The conferences first of all will make up at a minimum ...a majority of the selection committee. Then let's talk about what you get by being a Conference Champion that you don't get as an independent and you tell me if you think it is insignificant.

1-If there is a tie between a Conference Champion and a non-conference champion...the Conference Champion goes.

2-The Conference Champion gets an extra game to build their SOS.

3-The Conference Champion gets more SOS points because they beat most likely another highly ranked teams in the Conference Champion game.

So if you add those three things up and the fact the Conferences will have most of the seats on the selection committee...the independent has a much much steeper hill to climb to get to the Final Four playoff. ND is many things, but they are not dumb, the administration has this figured out. There biggest obstacle is their biggest donors, but I think the facts are weighted to heavily against staying independent. We will know soon.