Pity the poor Cornell fans.
No, not because their beloved Big Red drew Big 12 champ Missouri in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Because Cornell wound up in Boise, Idaho, a place that’s as tough to get to from upstate New York as it is costly. Think “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” minus John Candy and the oompa band.
The dismal economy wasn’t lost on the NCAA tournament selection committee, which was even more mindful than usual of keeping teams as close to home as possible. But when three conferences have seven teams in the tournament, another two are sending six and there are rules limiting who can play each other when, some teams are going to wind up far from home.