to play in Greensboro instead of UNC. Tennessee was a #2 seed although out of 23 bracketologists including me, ESPN, CBS, and others every one of them had the Volunteers either a 4 seed or a 5 seed! So how does the Selection Committee have Tennessee a #2 seed? SEC Commissioner Mike Slive was on the Selection Committee as well! Coincidence? Florida was seeded a #4 by most of the bracketologists but a #3 by the Committee. They got to the Final Four that year as did SEC member LSU. You know who the fourth Final Four team was? UCLA. UCLA's AD was also on the Selection Committee. So every team that made the Final Four had representation on the Selection Committee!
In most years the Selection Committee is reasonable but in 2006 they were clearly favoritist. George Mason wasn't even their worst inclusion. Only one of 23 brackets chose Utah State and Air Force yet both teams got in! And 21 out of 23 had Missouri State in (I believe they set a record for the highest RPI to ever be left out) and 20 of 23 had Cincinnati in but both were left out.
So Go Hofstra! 14 years too late but better late then never!